On a PET line, the heating tunnel is where the schedule gets made—or broken. When the Sidel SBO 30 is running, preform temperature has to stay inside the recipe band, ±1°C across the preform wall. If it drifts, stretch gets unstable. You start seeing thick heels, thin shoulders, and bottles that just miss the spec. A weak or aging emitter makes that obvious in a hurry—cycle time creeps, scrap climbs, and you get more alarms right at shift change. What matters, technically We build the SBO 30 heater tube as a short-wave infrared halogen emitter, matched to the machine’s heating-zone geometry and power map. The quartz envelope is cut to the standard SBO 30 length, and it uses an R7s connector so you can swap it without rewiring the block. We set the filament load and spectral output for fast response—heat-up in seconds, not minutes—so the tunnel can hold temperature when the line switches from 28mm to 38mm necks and back again. Every unit gets run-in and measured for consistent wattage and stable output across its life. Why it holds up in practice This tube is built for one job: keeping the SBO 30 consistent. It hits the preform heating curve the machine expects, so stretch ratios stay repeatable and bottle weight stays in control. That means fewer tiny tweaks, less scrap during changeovers, and more uptime between lamp changes. Energy use stays predictable because the emitter puts the heat where it’s needed, with less waste bleeding into the tunnel air path. Here’s what to keep in mind Compatibility is straightforward, but it’s not universal. This tube is a direct fit for the Sidel SBO 30 blow molder and also works on major platform lines—Sidel Matrix, Krones Contiform, and Husky HyPET—as long as the holder, connector, and zone power match the OEM setup. Install it only when the tunnel is at ambient temperature and the zone is powered off. If it’s misaligned or touching reflectors, lamp life will take a hit. For the best result, pair the replacement with a clean reflector and verify zone temperature using the machine’s own sensors after startup.