JP2004071407A - Heater device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heater device with an excellent heating efficiency which can be mounted in close contact with an outer periphery face of a heated object such as a pipe or a duct with no space left between. <P>SOLUTION: The heater device has an arbitrary number of plane heaters equipped with a resistive element set on a base film in a foil shape and functioning as a heating element and a pair of electrodes formed next to the resistive element and functioning as an electric bus line, connected by welding at end parts of the pair of electrodes. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a heater device in which a plurality of planar heaters formed of a film heater are continuously provided in a longitudinal direction, and in particular, can be mounted in close contact with an outer peripheral surface of an object to be heated such as a pipe or a duct without any gap. And a heater device having excellent heating efficiency.
[0002]
[Prior art]
For example, in various plants and the like, a heater is attached to an outer peripheral portion of a pipe to prevent freezing and the like. Examples of the heater include a so-called cord-shaped heater called a “belt heater” and a “variable length heater”. When a heater having such a configuration is used, the length is arbitrarily determined at the site in accordance with the length of a heating object, for example, a pipe of a plant, and cut, and necessary construction work is performed. However, as a disadvantage when using the cord-shaped heater as described above, since the heater comes into contact with the heating target with an extremely small contact surface, there is a problem that the heating efficiency is low or the heater is heated. When fixing to an object, it is necessary to separately prepare a fixing tape or the like, and there is a problem that the fixing operation is complicated.
[0003]
A heater device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-73975 has been proposed to improve such a disadvantage. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the structure of the heater device. First, there is a base film 105, which is made of, for example, a PET film (polyester film) or the like. The lower surface of the base film 105 is an adhesive surface, and by removing a cover (not shown) attached thereto, the base film 105 can be attached to the outer surface of the object to be heated via the adhesive surface. On the base film 105, a pair of electrodes 103 and a foil-like resistor 106 functioning as a heating section are provided as patterns by etching. The pattern is formed by, for example, etching a metal such as aluminum as described above. Further, connection terminals 107 are connected to both ends of the pair of electrodes 103. The adjacent planar heaters 102, 102 thus configured are electrically connected via the connection terminal 107, and the heater device 101 is configured.
[0004]
According to the above-mentioned publication, this heater device comes into contact with the object to be heated with a relatively large contact area as compared with the conventional cord-shaped heater as described above. Also, even when mounting on a heating object, there is no need to use a separate fixing tape or the like as in the conventional cord-shaped heater as described above, and the base film cover is removed and the adhesive surface is heated. It is said that it can be mounted simply by bonding it to the surface of the object.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the heater device disclosed in the above publication has the following problems. That is, since the configuration is such that the planar heater is connected via the connection terminal, the connection portion becomes thick, and the flatness of the heater device is partially impaired. Further, since the connection terminal has poor flexibility, the connection portion cannot be deformed corresponding to the curved surface of the object to be heated. Therefore, the connection portion and the vicinity thereof are separated from the surface of the object to be heated, and it is difficult to bring the entire surface of the heater device into close contact with the surface of the object to be heated without any gap.
[0006]
The present invention has been made on the basis of the above points, and an object thereof is, for example, an excellent heating device that can be mounted in close contact with an outer peripheral surface of an object to be heated such as a pipe or a duct without any gap. An object of the present invention is to provide an efficient heater device.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, a heater device according to claim 1 of the present invention is provided in a foil shape on a base film and functions as a heating element, and is formed continuously with the resistor and functions as an electric bus. An arbitrary number of planar heaters including a pair of electrodes are prepared, and the arbitrary number of planar heaters are connected by welding at ends of the pair of electrodes. .
The heater device according to claim 2 includes a resistor provided in a foil shape on the base film and functioning as a heating element, and a pair of electrodes formed continuously with the resistor and functioning as an electric bus. An arbitrary number of planar heaters are prepared, and the arbitrary number of planar heaters are connected by welding at end portions of the pair of electrodes via a separately prepared foil-shaped conductive member. Things.
