Which is Better? Resistive Heaters vs. PTC Heaters &#; STEGO, Inc.

STEGO USA is based in Atlanta, Georgia, smack in the middle of the Southeastern U.S.  It&#;s March, and spring is right around the corner. Many employees have been using individual office heaters for the winter season to stay comfortable. Facilities managers have strict regulations on the types of heaters that may be used, as there is a risk of fire or high power draw inside an office building. 

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We have personally experienced this hazard in our own office building. One of our office employees is cold-natured and uses two space heaters to keep her office warm. Recently, on a very cold day, between the draw of extra space heaters and our office thermostat, it tripped our local circuit, cutting power to the heaters, the computer monitors, lamps, printers, etc. for our section of the office. Until someone from maintenance could reset the panel, we could not work.

In electronics enclosures, designers include heaters to avoid temperature drops inside the cabinet, preventing the formation of condensation.

Condensation, if not controlled, can lead to safety or reliability issues for the electronics contained within.

Reliability is sometimes better stated as downtime avoidance &#; kind of like our office example above. As users, we expect uptime &#; and so do your customers.

There are many choices in cabinet heater technologies, but the two most prevalent are Resistive and PTC. Both accomplish the same task but in different ways.

Resistive heating is the process of converting electricity into heat energy. Fixed wattage heaters are typically manufactured with resistive wires or etched circuits. A toaster is a great example of resistive heating where the wire in a fixed wattage heater must reach a very high temperature to dissipate the desired temperature across the area to be heated. A thermostat or temperature sensor is used to keep the heater from overheating. This single point sensing method remains one of the crucial problems with fixed wattage heaters.

Any sensor or circuit failure can lead the heater to reach dangerously high temperatures, thus becoming hazardous to the user. Furthermore, the heater will continue to draw power if the temperature sensor does not detect the malfunction.

Other potential failure modes associated with fixed wattage heating include hot spots, broken conductors, and overheating.

 

PTC

Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) heaters are self-regulating heaters that run open-loop without any external diagnostic controls. While traditional fixed-resistance heaters employ wires and coils to generate heat, PTC heaters use conductive inks printed on thin, flexible polymer-based substrates.

Scoring high on reliability and efficiency, PTC heaters are ideal for products that require safer, faster, and more uniform heating.

The material properties allow the PTC heater to act as its own sensor, eliminating the need for any external feedback controls. As a result, the heater inherently removes the risk of overheating.

Electronics cabinet designers have multiple competing priorities &#; uptime, cost efficiency, risk mitigation, and others. By selecting PTC heaters, you&#;re picking the right solution for you and your customers, reducing your headaches in the short term, and in the long term. 

Designing complex electronics that perform perfectly outdoors is, well, complex. At STEGO, we believe that protecting those complex projects from extreme climates should be the simplest part of your design. That&#;s why we use German engineering to create the highest quality thermal management components to protect your designs from anything Mother Nature throws at it. We&#;ve been pioneering Thermal Management for over 40 years now. With STEGO parts installed, you can rest easy that your complex design is reliably protected for the long haul.

PTC Heating Better Than Traditional Heating | Pelonis Tech

Traditional heaters can experience a number of issues that cause discomfort or injury to users, including, but not limited to, hot spots. Positive temperature coefficient (PTC) heaters serve as a solution to these and other problems. 

 

 

PTC Heating vs. Traditional Heating

Traditional heaters and PTC heaters have widely different designs and constructions, which results in significant differences in their operation and performance. 

Traditional heaters generate heat using coils and wires. Additionally, they typically utilize a single-point sensor to determine the temperature for the entire heater. This design poses a functionality issue and creates a safety risk since it can lead to the development of overly hot areas on the surface of the heater. 

PTC heaters have heating elements made from barium titanate-based ceramic stones. The material&#;s unique properties enable a PTC heater unit to self-regulate; it can run open-loop without needing external diagnostic or feedback controls. As a result, PTC heaters are highly reliable, offering consistent and uniform heat without the risk of overheating.

 

 

Advantages of PTC Heaters

As indicated above, PTC heaters offer better reliability than traditional heaters, which makes them the more suitable heating option for numerous applications. Other key advantages include: 

Safer heating functionality. PTC heaters eliminate the safety problems generally associated with heaters that use resistive wire, carbon fiber, or etched foil to generate heat.

Higher operational efficiency. Since PTC heaters are self-regulating, they can optimize power consumption to achieve and maintain the desired temperature. For example, they will draw at full power at colder temperatures to ensure they reach the threshold temperature quickly.

