Electric Heaters Types and Terms

  • Air heaters use electricity to warm air.
  • Band heaters are o-shaped heating devices that secure around an element. They can clamp around the outside of a cylindrical element and heat from the outside or clamp around the inside.
  • Cartridge heaters are compact cylindrically shaped heaters which are used primarily for immersion applications. They also have a protective sleeve or sheath protecting the heating element from the immersion liquid.
  • Cable heaters and coil heaters are formed from straight pieces of heating cable. These heating elements are formed into coils, spiral, sinuated, star wound or other patterns.
  • Ceramic fiber heaters contain a layer of ceramic fiber insulation combined with a heating element. It is usually an industrial heater and available in cylindrical and flat configurations.
  • Circulation heaters are used primarily to heat fluid streams in motion. Fluid runs through the heater, which increases the stream temperature; any liquid or gas is generally suitable for use with a circulation heater.
  • Drum heaters are used to heat drums or their contents. Most drum heaters can accommodate various sizes of drums and many different substances.
  • Duct heaters can heat moving gas streams and heat air as it moves through the heater. It is also sometimes used to intensely heat an object at the end of a stream of gas.
  • Electric downflow heaters blow hot air down into the area needing heat and rapidly heat it to a desired level.
  • Flexible heaters are devices that may be formed to fit a variety of items. Flexible heaters are made from pliable materials such as rubber or neoprene so they can be formed to fit a variety of circumstances.
  • Foil heaters are made of flexible heater wire bonded to a thin aluminum substrate. The wire can be bended into a variety of shapes and act as the transport for the heat used.
  • Immersion heaters are used when it is necessary to immerse a heater in the material being heated. Examples of such materials can be water or liquid polymers.
  • Infrared heaters use a shield to reflect radiant heat onto a surface that is heated.  Types of infrared heaters include metal-sheathed tubular heaters, quartz tubes, quartz lamps, gas fired catalytic, flat-faced panels and ceramic emitters. (www.infraredheaters.net)
  • Over-the-side heaters are the same as immersion heaters except that they hang over the side of a tank into the heated material.
  • Radiant heaters diffuse energy heat rays in a 160 degree arc, and deliver heat evenly. They can maintain an almost uniform area temperature so that there is not more than 2 degrees variation in the space; many radiant heaters are so exact that heat can be directed to specific locations.
  • Strip heaters are electric heaters that require minimal space.
  • Thermoelectric heaters convert electric energy into heat. This is an irreversible conversion of electricity into heat; these heaters are often used for water and other fluids.
  • Tubular Heaters are used to heat air, solids or liquids generally for custom heating purposes. These can sometimes be designed for mobile jobs in various fields.

Amps - The meter-kilogram-second unit of electric current that is equivalent to the steady current produced by one volt applied across a resistance of one ohm.
 
British Thermal Unit (BTU) - Used for measuring a quantity of heat. One BTU is the quantity of heat necessary to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water 1°F.
 
Celsius - The metric temperature scale in which water freezes at zero degrees and boils at 100 degrees, designated by the symbol "C".
 
Circuit - An electrical device providing a trail for electrical current to flow.
 
Duct - An enclosure in which air is moved that is primarily constructed from sheet metal.
 
Fahrenheit - The heat scale on which water freezes at 32 degrees and boils at 212 degrees, abbreviated by the letter F.
 
Fan - A device that creates currents of air, sometimes built in electric heaters to push air out from the unit.
 
Heating Coil - Any coiled element that serves as the source of heat.
 
Heating Element - The component of the heater which is responsible for conducting the heat.
 
Hertz - In alternating current (AC electricity), the number of cycles per second, denoted hz.
 
Peltier Modules - Jean Peltier in 1834, discovered that passing an electric current through the junction of two different conductors cools or heats the junction depending on the direction of the current. The modern Peltier modules are made out of semiconductor material, and are used in thermoelectric devices.  
 
Radiationange - The distribution of energy by electromagnetic waves, of a generally long wave-length.
 
Sensor - Any device that reacts to a change in the environment being measured, by signaling of the change via audible or visual means.
 
Therm - A measurement of heat equal to 100,000 btu.
 
Thermocouple - Measures the difference in potential created at the junction of two different metal wires, which feed from the measuring instrument. (http://www.thermocouple-assemblies.com)
 
Thermostat - An automated device for controlling temperature.
 
Thyristor - A power semiconductor device with three terminals called the gate, cathode and anode. Its state becomes conductive (ON) or blocking (OFF) depending on the behavior of these terminals.
 
Volts - The difference of possibility between two points in a conducting wire with a constant current of one ampere.
 
Watts - The meter-kilogram-second unit of power equal to the power produced by a current of one ampere across a potential difference of one volt, 1/746 horsepower.