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SINOMAS | Customized Heating
SINOMAS | Customized Heating

Flexible Heating Elements

Flexible heating elements are widely used for low to medium wattage technical heating. Flexible refers not only to the physical feature of the heating elements, but also to the convenience for custom development to fit specific demands.

Resistive Foil Circuit - the Core of Flexible Heaters
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Etched resistive foil of a silicone heater

In contrast to heating wires used in high power tubular heaters, etched foil circuits are used in most flexible heating elements. The etched foils have exceptional heat transfer due to their large flat contact surface. With the same design flexibility as flexible printed circuits (FPC), either even heat distribution or multiple heating zones can be achieved.

Resistive foil circuits can be produced by chemical etching or laser patterning, the latter being particularly useful for rapid prototyping or large-size heaters. The material of our resistive foil can be:

  1. copper: low resistance circuit, not suitable for high temperature applications
  2. stainless steel: most popular choice
  3. FeCrAl (Kanthal): high resistivity, high temperature resistant
  4. Inconel 600: high temperature and corrosion resistant

The choice of material will be made by our design engineer based on the specification of the heater. Please let us know in advance if you have special considerations.

Insulation Materials
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Flexible heater is a general term which is not so often used. The following product names are better known to the end users. They are defined by the insulation materials used in flexible heating elements.

Purpose of Application
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When supplementary heating is needed, there are often several ways to achieve the purpose. For the following applications, flexible heating elements have certain advantages over other options, for example long service life, space saving, direct-contact heating, etc.

For some applications, for example heating in electronic devices, probably only flexible heating elements can do the job. Whatever you name it, when you need a precise technical heating solution, we are the right partner to support you.