Smaller size, lighter weight. PTC heaters can be made to thicknesses as small as . inches, which allows them to have smaller and lighter forms.

Greater strength and durability. These heaters can withstand significant mechanical abuse, including creasing, folding, and piercing, without experiencing damage or degradation that affects their operation or performance. 

Bigger cost savings. Since PTC heaters are durable and efficient, they often cost less to run and maintain than traditional heaters in the long, which can result in significant savings for users. 

 

 

Innovative PTC Heating Solutions From Pelonis Technologies, Inc. (PTI)

Want to learn more about positive temperature coefficient heaters and why you should use them over traditional heaters? Ask the experts at Pelonis Technologies! We&#;ve developed and manufactured specialty heating products for commercial and industrial use for over 25 years. This extensive experience provides us with the knowledge we need to answer and address any questions or concerns you may have about these heating products. 

Additionally, combined with our many standard products, vast customization services, and ISO and ISO certified manufacturing facilities, it provides us with everything we need to make quality heating solutions that offer superior reliability, efficiency, and safety. Whether you need a stock or highly customized PTC heating unit, our team can deliver. 

7 Reasons to Use a PTC Heater

A Shocking Lesson in Heat Control

Two years of engineering school behind him, my husband decides it is time to find a job in his &#;field&#; as he calls it.  During school, he has been working as a TV repairman. I guess training and working as an aircraft electronics technician in the Marine Corps qualified him for that job at least.  Now he wants to get into the big time.

Of all places to find a job in electronics engineering, he walked into a factory in West Virginia without an appointment.  He saw a graphic of an electronic rectifier on their sign and the name of Electronic Control Systems, figuring it had to be the right place for his first real job.

Sparky harassed the receptionist with questions about what the company did in electronics. The VP of Operations heard the discussion.   It just happened they were looking for someone to work as a junior type engineer that knew something about electronics. I couldn&#;t believe it when he got home and told me they hired him on the spot.  

It was at a fantastic salary of $7,500 a year.  Considering Sparky only made $10,000 for four years in the Marine Corps, he thought we were rich.  Plus, he could enroll in engineering school nearby to finish his electronic engineering degree.  

Back then, you didn&#;t take out a student loan to pay for college.  Your parents had either saved up the money or worked while you went to school.

The first day at work, he found out that civilian electronics weren&#;t much like the electronics on a military fighter jet.  His boss asked him to hook up one of the silicon rectifier power controllers to a test stand.  He told me that night; he came to the &#;shocking or electrifying&#; realization that he needs to learn that heat sinks on these rectifier control devices were at the same voltage as the devices.  

That was the first of many lessons he learned the hard way while working with silicon rectifiers.  What he did learn is that these devices were very reliable and used in a wide variety of applications to control power and heat.  Today&#;s PTC, Positive Temperature Coefficient heaters work on a similar concept but require much fewer controls to perform their designed function.

Reliability is the trademark of PTC heaters.

Reliability is the trademark of any top-quality heater. A unit is only efficient if it's able to deliver consistent, uniform heat when it's needed the most.

Anyone who's ever had a car seat overheat or a room take on "hot spots" knows the limits of traditional, fixed-resistance heaters. When you rely on a single-point sensor to assume the temperature of an entire surface, this poses more than a functionality issue. It also creates a significant safety risk.

While traditional heaters are still widely used across multiple industry niches, there's another, smarter solution. Enter, Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) heaters.

A PTC heater is safer, more reliable, and more consistent than a traditional heater. In this post, we're sharing eight reasons why you should reach for this type of heating solution on your next project. 

Ready to learn more? Let's get started.

What is a PTC Heater?

Most standard heaters come equipped with traditional resistance wires and coils to generate heat. A PTC heater eschews this setup.

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Polymer Ptc Heating Elements.

Instead, it's heating elements consist of ceramic stones, based on barium titanate. This material exhibits unique properties that allow the PTC heater to act as its sensor. The heater can run open-loop without the need for external diagnostic or feedback controls. As a result, a PTC heater eliminates any risk of overheating. It's also more efficient and dependable than its standard model counterpart, making it ideal for products requiring safe, quick, and uniform heating. 

The Important Role of PTC Materials

The role of Positive Temperature Coefficient materials are materials that demonstrate a positive resistance change as temperatures increase. 

Manufacturers can create PTC ceramics to feature different fixed temperatures that must occur before the significant resistance change happens. No matter where you set it, this point is called "The Curie Point." It is the heater's overarching temperature control point.

As the degrees grow higher, the materials' electrical resistance strengthens as well, limiting the flow of the current. Conversely, it allows the current to pass more quickly as temperatures drop. 

