IQS Newsroom Articles on Infrared Heaters
About Infrared Heaters and Infrared Heater Manufacturers
Including: Door Heaters, Electric Infrared Heaters, Garage Heater, Infrared Patio Heaters, Infrared Space Heaters, Outdoor Heaters, Quartz Heaters, Radiant Gas Heaters, Radiant
Heaters, Shed Heaters, Tube Heaters & Warehouse Heaters.
Infrared heaters are
radiant heaters which heat objects, materials or living spaces by projecting invisible infrared light. Infrared light waves emitted from infrared heaters create radiant heat which warms, cooks or dries similarly to UV light; however, infrared heaters use electromagnetic radiation rather than light waves to transmit heat energy. Infrared heat waves are long electromagnetic waves located very near the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Because infrared heat does not depend on light waves or forced air to be transferred, infrared heat can penetrate materials and gases more easily than typical convection heaters or even UV lamps. Infrared heaters may be radiant gas heaters which create heat from gas-fired flames, or they may be electric infrared heaters, also known as quartz heaters. Gas-fired infrared heaters are used for larger, more industrial applications such as shed heaters,
outdoor heaters,
garage heaters, and overhead door heaters, while electric infrared heaters are typically used in as infrared space heaters, infrared patio heaters and other comfort applications. Both gas and electric infrared heaters are commonly configured as tube heaters, and the projected infrared waves are directed and/or concentrated by a series of reflectors, reducing wasted energy.
Infrared heaters are best used in areas where objects and materials require drying or heating, rather than the air within a space. Adhesive curing, drying lacquer, liquid paint curing and powder coat curing is often accomplished by infrared heaters, which cure 3 dimensional objects more thoroughly using less energy than regular convection heaters. Infrared heaters are typically found as part of a process on a production line where plastic, ceramic, food or metal products are processed. Different materials react to radiant infrared heat differently, and a material's radiant heat absorption properties are taken into consideration in all heating and curing applications. Infrared heaters are also used for space heating in areas in which central heating is impossible, such as automotive garages, wood working shops, pole barns and plane hangars. Buildings like these have large doors that allow great amounts of air to escape. Infrared door heaters are commonly used above these doorways to heat incoming cold air; infrared heaters are far more effective in this and similar applications than forced air heaters, as infrared heaters are radiant, heating the air molecules themselves rather than replacing them with other, warmer air molecules. For this reason, infrared barn heaters are commonly used in large and small scale agriculture to keep livestock warm during cold winter months.
Electric and gas-fired infrared radiant heaters have different heat emitting bodies, or heat creating sources, although both types may contain the heat emitting element within a radiating tube; infrared heaters which use filaments or heat sources within glass tubes are known generally as tube heaters. Electric infrared heaters are powered by an electrically heated tungsten wire filament encased in a heat-resistant quartz glass tube; for this reason, electric infrared heaters are also called quartz heaters. Gas-fired radiant heaters, which are usually tube heaters, convert the heat energy created by the gas flame into infrared electromagnetic radiation through filaments, tubes or ceramic heat exchangers combined with a series of reflectors. Some radiant heaters may combine fans and air movement with infrared heat to redistribute heated air molecules and spread heat around a room faster, but these are not necessary for efficient infrared heating.
Due to their high level of energy efficiency, infrared heaters are considered a green, or environmentally sustainable, product. Using infrared heaters in the place of regular forced air heaters in space heating, drying and curing applications has a large number of benefits, both environmentally and economically. Unlike most types of forced-air heaters, infrared heaters emit no harmful fumes, since infrared heat does not require air movement and therefore has no emissions. Using infrared heaters can also avoid oxygen and moisture removal from the air, making infrared heaters excellent for agricultural livestock and indoor space heating. Infrared heaters reduce fire hazard, consume far less energy than forced air heaters, and work far more quickly. Due to the radiant nature of infrared heat, infrared heaters are not effective for central heating or remote heating applications. Infrared heaters work best for the direct heating of materials and spaces.
Types of Infrared Heaters
- use elements coated in
ceramic to heat objects; often used for food or plastics.
- use
electricity to create infrared light waves and heat material or objects.
- are used to heat garages and workshops.
- are
powered by gas and use infrared light waves and reflectors to heat
objects or materials.
- move
hot gases through a tube to produce radiant energy from the tube.
Reflectors direct the heat accordingly.
- uses electromagnetic radiation.
- are
constructed to be able to be moved around fairly often without damage
or hassle.
- use propane to generate
energy to produce infrared light waves to heat as needed.
- are infrared radiant heaters used on decks, patios, and other outdoor locations.
- can be moved from one place to another.
- are what most people
are referring to when referring to infrared heaters in general.
Infrared Heaters Terms
- Measurement of heat
in scale to how much heat will raise water temperature by one degree.
- Control achieved by measuring the degree
to which the system responds compared to the desired response and using
the difference to drive the system to attain the preferred result.
- The transfer and
distribution of heat by fluid or gas, an alternative to infrared.
- Heat transfer
and distribution through a solid substance, an alternative to infrared.
- A process that improves
coating durability by heating polymeric material to form a new structure
with improved properties.
- Removes the liquid or solvent, often through heat, so
the material is dry without changing the makeup.
- The process in which part of the output is returned
to the source in order to regulate the productivity of a system
- Distributes
heated air from a central source to each room via ductwork.
- Describes heating material to dry, cure, harden
or temper it.
- A part of the electromagnetic
spectrum that is not visible to humans, but is very near to the visible
light spectrum.
- Scale of international temperature measurement.
- The highest temperature that the
sheath covering the infrared heater may reach.
- Unit of length that
is one-millionth of a meter or one-thousandth of a millimeter, short
for micrometer.
- The spray
on powdered polymer applied to a material/object, which is heated until
the coating melts over the material and is evenly
cured.
- Waves of heat
that start from a central point and move outward through the air, heating
solid objects that in turn heat
the surrounding area.
- Material put in place to bounce heat waves off of or
to direct heat to a certain area.
- Term meaning the object to which a coating or process
is being applied.
- In terms of measuring
heat, about 100,000 BTUH.
- Especially on an electromagnetic wave, the distance
that a wave progresses in the time it takes to complete a cycle.