Heaters and heating elements are useful in several different industrial and commercial applications. There are several different types of heaters such as tubular heaters, waterbed heaters, and flexible circuit heaters. The choice of heater is determined by the nature of the application. Flexible heaters essentially comprise an etched foil that is laminated between flexible insulation materials. Thus, these heaters are intrinsically safe and can be used in various environments.
However, in demanding applications that need exceptionally creative heating solutions, a flexible foil heater is often the preferred choice. These heaters are named thus because they can be bent, curved, and twisted as required by the user/application. The circuit of the heater is so flexible that it can be etched or printed in the form of sheets or rolls. This sheet or roll etched with the flex circuit serves as the base material for flexible heater. The creation of such heaters calls for an exceptional level of innovation and expertise. Hence, such projects are best handled by an expert firm.
Here are some advantages of such heaters:
They can be completely customized per customer specification. The customer can simply send the drawings to the heater manufacturer and the circuits can be executed using chemical etching or photo etching.
In addition to being used on heaters, flexible foils can also be used for projects such as flat antennas or other flexible circuit types.
Foil heating elements can be tuned to the best efficiency levels by making use of a heating-up and temperature holding circuit. The use of multiple circuits makes it possible to achieve unique project requirements.
Foil heaters offer unmatched flexibility even in the most demanding applications. For instance, they can be wrapped around containers, inserted between two layers, or molded between two different materials.
Another important aspect is that the sensor connections in such heaters can be arranged on the same plane as the heating circuit. And, multiple voltages can be arranged in a heating element to suit the requirement of the application.
Flexible foil heaters can be made using a variety of materials such as polyester, polyimide, silicone rubber, mica, and so on. Since these heaters call for the use of specialized equipment and processes, it is vital to engage the services of a reputable and experienced heater manufacturing company. These heaters, with flex circuits, are useful in any application that requires immediate and precise heating or heat transfer.
A firm that constantly invests time and resources in flexible circuit research pertaining to the use of new materials and applications will likely understand the unique nature of your project.
Heaters comprising a flexible circuit heaters are widely used in military applications, food services, telecommunications, green energy, and automobile and transportation-related applications.