In other words, PTC materials restrict current flow as the threshold temperature rises, but allow it to pass as it becomes colder. These heaters operate best between -40°C and 70°C (-40°F and 158°F), and engineers can customize the threshold temperatures during the initial design phase. They can even create heaters with multiple temperature zones!

Initially, PTC heaters draw full power. This quality enables them to heat up quickly and reach their optimum temperature. As the heat goes up from there, the overall power consumption level drops in tandem.

This design results in heat that is not only effective but also fast and energy-efficient.

How a PTC Heater Can Improve Your Next Project

Now that we've covered a little more about how PTC heater technology works let's discuss the many ways that one can benefit your next industrial project.

1. Safer Heating Functionality

We'll lead with an essential benefit of PTC heaters. They allow users to achieve the same level of heat as a standard model but at a fraction of the safety risk.

Their unique design enables PTC heaters to bypass all the failure modes and pitfalls that are most often associated with resistive wire, carbon fiber, and etched foil heaters. If any malfunction does occur, the system will "fail to cold" to render the effect harmless. The portion that failed will cease to draw additional current, while the rest of the heater will function as normal.

How is this possible? It's simple: These alternative heaters don't get anywhere near as hot. While a traditional heater can run at internal temperatures that exceed 900°F (482°C), a PTC heater stays well below those limits. It also acts as its sensor, removing any opportunity for overheating.

 

2. Self-Limiting Features

Its self-regulating properties mean that as a PTC heater's resistance increases, the current within the device decreases. The heater can react to the ambient temperature around it, shutting off if it exceeds its preset temperature.

This integrated safety and security feature that helps make sure you aren't generating too much or too little heat for your project needs.

3. Self-Regulating Features

Also, a PTC heater is self-controlling and self-regulating.

A PTC heater adjusts its consumption following environmental conditions. Over time, when it achieves an optimal temperature, it's able to slow production. As it backs off, the heater can maintain its lowest output possible and preserve its temperature.

4. Intricate Heating Patterns

As mentioned above, engineers can design a PTC heater to fulfill customized heating solutions that are as intricate as required.

As you designing your units, you can place your temperature zones exactly where you want them to achieve maximum coverage. You can also change the watt density with simple modifications, and add custom holes and cutouts as desired.

This user control allows for more uniformly distributed, consistent heating. Every point on a PTC heater's surface independently maintains its set temperature, eliminating the presence of hot and cold spots.

5. Fewer Components to Contend With

A PTC heater features fewer functioning components than a standard radiator. 

There will be less wear and tear to deal with and fewer pricey pieces to replace. As an added benefit, the ceramic components of your system are less susceptible to water, chemical abrasion, and corrosion. These benefits improve the return on your investment and help ensure that your control system will last as long as possible.

The few pieces that do comprise a PTC heater are only running when required, rather than maintaining high temperatures around the clock. This quality helps keep the parts as durable and sturdy as possible. It doesn't take long for high temperatures applied at a consistent rate to wear materials down.

6. More Cost-Effective Than Traditional Models

The result is less energy use in the long run, which can save users a substantial sum of money.PTC heaters are designed to draw full power at colder temperatures, which allows them to reach their threshold temperature as fast as possible. As they achieve a steady-state, they consume less energy than traditional heaters. In addition to lower utility bills, you can enjoy other savings when you choose PTC heaters. For instance, the smaller number of parts on a PTC heater helps cut expenses associated with maintenance and upkeep.

You'll also avoid the high price of employee and system downtime, as these heaters are more reliable and high-functioning than their standard peer models. 

7. Compact and Lightweight Materials

Forget clunky traditional heaters. When you invest in a PTC heater, the system is compact and lightweight. The PTC unit's footprint as small as possible.

PTC heaters are more flexible than silicone heaters. You can even connect multiple PTC heaters in parallel to accommodate heating requirements in an extra-large space.

Though they're not bulky, these materials are far from insignificant. Innovative and efficient, they're the backbone of PTC heating technology. Creating them, however, doesn't take its toll on the environment.

Find Your Next PTC Heater Here

Now that you know a few of the top benefits they provide any industrial manufacturing environment, are you ready to find the right PTC heater you need?

If so, you've come to the right spot.

We carry a wide range of industrial PTC heating solutions, from fans and convection units to surface and air heaters, thermoelectric coolers, and advanced controls.

Feel free to browse our online inventory and contact us with any questions. We'll help you find the right part to complete your project.

Types of Heating Elements

A heating element converts electrical energy into heat through the process of Joule heating. Joule heating occurs when an electric current passing through the electrical element encounters resistance, resulting in the heating of the electrical element. This process is independent of the direction of current passing through it.

