Xenon arc weathering tester with large capacity, Q-SUN Xe-8

The Q-SUN Xe-8 is the NEW standard in large capacity, rotating rack xenon arc weathering testers. In addition to its unmatched technical capabilities, the Q-SUN Xe-8 tester offers greater capacity, lower price, and significantly longer lamp life – about 8000 hours at normal irradiance – than leading competitors, which all results in low operating costs.

The Q-SUN Xe-8 is a rotating rack, full-featured weathering, lightfastness, and photostability chamber, and meets virtually all major industry and OEM standards.

Q-SUN Xe-8 xenon arc test chambers are the ultimate research & development and quality control tool for testing materials that are exposed to direct sunlight or sunlight through window glass. With a variety of options, you can customize your Q-SUN Xe-8 chamber to fit your testing needs. It is the simplest, most reliable, and easiest-to-use tester available in its class.

Realistic and versatile

The Q-SUN Xe-8 tester’s four 4200 W xenon arc lamps provide the best match to the full spectrum of natural sunlight. A variety of optical filters are available to meet virtually all global xenon arc test standards. Simultaneous, precise control of relative humidity, chamber air, and black panel/black standard temperature is included. Water spray simulates the erosion effects of rain.

Easy to use

The Q-SUN Xe-8 xenon test chamber is easy to install, easy to use, and easy to maintain. Specially-designed specimen holders makes specimen mounting and evaluation is fast and easy. Two sizes are available – one to maximize specimen capacity, and one to match historical rotating rack flat specimen sizes. The smaller specimen size offers 45% greater capacity than competitive testers.

All maintenance and simple repairs can be performed from the front or top of the tester, which maximizes user convenience and minimizes the amount of laboratory space needed to install and operate.

The Q-SUN Xe-8 tester is completely automated and can operate continuously, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Other features include:

Remarkably simple user interface in 17 user-selectable languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Czech, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, and Vietnamese
Built-in Ethernet connection for data logging
Comprehensive self-diagnostic warnings and service reminders
Quick and easy calibration with patented AUTOCAL system

Fast results

A product experiences maximum light intensity for only a few hours each day when exposed outdoors to direct sunlight. The Q-SUN Xe-8 tester can subject test specimens to the equivalent of noon summer sunlight for 24 hours a day, every day. This can highly accelerate the rate of product degradation and shorten test times.

Capable and affordable

The Q-SUN Xe-8-HBSX model comes with everything you need – standard. It features full-spectrum sunlight, a rotating rack specimen holder, humidity control, front and back spray, and dual touchscreen displays. The Q-SUN Xe-8 tester’s low purchase price, low lamp prices, and low operating costs compared to competitive chambers create an attractive price-to-performance ratio.

Key features

LIGHT/YEAR xenon arc lamps for the Q-SUN Xe-8 provide the best reproduction of full-spectrum natural sunlight. Q-Lab's lamps are air-cooled (not water-cooled), which makes them more economical, highly efficient, and very low-maintenance. Xenon lamps last for about 8000 hours at normal irradiance and about 1000 hours at high irradiance. The Q-SUN Xe-8 uses four lamps per machine. Changing the Xe-8 lamps is quick and easy – they are easily accessible from the front of the tester.
Optical filter lanterns are designed to produce the spectra specified in many global weathering and lightfastness test standards. The performance of Q-Lab's filters does not decline with age; therefore, filters do not need to be replaced under normal operation. The only exception to this is the Window-IR filter, which requires regular replacement.
Control of temperature is important because it influences the rate of degradation. Specimen exposure temperature is precisely controlled in the Q-SUN Xe-8 tester using black panel and chamber air temperature sensors. Both black panel and uninsulated onboard black panels are included standard with each tester, with top and bottom panels of each type to ensure temperature uniformity. The temperature can be set at any point between 45 °C and 105 °C, depending upon whether the black panel sensor is insulated or uninsulated, as well as irradiance level, filter type, lamp age, and ambient room temperature.
High specimen capacity – The Q-SUN Xe-8 xenon arc tester offers a huge-capacity, industry-leading rotating rack. Two different sizes of standard specimen holders are supported.
– The Xe-8 can support 164 specimens, sized 51 × 102 mm (2.0 × 4.0”), with 40 holders of 4 specimens each. This offers maximum capacity while still providing a large enough exposure surface to perform most common evaluations.
– Alternatively, the Xe-8 can hold 96 specimens with dimensions of 67 × 145 mm (2.6 × 5.7”), arranged in 32 holders of 3 specimens each. This specimen size has historically been used in competitive rotating rack testers.
The SOLAR EYE irradiance control system constantly monitors and controls lamp output. This assures precise light exposure and maximizes reproducibility of test results. Irradiance control is available at 340 nm, 420 nm, or TUV (Total UV, 300-400 nm). All three control points are standard on the Xe-8 tri band sensor array.
Relative humidity (RH) control is standard in the Q-SUN Xe-8 tester. It allows the user to simultaneously control and display RH, black panel temperature, and chamber air temperature. Note that purified water is required for proper operation of the RH system in the Xe-8 tester.
Water Spray (Front and Back) – Outdoor moisture attack is simulated via pure water spray in the Xe-8 tester. Two spray nozzles located in the chamber can be programmed to operate during either the dark or light cycle. The ability to spray the backs of specimens is required by some SAE test methods and is also standard for the Xe-8. Note that purified water is required for proper operation of the water spray system in the Q-SUN Xe-8.
The Q-SUN Xe-8 tester’s dual, full-color touchscreen displays are designed to be both functional and easy-to-use, with remarkably simple user interface in 17 user-selectable languages. This system includes complete self-diagnostic error checking, constantly monitoring the status and performance of all systems. It also displays tester error messages and routine service reminders as needed. The multicolor LED status indicator light updates users on the tester’s operational state at a glance.
An external USB port on every Q-SUN Xe-8 tester allows users to perform software upgrades quickly to address key performance issues. For quality systems that require documented proof of test conditions, this USB port can also be used to download tester performance history with Q-Lab's VIRTUAL STRIPCHART application. Data from the USB export can be emailed directly to Q-Lab's technical support desk for expert troubleshooting and diagnostics. Performance information is also available via on-screen VIRTUAL STRIPCHART datalogging.
Calibration of the sensors for black panel, black standard temperature and irradiance is required periodically by the user. This assures accurate and consistent results. Calibrating the Xe-8 black panel and black standard temperature and irradiance sensors is simple using the Universal Calibrator system’s UC80 calibration sensor array, and takes only a few minutes. The low-cost, combination relative humidity/chamber air temperature sensor is designed to be replaced once a year by the user and cannot be recalibrated.

More information

Product brochure: Q-SUN Xe-8 Xenon Arc Weathering Tester Brochure.pdf