An interview with CEO Lou Panico.
Lou Panico, XENON CEO
UV light has been getting world-wide attention since the pandemic started, because of its unique ability to kill the virus that causes COVID-19—and virtually all other pathogens, too. But UV light, and Pulsed Light in particular, has many other applications. The spectral energy of Pulsed Light is much like sunlight, and it has special properties that can be used in applications as diverse as solar panel testing, food enhancement, food shelf life extension, materials curing, sterilization, surface treatment, drying without heat, and more.
The most advanced technology in this space is Pulsed Light, because it delivers intense, short duration pulses of energy without generating heat and without the dangerous chemicals used in mercury lamps. As a result, Pulsed Light is faster, safer, and more effective than other solutions. Now, XENON is introducing a new product to its family of Pulsed Light products. CIXL (Compact Integrated Xenon Lamp) makes this powerful and beneficial technology available to more researchers and new product developers than ever before.
To find out what CIXL is all about, I talked with Lou Panico, the CEO of XENON. Here’s a portion of that interview.
Q: Can you describe the new CIXL product for us?
A: The CIXL is the first ready-to-run Pulsed Light lamp that’s priced like ordinary mercury or LED products but bringing more performance to the markets. This makes it affordable for many more applications. The unit is small, compact, and easy to use, can be mounted easily on a wall or other structure, and plugs into a standard 110-volt outlet. It includes patented XENON technology, proprietary pulsed power supply and cooling fan inside a stainless-steel housing. Basically, the CIXL removes the price barrier to using Pulsed Light, the most advanced technology of its kind available.
Q: Why did you decide to create the CIXL?
A: We saw a need in the marketplace. Companies and product developers want to try Pulsed Light, but they often don’t have the funds or market price-point for an advanced system like XENON’s benchtop and modular systems that come with a range of benefits including metering, controls, and computerized capabilities. These are important features, but some people don’t need all the bells and whistles, especially in certain applications, and that’s where the CIXL comes in. The CIXL comes with factory settings for power, pulse rate, and pulse length, and this standardization allows us to offer a lower price point. It’s still advanced Pulsed Light technology, but it’s now within the reach of many more applications. The CIXL product lowers the price of entry to new and existing markets.
The CIXL mounts easily on a wall or other structure.
Q: What applications do you see for CIXL?
A: The product is right for a wide range of applications. A company in Taiwan is in trial testing the CIXL for the enhancement of mushrooms with Vitamin D on production lines. Our other Pulsed Light systems are widely used by food processors for this purpose. The CIXL could also be used by growers for the enhancement of mushrooms in batch quantities—say, in a large room after harvesting. Beyond mushrooms, CIXL can be used for the disinfection of storage rooms, elevators, commuter trains, and similar interior spaces. Steribin, an OEM partner, is using the CIXL for food production conveyor sanitization and for the disinfection of plastic bins used in airport security checkpoints. The CIXL is a low-cost option for food treatment pass-throughs and UV curing on production lines.
Q: How does CIXL fit in with other XENON products?
A: As I mentioned, XENON offers several systems that come with robust features. Some are specifically designed for basic research, like our X-1100 benchtop system, while others are ideal for integration into customer applications and OEM products, like our RC-800 and RC-900 series of modular systems. What makes CIXL different is its low cost and ready-to-run configuration that we think will fit into many applications, right off the shelf.
Q: Any final thoughts you’d like to share?
A: As the original Pulsed Light company, XENON is always striving to break new ground. We want to open up new markets and applications for Pulsed Light and enable potential users to explore its possibilities. That’s what we anticipate the CIXL product will do. Applications that could only afford lower-tech solutions, like mercury lamps, can now try the premier technology in the field. There are many important applications out there waiting for an affordable Pulsed Light solution, and the CIXL product meets that need.
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Thanks to Lou Panico for sharing his thoughts on the latest XENON product. If you’d like to know more about the product, and how XENON can help bring your ideas to market, send us an email and our team will get back to you promptly.