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Canalec Inc. is pleased to announce the Canada wide launch of a new line of heaters as manufactured by the DBK Group in Europe. These heaters have cutting edge technology incorporating PTC heating elements. DBK Group is a world leader in PTC heating technology. Most consumers are not directly aware of what a “Positive Temperature Coefficient” heater is, so it may be useful to explain in greater detail. Unlike traditional heating elements that use a resistance wire such as Nichrome to generate heat, PTC heating elements are made as ceramic stones, based on barium titanate. These manufactured ceramic stones have very unique characteristics as semiconducters and their ferro-electric properties can be precisely determined during their design. In other words, if a voltage is placed across a PTC, current will flow and begin to heat the part. Initially, the resistance drops, allowing more current to flow, not unlike the “inrush of an electric motor, and thus begins to heat more quickly. Once the heater starts to rise in temperature, this ceramic element exhibits a truly remarkable feature. It reaches the point where the heat generated by the part is sufficient to make up for the loss of heat to the ambient. In this situation, the heater is in equilibrium. In other words, the resistance value of the heater has suddenly increased several times to the factor of 10, and current flow diminishes towards zero, thus making the heater self-limiting in many cases. If the ambient temperature starts to decrease, the heaters resistance will decrease drawing more current and countering the cooling tendency. Conversely, any tendency to increase its temperature has the opposite effect. The PTC ceramics can be manufactured to have different fixed temperatures at which this dramatic resistance change takes place. This temperature point is called the Curie point of the PTC heater.  Even with regards to voltage changes, the constant temperature mechanism will be effective. If the operating voltage increases, the PTC initially consumes more power, but as a result, its temperature increases more rapidly, and thus the current stabilizes more quickly at a lower level. Therefore, unlike traditional resistance wire, the performance of the PTC is not proportional to the square of the voltage as in the case of ohmic resistance. For this reason, we can use the same heater at either 120vac, or 240vac and provide essentially the same wattage output. A PTC heater can therefore be an effective low cost solution because it provides a highly efficient source of heat in a very small package and this can result in using a smaller enclosure than previously used. The heater also provides lower operating costs because the wattage constantly varies from minimum to maximum based on the temperature required. Furthermore, this feature of self-regulation will in fact offer the customer a cost savings in usage so over time, the heaters actually pay for themselves! In some cases, because PTC heaters have this self-limiting temperature characteristic, they can be operated without the traditional need of thermostatic control. Of course, there are instances where the use of a supplementary thermostat is useful, and the product line includes both an adjustable scale din rail mounted unit, as well as a low cost snap disc style that is preset to control the heater near the freezing point, or limit its maximum temperature when used as an anti-condensation heater. The heaters are very easy to install, as they come with a clip that snaps onto standard din rail, and the connection wires are already attached to the heaters. This dramatically reduces labour cost as well as miscellaneous hardware such as bolts and crimp terminals. The wattage range available is very comprehensive, ranging from just 3 watts right up to 800 watts, and the entire line carries CSA, UL, as well as most European approvals such as VDE, CE. Most of us have already had some experience with PTC style heaters without even knowing it! For example, plug-in air fresheners, heated side view mirrors, heated car seats, curling irons, expresso machines, and many styles of heating cables used for de-icing pipes have used this technology for years. Many new cars such as Audi, Mercedes, Volkswagen and others use PTC heaters from DBK in the heating duct of the car to supplement the heat provided by the car engine. There are several current projects involving PTC heaters from DBK for passenger heating in electric cars. In the product line manufactured by DBK, there are two standard product ranges: the Nimbus convective series which dissipates heat by a carefully designed extrusion that minimizes heat build-up on the heater itself, and the Cirrus series that incorporates a long life ball bearing fan motor that not only reduces the size of the heater to incredibly small proportions while circulating the heated air, but also has the added benefit of circulating air inside the enclosure even when the heating is off! Because of the inherent design temperature of PTC ceramic heat sources, the Cirrus heaters are intrinsically safe and the perfect product to install inside hazardous area enclosures. Even in the highly unlikely event of a simultaneous thermostat and fan failure, the heater would simply self regulate at a temperature far below any auto-ignition temperature! PTC style heaters have a virtually unlimited service life, and do not generate RFI noise. The integral fans on the Cirrus heaters are rated at a minimum service life of 65000 hours! Typical outdoor applications in Northern USA and Canadian marketplace are ticket dispensers, parking gates, metering boxes, pump houses, high and low voltage switchgear cabinets, train crossing control panels, outdoor fire extinguisher cabinets, crane cabs, control panels, ATM machines, surveillance cameras, liquid crystal displays, traffic light control boxes, transformer enclosures, telecommunication cabins, anti-condensation heaters, and many more. Canalec Inc. currently has a full range of inventory available from stock Montreal, as well as a free software program to help determine the correct wattage heater for each application. Contact your local distributor, or Canalec Inc. for more information. Peter A.Szikla, National Sales Manager for Canalec Inc., Tel:514-769-4013, Fax:514-769-9108 |