Monday, July 11, 2011

Heating Elements Used in Electric Heaters

Heating elements are used in electric heaters. It converts electrical energy in to heat through the process of Joule heating. Electric current passed through the element encounters resistance which results in the heating of the element. Given below are the different types of materials used in preparing the heating element:

Resistance Wire:
It may be wire or ribbon and straight or coiled. It is mainly used in items such as toasters, hair dryers and also in furnaces for industrial heating, floor heating, roof heating, pathway heating to melt snow, dryers etc. Most of these wires are prepared from Kanthal, Nichrome, Cupronickel.

Etched Foil:
These are produced with a subtractive photo etching process and these foils starts with a continuous sheet of metal foil and ends with a complex resistance pattern. These are made from the same materials which are used in making of resistance wires.

Heat Lamp:
It is an incandescent lamp which produces infrared radiations and it is generally used in radiant space heaters and food warmers. It is available in two forms, one is reflector lamp which is often tinted red to minimize the visible light produced and the other is tubular form which is always clear.

PTC Ceramic:
These materials have a highly nonlinear thermal response, so that it becomes extremely resistant above a composition dependent threshold temperature and this causes material to act as its own thermostat. Thin films of this materials are used in automotive rear window defrost heaters, and honeycomb shaped elements are used in expensive hair dryers and space heaters.

Tubular:
It is a fine coil of Nickel chrome wire in a ceramic insulating binder sealed inside a tube made of stainless steel or brass. They can be straight rods or can be curved.

Screen Printed Metal:
These are the ceramic tracks deposited on ceramic insulated metal. These can be used in kettles and other domestic appliances.

The above are the various heating elements used in electric heaters.

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