Electric Heating Elements

Electric Heating Elements

Electric heating elements are heating elements used inside devices that use electricity to power themselves and create heat. These metallic components conduct heat in many electrical products and are available in various configurations. Electric heating elements are manufactured in many different sizes and shapes to fit particular applications, using heating configurations unique to the particular need.

Electric heating elements can be made from many different heat conducting materials, but they are most commonly made from metals. They are capable of generating heat in upwards of 1300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Electric heating elements are able to heat areas or items directly or indirectly. Sometimes a heater consists of nothing more than the heating element itself. In this case, the electric heating element is not a component of a larger heater or system, but serves as a product all on its own. In other cases, the electric heating element is a component of a larger system or heating device. For example, a standard hard-wired electric heater can have a central heating element and then utilize fans to force the hot air throughout a larger system of ductwork.

Electric heating elements are found in many industrial and commercial applications, including heaters, ovens, dryers, furnaces, and many other devices. Electric heating elements can be used in products that melt, cook, dry, warm, seal, and reform substances. Many commercial and consumer products also contain electric heating elements, such as hairdryers, space heaters, toasters, and irons.

Heating Element From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A heating element converts electricity into heat through the process of Joule heating. Electrical current running through the element encounters resistance, resulting in heating of the element.

Most heating elements use Nichrome wire or ribbon as the conductor. Nichrome is an ideal material, as it is inexpensive, has relatively high resistance, and does not break down or oxidize in air in its useful temperature range.

There are five kinds of commercial heating elements:

     • Bare Nichrome wire or ribbon: Either straight or coiled, usually found in toasters and hair dryers.
     • Screen printed metal/ceramic tracks deposited on ceramic insulated metal (generally steel) plates. These elements have found widespread application for kettles and other domestic applicances since the mid 1990s.
     • CalRod (sealed element): a fine coil of Nichrome wire in a ceramic binder, sealed inside a tough metal shell. These can be a straight rod (as in toaster ovens) or curved to fit in a smaller space (such as in electric stoves, ovens, and coffee makers).
     • Heat lamp: 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 R40 reflector-lamp form. The reflector lamp style is often tinted red to minimize the visible light produced; the tubular form is always clear.
     • PTC ceramic: This material is named for its Positive Thermal Coefficient of resistance. Most ceramics have a negative coefficient; most metals, a positive one. While metals do become slightly more resistant at higher temperatures, this class of ceramics (often barium titanate and lead titanate composites) has a highly nonlinear thermal response, so that it becomes extremely resistant above a composition-dependent threshold temperature. This behavior causes the material to act as its own thermostat, since current passes when it is cool, and does not when it is hot. Thin films of this material are used in automotive rear-window defrost heaters, and honeycomb-shaped elements are used in more expensive hair dryers and space heaters.