Which Heater Is Right For Your Industry?

Which Heater Is Right for Your Industry?

Common Heaters Used by OEMs Across a Variety of Sectors

Heater manufacturers produce a variety of heaters tailored to meet the specific demands of OEMs in the plastics packaging, rubber and plastics, aerospace, food and beverage, medical, and healthcare industries. We’re providing a breakdown of the common heaters used in each sector, along with their general functions.

General Overview of Heater Use

• Plastics: Heaters maintain process temperature for forming and molding.
• Packaging: Heaters are used for a variety of applications such as sealing, shrinking, forming, drying, and sterilization.
• Rubber and Plastics: Heaters ensure proper vulcanization and molding.
• Aerospace: Heaters are critical for de-icing and temperature-sensitive avionics.
• Food and Beverage: Heaters control cooking, sterilization, and drying processes.
• Medical and Healthcare: Heaters are integrated into diagnostic and patient care devices for precise temperature control and sterilization.

• Cartridge Heaters: these heaters provide localized heat for molds, nozzles, and hot runner systems, ensuring the plastic material flows smoothly and forms the correct shapes. They are also widely used in dies and packaging equipment to ensure proper flow and sealing of targeted processes.
• Band Heaters: This includes a wide family of heaters made of a variety of materials like mica, ceramic, and aluminum. All provide surface heat. Starflex style heaters provide the added feature of heating and cooling, or cooling only.
• Coil Heaters: Can be used in heat sealing and shrink-wrapping machines, they provide rapid, consistent heat to seal packaging materials, ensuring package integrity.
• Flexible Heaters: Integrated into thermoforming and vacuum forming machines, flexible heaters provide even heat distribution for plastic sheet processing.
• Immersion Heaters: These style heaters come in a wide range of styles, but most often they are used to heat liquids used in plastics processing, such as water baths, oil baths, and chemical solutions.

• Cartridge Heaters: Inserted in holes and used for heating dies, molds. They are often used in hot stamping, thermoforming, and sealing machines.
• Band Heaters: Used to heat cylindrical surfaces such as barrels, pipes, and a wide range of machinery components.
• Infrared Heaters: These emit radiation for fast surface heating. Applications include shrink wrapping, curing coatings, and drying inks.
• Hot Air Heaters: Generate and circulate heated air. These are widely used in shrink tunnels, drying processes, and heat-shrinking of films.
  
  

3. Rubber and Plastics Industry

• Band Heaters: Commonly used in extrusion and injection molding processes, band heaters wrap around barrels or dies to provide uniform heating for plastic or rubber materials. They ensure the correct processing temperatures for extrusion or molding.
• Cartridge Heaters: These are inserted into molds or heating plates to provide high-watt-density heating, which is essential for vulcanizing rubber or molding plastic parts.
• Strip Heaters: Often used in presses or molds, strip heaters provide heat over large, flat surfaces, ideal for curing, pressing, or laminating rubber and plastic components. Ceramic strip heaters are a great option if insertion into channels is required. These heaters provide high temperature ratings and high watt density.

• Flexible Heaters: Frequently used in de-icing systems, avionics, and sensors, flexible heaters prevent frost, condensation, or ice from forming on critical aerospace components such as wings, sensors, and cameras.
• Polyimide Heaters: These lightweight, thin, and durable heaters are used for heating in high-altitude or space applications where temperature control is critical, such as on satellites or sensitive aerospace equipment.
• Silicone Rubber Heaters: Used in applications that require flexible, moisture-resistant heating, such as in cockpit instruments or components exposed to varying environmental conditions.

• Immersion Heaters: These heaters are used for heating liquids, such as water, oils, or syrups, in food processing tanks, cooking vats, and pasteurization systems. Immersion heaters ensure precise temperature control for cooking, sterilization, or heating processes.
• Strip Heaters: Common in baking and drying applications, strip heaters provide consistent heat across large surface areas such as conveyor belts, cooking plates, or drying chambers.
• Oven Heaters: Used in industrial ovens for baking, roasting, or drying, oven heaters provide precise and even heat for food preparation, ensuring product quality and safety.

• Cartridge Heaters: These are used in medical devices, such as sterilizers, diagnostic equipment and surgical tools, to provide controlled heating for precision applications. They maintain or elevate the temperature needed for sterilization or functioning of medical instruments.
• Flexible Heaters: Integrated into devices such as blood warmers, fluid heaters, and patient warming systems, flexible heaters provide safe and consistent heat, crucial for maintaining patient safety and comfort.
• Ceramic Heaters: These are used in medical equipment that requires high-temperature heating, such as sterilizers, where consistent and reliable heat is essential for eliminating pathogens. Backer Marathon manufactures ceramic band heaters and ceramic strip heaters.

• Flexible Heaters: Used in patient monitoring and diagnostic systems to ensure the precise operation of temperature-sensitive components. In patient care, these heaters provide controlled warmth in beds, blankets, or physiotherapy devices.
• Silicone Rubber Heaters: Employed in fluid and blood warming systems, silicone rubber heaters provide precise temperature control to ensure safe delivery of warmed fluids and medications to patients.

A Variety of Heaters Are Available to OEMs

Selecting the right heater is critical for OEMs across diverse industries, including plastics packaging, rubber and plastics, aerospace, food and beverage, and medical and healthcare. Each sector requires specific heating solutions that cater to its unique processes and standards. From cartridge and coil heaters in plastics packaging to flexible heaters in aerospace de-icing systems and immersion heaters in food processing, the variety of heater types available ensures that manufacturers can maintain optimal temperatures and enhance product quality. In the medical and healthcare fields, specialized heaters, such as ceramic and silicone rubber heaters, are essential for precise temperature control, ensuring patient safety and equipment reliability.

By understanding the capabilities and functions of these heaters, OEMs can make informed decisions that optimize their manufacturing processes, improve efficiency, and meet regulatory standards. Ultimately, partnering with an experienced heater manufacturer will help businesses address their specific heating needs effectively and drive success in their respective markets.

Each of these industries relies on custom heaters that meet their specific demands for efficiency, product quality, safety, and precision. Backer Marathon has extensive experience in customizing heating solutions to meet the precise manufacturing and processing needs and applications requirements of OEMs in the industries we serve, while maintaining compliance with industry standards.

Why Backer Marathon

Backer Marathon is the industry leader in production speed, and reliable, quality heaters for plastics and packaging, serving OEMs with durable, customized solutions for unique heating needs since 1996. We design, manufacture, and stock industrial-grade heating elements and temperature sensors. Engineers have live, on-demand access via phone and Teams, to our trained technical experts who have been pioneers in this sector for decades.

How can Backer Marathon’s experts help you today? Nosotros hablamos español. Contact us today to discuss your next project.