UV Curing worked example

Mercury UV Lamp Energy Cost with lamp electrical draw of 40 kW: a worked example

Push lamp electrical draw up to 40 kW and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. Use it to baseline a mercury cure line before evaluating an LED retrofit, or to put energy on a job quote when mercury cure is the bottleneck.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Lamp electrical draw (energized): 40 kW (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 16)
  • Energized hours per shift: 8 hr (unchanged)
  • Blended electricity rate: 0.14 $ / kWh (unchanged)
  • Parts cured per shift: 2,400 parts (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Energy used (kWh) = lamp electrical draw × energized hours) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 44.8 $ / shift for shift energy cost, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 320 kWh for energy used per shift.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 0.02 $ / part for energy cost per part.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 5.6 $ / hr for hourly energy cost.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where lamp electrical draw sits at 16 kW and the headline result is 17.92 $ / shift, this scenario comes in 150% above the baseline at 44.8 $ / shift.
  • It computes the electricity cost of running mercury UV lamps per shift, the kWh consumed, and the energy cost allocated to each cured part. The value of this scenario is the size of the gap it exposes: that gap, priced out over a year, is the budget you can justify spending to close it.

Results at a glance

  • Shift energy cost: 44.8 $ / shift (headline result)
  • Energy used per shift: 320 kWh
  • Energy cost per part: 0.02 $ / part
  • Hourly energy cost: 5.6 $ / hr

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live Mercury UV Lamp Energy Cost calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.