The mar345 image plate detector needs to be erased at the end of a scan. For this purpose, in the past we have been using halogen lamps with R7S sockets:

• one with 500W and 118 mm length, integrated into the reading head
• two with 250 W and 78 mm length, mounted in a fixed position on the base plate

While this has worked for 20 years, halogen bulbs are about to vanish from the market. Thanks to substantial progress in LED technologies, the mar345= detector has  been redesigned to make use of 2 bright LED lamps both integrated into the reading head. The existing halogen lamps become obsolete. The LED lamps offer several benefits over traditional halogen lamps:

• increased lifetime:  essentially, forever
• 84 % reduction in power consumption: from 1200 W (peak during erase) to about 200 W (peak during scan)
• 90 % reduction in heat generation: no more overheating
• much more efficient erase in image plate center and rims due to optimized location of LEDs
• elimination of filter glasses containing small amounts of thorium which produced increased background levels on the image plate areas close to the filters

For  mar345= detectors running with short exposure intervals of < 10 secs, overheating is not longer a problem. The problem became more acute with the advent of the fast scanning modes of the  mar345= versions. With short read-out times of 30 secs or less, the heat generated during the erase cycle had not enough time to dissipate the heat of the traditional errase lamps.

The replacement of the erase lamps by LEDs requires certain modifications on the reading head and some resoldering. Therefore, the replacement has to be carried out by one of our technicians and cannot be done by the customer. The price given here does NOT include a service visit but just hardware.