Heatron| Flexible Polyimide Heater Technology from Heatron

Flexible Heaters constructed from polyimide provide design engineers with many options.  Polyimide heaters are thin, low mass, and can be manufactured into endless shapes and sizes.  The polyimide material has high dielectric strength, excellent dimensional stability, and can be formed and adhered to three dimensional shapes.  Polyimide heaters are low out gassing and resistant to radiation and most solvents.

Polyimide heaters are constructed using foil as the element.  Foil is chemically etched to create the element pattern.  This chemical etching allows designers the flexibility to distribute wattage and create heat patterns within a single heater.

Polyimide heaters can be provided with integrated temperature sensors, thermostats, and can be provided with pressure sensitive adhesive or directly bonded to a part.  Consult Heatron and collaborate with our engineers to create heater solution for your application.

Characteristics & Selection

• Insulation Characteristics
  • Transparent amber colored polyimide film.
  • Top and bottom layer of Kapton®, each with a thickness of .002"
  • Layers of adhesive (.001")
  • 001" element
  • Overall thickness of .007"
• Etched Element:
  • Better choice for high watt density heaters (those over 5 watts/ in²). Also used for watt densities of 5 or less.
  • Excellent choice for heaters that require multi-zoned wattages or heaters that have many holes and/or cutouts.
  • May provide an economic advantage for high volume applications.
  • Offers excellent circuit repeatability.
  • May not be suitable for some high resistance heaters.

Attachment Methods

• Pressure Sensitive Adhesive: Features standard adhesive with a temperature operating range of -300°F to 500°F.
• Self-Fusing Tape: Best for heaters that are to be wrapped around smooth cylinders. This product allows high watt density heaters to operate safely.
• Clamping: Clamped between metal plates or the part being heated and another rigid backing plate.

Medical & Life Sciences
Dialysis, CPAP, Blood Diagnostics, DNA Analysis, Blood Warming, Fluid Warming, Temperature Therapy, Surgical Irrigation, Sterilization, Instrument Warming, MRI Equipment.

Telecommunications
Antennas, Enclosures, Fiber Optic Amplifiers, Back-Up Battery Systems.

Transportation
Instrumentation, Battery Heating

Security
Camera Enclosures, Explosives Detection, Chemical Detection.

Energy
Fuel Cells, Power Meters

Semiconductor
Polyimide heaters can be used to heat portions of the wafer production process.  Please see the sections of our website dedicated to this important market.

Industrial
Packaging Lines, Motor Heaters, Electronic Enclosures, Freeze Protection.

Voltage
HEATFLEX heaters can be custom designed to operate from 2 to 600 volts. They are resistive and function with AC, DC or dual voltage sources. With dual voltage, you get the same heater for 110 and 220 volt equipment. HEATFLEX incorporates two circuits:  1) wired in series for the high voltage and 2) in parallel for the low voltage. These three lead wire heaters commonly use different colored wires depending on customer preference. Three phase wye or three delta can be specified for high amperage heaters.

Wattage
Distributed Wattage offers a custom configured watt density through our design and engineering process, providing added efficiency and control.  Our engineers can design different sections of the flexible heaters with different watt densities in order to compensate for edge loss on the outside perimeter of a part to supply more wattage to a given section of the part.

HEATFLEX heaters can also be designed as dual wattage heaters with independent zones. This allows the delivery of more heat for the initial heat-up of the part, but less heat to maintain the part at a given temperature.

Sensors
Heatron's Kapton® heaters and thermistors or RTD's make an excellent combination. These sensors can be mounted on the surface of the heater, and independent circuitry within the heater can be used to return the signal to the lead exit area, maintaining a desirable low profile. 

Connecting Leads
Standard leads for Kapton® heaters are Teflon insulated. Normal gauge sizes range from 24 to 28. For critical applications, such as high moisture conditions, HEATFLEX Kapton® heaters can be furnished with Kapton® insulated leads.

Agency Approvals

UL, CSA, TUV, CE available for most configurations of Heatflex Polyimide Heaters