The different types of heating elements can be classified based on the material used to make them which each gives them their repective characteristics

1. Basic Heating Elements Types:
   1. Metal Heating Elements
   2. Ceramic and Semiconductor Heating Elements
   3. Thick Film Heating Elements
   4. Polymer PTC Heating Elements
2. Composite Heating Elements
3. Combination Heating Element Systems

Metal Heating Elements

Resistance Wire Heating Elements

Metallic resistance heating elements are usually a coil, ribbon (straight or corrugated), or strip of wire that gives off heat much like a lamp filament. They are used in common heating devices like floor heating, roof heating, toasters, hair dryers, industrial furnaces, pathway heating, dryers, etc. The most common classes of materials used include:

• Nickel-Chrome Alloy: Most resistance wire heating elements use nichrome 80/20 (80% nickel, 20% chromium) in wire, ribbon, or strip form. NiCr 80/20 is an ideal material because it has relatively high resistance and forms an adherent layer of chromium oxide when heated for the first time. Material beneath this layer does not oxidize thus preventing the wire from breaking or burning out.
• FeCrAl Alloy: FeCrAl Alloys or Iron Chromium Aluminium Alloys are ferromagnetic alloys whose electrical resistance properties are similar to those of Nickel-Chromium alloys making them suitable for electrical heating applications. Although the absence of nickel makes them cheaper than Nickel-Chromium alloys, it also makes them more prone to corrosion. These FeCrAl range of electric heating elements have the widest market.
• CuNi Alloy: CuNi Alloy or Copper-Nickel alloys are characterized by low electrical resistivity and low temperature coefficient of resistance. They provide good resistance against oxidation and chemical corrosion and are used for low temperature heating.
• Etched Foils: Etched foil heating elements are made from the same alloys as resistance wire elements but are produced using a subtractive photo-etching process. This process starts with a continuous sheet of metal foil and ends with a complex resistance pattern for the heating element. These heating elements are commonly found in precision heating applications like medical diagnostics and aerospace.

Ceramic and Semiconductor Heating Elements

• Molybdenum Disilicide Heating Elements: Molybdenum disilicide (MoSi2) an intermetallic compound, a silicide of molybdenum, is a refractory ceramic primarily used in heating elements. It has a moderate density, a melting point of °C and is electrically conductive. At high temperatures it forms a passivation layer of silicon dioxide, protecting it from further oxidation. The applications of these type of heating elements include heat treatment furnaces, glass manufacturing, ceramic sintering and semiconductor furnaces.
• Silicon Carbide Heating Elements: Silicon carbide heating elements offer increased operating temperatures compared to metallic heaters. Silicon carbide heating elements are used today in heat treatment of metals, the melting of glass and non-ferrous metal, production of ceramics, float glass production, electronics components manufacturing, pilot lights, gas heater igniters, etc.
• PTC Ceramic Heating Elements: PTC ceramic materials are named such for their positive thermal coefficient of resistance. A positive temperature coefficient of heating materials, often barium titanate and lead titanate composites, means that their resistance increases upon heating. While most ceramics have a negative temprature coefficient, these materials, have a highly nonlinear thermal response. Above a composition-dependent threshold temperature their resistance increases rapidly when heated. This behavior causes the material to act as its own thermostat because current passes when it is cool and does not when it is hot.
• Quartz Halogen Elements: Quartz halogen heaters are also used to provide radiant heating and cooling. These emitters heat up and cool down within seconds making them particularly suitable for systems requiring short cycle times. Heat output is also very high making these heaters useful in high heat demand or in fast moving processes such as paper, processes etc.

Thick Film Heating Elements

Thick film heating elements are resistive heating elements which can be printed on a thin substrate. Thick film heating elements have an advantages over conventional metal-sheathed resistance elements. Thick film heating elements are characterized by their low profile form factor, improved temperature uniformity, quick thermal response because of low thermal mass, low energy consumption, high power density and a wide range of voltage compatibility. Typically, thick film heating elements are printed on flat substrates and on tubes in different heater patterns. The thick film heater patterns are highly customizable based on the sheet resistance of the printed resistor paste.

These heaters can be printed on a variety of substrates including metal, ceramic, glass, polymer using metal or alloy thick film pastes. The most common substrates used to print thick film heaters are aluminum, stainless steel and muscovite or phlogopite mica sheets. The operational characteristics and uses of these heaters widely vary based on what substrate materials are chosen. This is primarily due to the thermal characteristics of the heater substrate.

