Three-kilowatt xenon arc lamp

An improved arc lamp with a ceramic body, an anode supported by a base, and a cathode suspended by a strut system opposite to the anode, and having an inside volume filled with xenon gas, the improvements comprising:

• a groove in said ceramic body such that an angled area is presented to a head area of said anode that reduces heat coupling by radiation;
• a neck in said anode that provides for a thermal choking such that a head portion of said anode will elevate in temperature during operation;
• a cavity relieved in said base and all around said anode and that provides a fixed means for managing the temperature of a head portion of said anode during operation;
• a xenon gas-fill volume of about seventeen cubic inches that provides for an improved lamp life when operated at about three-thousand watts;
• a stem portion of said cathode with a reduced diameter for attachment to said strut system and that thereby provides reduced optical blockage;
• a base for said anode that has a longer length than its diameter and that thereby provides an improved heat transfer to an anode heatsink;
• a braze-ring recess machined in an inner diameter of said base to help prevent a contamination of the surface of said anode facing said cathode with any braze material during manufacturing;
• a chamfer in each of three legs in said strut system providing for a reduced tendency for electricity to arc-over to a reflector that surrounds said anode;
• a cathode heatsink surrounding a window sleeve supporting a lens and with an angled inside face for reducing lamp-thermal gradients and thereby providing improved heat flow compared to more conventional straight-sided inside faces;
• and
• a waist-area heatsink that is clamped-on said ceramic body in the gap on an outside surface between an anode heatsink and a cathode heatsink with enough clearance provided so that inter-heatsink electrical arcing does not occur.