Figure 1: Selecting the right heating element allows users to ensure the level of safety, allows them to attain optimal performance and improves the overall efficiency of the heater’s end use. Source: Backer Hotwatt

When it comes to controlling the environment of an application, heat and temperature are crucial aspects to consider. Selecting the right heating element allows users to ensure the level of safety, allows them to attain optimal performance and improves the overall efficiency of the heater’s end use.

When the right heater is selected, users also save money on operational costs by buying the right product up front, thus reducing the time in the development cycle and improving time to market. Heater requirements vary significantly depending on the market and application. Industries for medical devices, packaging equipment, laboratory and analytical equipment, semiconductor testing, food service, fuel cells and opto-electronics all use heating elements as a core technology in many of their products.

The types of heaters used in these products are equally diverse. Tubular, cartridge, strip, band, foil, rope, ceramic and silicone are all heating element technologies that can be used to heat air, gases, liquids and solids. So, how can users pick the right heater? Even if they think they know what is wanted or needed, there are several questions to consider. Answering them will ensure they choose the right heater and that it is applied correctly in the application.

Figure 2: Tubular, cartridge, strip, band, foil, rope, ceramic and silicone are all heating element technologies that can be used to heat air, gases, liquids and solids. Source: Backer Hotwatt

Questions to consider if users don’t know the style of heater they require:

• Voltage: What is the available voltage for this application? Supply voltages often vary, but this information is so important when designing and building the best heater.
• Overall application: What is being heated? Knowing what users are trying to heat is crucial to determining the best heater selection. Various applications, such as heating block dies, air or liquid, all affect the details of the heater application as it’s being selected or customized
• Design envelope: What are the dimensions of the design envelope available? It’s important to know the size, length, diameter and lead length of the heater required. These factors are important for designing heaters and addressing design limitations that may arise, such as maximum allowable watt density for the style or application of the heater.
• Wattage: The following are parameters to help determine the required wattage for an application. These help users calculate the specific requirements:
  • Size and dimension of what is being heated
  • The material being heated
  • Temperature required for the application (starting temperature and operational temperature required)
  • Time frame or how quickly users need the heater to heat up

Questions to consider if users do know the style of heater they require:

• Wattage: What is the amount of wattage needed for the application?
• Voltage: What is the available supply of voltage?
• Heater style: If users already know what heater is required, what is the style of heater they are interested in?
• Design envelope: What is the length, diameter and lead length of the overall design envelope? Like the section above, it’s important to know this information so users can address any possible limitations.
• Overall application: What aspects of the application can users describe for the Backer Hotwatt team? Answering this question thoroughly provides the company with as much information as possible to best help users ensure the right heater is selected for the application. Through this discussion, Backer Hotwatt can make suggestions for better heating elements to fit the application needs and adjust for design limitations.
• Terminations: How will users connect the heater to the power source? How far is the heater from the power source? Are there any environmental conditions that require the connection to have special protection (abrasion/heat/chemical exposure)? Will a connector need to be added to the heater?
• Sheath material: Is a specific sheath material required? Certain applications require different corrosive resistance, and sometimes materials such as Incoloy, brass, aluminum or different or higher grades of stainless steel may be required.
• Special features: Baker Hotwatt offers several additional options in their catalog that can be added to the design, if needed. They have previously accommodated for custom flanges and mounting options, custom plugs or connectors for the heaters, as well as oddball sizes and shapes. If there is a feature not listed in the catalog, there is still a chance the Baker Hotwatt team can customize the heater and the elements associated with it, so always include this information!
• Quantities: How many heating elements are required? Knowing this information up front helps Baker Hotwatt offer the best possible price and helps with lead times when procuring any required materials.

Backer Hotwatt heater examples

The Backer Hotwatt team encounters situations almost daily where the answer to the above questions have played a factor in the final heating equipment decision.

Figure 3: Baker Hotwatt offers several additional options in their catalog that can be added to the design, if needed. Source: Backer Hotwatt

Backer Hotwatt had a customer call requesting a standard cartridge construction heating element with a high wattage, but through the company’s conversations with them and discovering the size envelope and wattage required, they determined that it’s best to construct the specific heater, in this case as one of the Superwatt units, which have higher allowable watt densities in the same envelope.

In a similar scenario, a customer wanted to heat air with one of Backer Hotwatt’s standard air process heaters. Through those discussions, they discovered the amount of airflow the customer was looking to heat was a high amount of about 100 CFM. Due to this requirement, Backer Hotwatt was able to suggest and design a Maxi-Flow element, which is capable of heating in-line air up to 200 CFM.

One final example includes a customer looking to heat a giant platen or punching sheet. They were originally looking at Backer Hotwatt’s foil heaters, which cover large surfaces. However, they wanted to heat the platen up to 350° F, which informed the company that it would be best to redesign a system to bore holes inside the platen in order to fit some cartridge heaters, which have a higher temperature output and would, therefore, provide a more consistent heat.

The Backer Hotwatt team has worked on heaters for markets with varying requirements and needs, such as:

· Medical devices and systems

· Railroad and rail transit

· Semiconductor

· Photonics and opto-electronics

· Automotive and fuel cells

Why choose Backer Hotwatt

Backer Hotwatt, Inc. has been manufacturing custom and stock electric heating elements for over 65 years. Backer Hotwatt is a quality supplier to industrial users and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the medical, commercial, packaging, instrumentation, aviation, transportation, refrigeration/air conditioning and military fields.

Backer Hotwatt’s heaters include cartridge, air process, immersion, strip and finned strip, tubular and finned tubular, band, foil, flexible Glasrope, crankcase and ceramic heaters. They have the precision heaters needed for users' critical applications.

Whatever the design or engineering challenge is, Backer Hotwatt has the expertise and broad technology base to develop a customized and dependable product for user’s unique needs. Whether they are heating air, fluids, gases or other surfaces, Backer Hotwatt’s engineers can develop a solution that helps user’s application function most efficiently — giving them the competitive edge in their market. Precision heating, tight tolerances and extreme reliability are all characteristics that need to be designed into solutions for critical applications. Users can be assured that Backer Hotwatt engineers will work in close collaboration with their team to meet all performance, physical and regulatory requirements to ensure a successful product launch and commercialization.

Backer Hotwatt solves challenging problems with unique solutions that their competitors won’t or can’t provide. Backer Hotwatt is here to help design and manufacture the best heater for users’ demanding and precise needs. Talk to an engineer today about heating application needs and questions.