There are several conventional applications of thick film heaters. For most applications, the thermal performance and temperature distribution are the two key design parameters. In order to avoid any hotspots and maintain uniform temperature distribution, the circuit design can be optimized by changing the power density of the resistor circuit. An optimized heater design helps control the heater output and modulate temperatures. They can be used in waffle irons, thermal print heads, water heaters, stove-top electric heating, cloth steamers, tea kettles, humidifiers, boilers, heated beds, heat sealing devices, cloth irons, hair straighteners, 3D printers, clothes dryers, glue guns, laboratory equipment, defogging devices, car mirrors, deicing devices, warming trays, heat exchangers, etc.

Thick film heaters can largely be characterized under two subcategories- negative temperature coefficient (NTC) or positive temperature coefficient (PTC) based on the effect of temperature increase on the element's resistance.

• The NTC or negative temperature coefficient type heaters are characterized by a decrease in resistance as the heater temperature increases, giving higher power output at higher temperatures for a given input voltage. NTC type heaters generally require a thermostat or a thermocouple to control heater temprature runaway. NTC heaters are used where a quick ramp-up of heater temperature to a predetermined set-point is required.
• The PTC or positive temperature coefficient type heaters behave in the opposite manner with an increase in resistance and decrease in heater power at elevated temperatures. This characteristic of PTC heaters make them self regulating as their output power saturates at a fixed temperature.

Polymer PTC Heating Elements

Resistive heaters can be made of conducting PTC rubber materials whose resistivity increases exponentially with increasing temperature. Such resistive heaters produce high power they are cold and rapidly heat up to a constant temperature. Due to this exponentially increasing resistivity on heating, a PTC rubber resistive heater can never heat itself to be warmer than this temperature. Above this temperature, the rubber acts as an electrical insulator. This temperature can be chosen during the production of the rubber, typical temperatures being between 0 °C and 80 °C.

Polymer PTC heating elements are point-wise self-regulating heaters and self-limiting heaters. Self-regulating means that every point of the heater independently keeps a constant temperature without the need of regulating electronics. Self-limiting means that the heater can never exceed a certain temperature in any point and requires no overheat protection.

Composite heating elements

• Tubular Sheathed Heating Elements: Tubular or sheathed elements normally comprise of a fine coil of nickel chrome resistance heating alloy wire that is located inside a metallic tube of copper or stainless steel alloys such as NiCrFe Alloy) and insulated by magnesium oxide powder. To keep moisture out of the hygroscopic insulator, the ends of the element are equipped with beads of insulating material such as ceramic or silicone rubber or a combination of both. The tube is drawn through a die to compress the powder and maximize the heat transmission. These heating elements can be in the shape of a straight rod as in toaster ovens or bent to a shape to span an area to be heated such as in electric ovens, electric stoves and automatic coffee makers.
• Screen-printed Heating Elements: These heating elements are screen-printed metal&#;ceramic tracks deposited on ceramic insulated metal (generally steel) plates. Screen-printed heating elements have found widespread application as elements in electric kettles and other domestic appliances since the mid-s.
• Radiative Heating Elements: Radiative heating elements or heat lamps are a high-powered incandescent lamp usually run at less than maximum power to radiate mostly infrared instead of visible light. These are usually found in radiant space heaters and food warmers, taking either a long, tubular form or an reflector-lamp form. The reflector lamp style is often tinted red to minimize the visible light produced; the tubular form comes in different formats:
  • Gold coated - A gold dichroic film is deposited on the inside that reduces the visible light and allows most of the short and medium wave infrared through. Mainly for heating people.
  • Ruby coated - Same function as the gold-coated lamps, but at a fraction of the cost. The visible glare is much higher than the gold variant.
  • Clear - No coating and mainly used in production processes.
• Removable Ceramic Core Heating Elements: Removable ceramic core heating elements use a coiled resistance heating alloy wire threaded through one or more cylindrical ceramic segments to make a required length which is related to the heater output, with or without a centre rod. Inserted into a metal sheath or tube sealed at one end, this type of heating element allows replacement or repair without breaking into the process involved, usually fluid heating under pressure.

Combination Heating Element Systems

Heating elements for high-temperature furnaces are often made of exotic materials, including platinum, tungsten disilicide, molybdenum disilicide, molybdenum used in vacuum furnaces and silicon carbide. Silicon carbide igniters are commonly used in gas ovens.

Laser heaters are also being used for achieving high temperatures.

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A typical heating element is usually a coil, ribbon (straight or corrugated), or strip of wire that gives off heat much like a lamp filament. When an electric current flows through it, it glows red hot and converts the electrical energy passing through it into heat, which it radiates out in all directions.