[0008]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
The base film used in the present invention is a film made of a conventionally known polymer material such as a synthetic resin, and for example, a PET film (polyester film), a polyimide film, a polyphenylene sulfide film and the like are preferably used.
[0009]
A sheet heater is formed by providing a resistor functioning as a heating element and a pair of electrodes functioning as an electric bus on the surface of the base film. For the resistor and the electrode, for example, metals such as aluminum, nickel chrome, and stainless steel are preferably used. These are patterned, for example, by processes such as etching and punching, and are obtained as a foil.
[0010]
An arbitrary number of the planar heaters thus obtained are prepared, and the arbitrary number of the planar heaters are connected by welding the ends of a pair of electrodes to obtain a heater device of the present invention. Here, as a method of connecting an arbitrary number of planar heaters, for example, after removing a base film located at an end of an electrode of the planar heater, an electrode of the removed portion is replaced with an electrode of another planar heater. It is conceivable that lap welding is applied to the end of the wire. Further, as another method, for example, a foil-shaped conductive member is overlapped on the end of the electrode of the planar heater and the end of the electrode of another planar heater, and welding is performed on a portion where the conductive member and each electrode overlap. It is conceivable to apply. As a welding method, conventionally known methods such as spot welding and parallel gap welding can be adopted.
[0011]
As the conductive member, for example, a metal such as aluminum or stainless steel in a foil or plate shape is preferably used. It is particularly preferable to use the same material as the above-mentioned electrode because welding becomes easy. The thickness of the conductive member is preferably from 0.3 to 3 when the thickness of the electrode is 1. If the thickness of the conductive member is less than 0.3, the mechanical strength (tensile strength) at the connection portion becomes insufficient, and it becomes difficult to obtain a stable electrical connection state. In this case, abnormal heating due to poor conduction or poor contact may occur. Further, when the thickness of the conductive member exceeds 3, the thickness of the entire heater device increases, and the flexibility of the connection portion decreases.
[0012]
Assuming that a plurality of, for example, four, planar heaters are connected by the above-described connection method, a circuit configuration as shown in FIG. 6 is obtained. That is, the electrodes 3 and 4 of the four sheet heaters are all connected in series to form a pair of electric buses 13 and 14. The resistors 6 of the four planar heaters are connected in parallel via the pair of electric buses 13 and 14. Therefore, the calorific value is constant at any location.
[0013]
In the heater device configured as described above, after a lead wire is connected to a predetermined position of the electrode by welding, a terminal, or the like, the heater device is attached to the object to be heated by, for example, a vertical attachment, a horizontal winding, or the like, and is actually used. Will be offered to In addition, an insulating member such as a PET film may be appropriately stacked on one or both sides of the heater device in consideration of use conditions. It is also conceivable to provide an adhesive layer on one surface of the base film or the insulating member in order to facilitate the mounting work on the object to be heated.
[0014]
The heater device of the present invention has a configuration in which an arbitrary number of planar heaters are connected by connection terminals instead of a conventional configuration in which an arbitrary number of planar heaters are connected. Therefore, the connection portion does not become thick, and the entire heater device is in a flat state. Further, since the connection portion is also excellent in flexibility, the connection portion can be deformed corresponding to a curved surface. Therefore, the heater device can be mounted in a state where the entire surface of the heater device is in close contact with the surface of the object to be heated without any gap.
[0015]
When connecting an arbitrary number of planar heaters, connection by soldering is also conceivable, but in this case, the mechanical strength (tensile strength) at the connection portion becomes insufficient, and stable electrical connection is performed. This makes it difficult to obtain a state, increases the thickness of the entire heater device, and further reduces the flexibility of the connection portion.
[0016]
【Example】
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0017]
Example 1
First, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there is a base film 5 made of a PET film having a thickness of 75 μm, and a pair of stainless films obtained by etching a stainless steel foil having a thickness of 30 μm is formed on the base film 5. The electrodes 3 and 4 and the resistor 6 are provided to form the planar heater 2. The resistance value of the resistor 6 is set to 800Ω so as to be (100V-12.5W).
[0018]
Next, in the longitudinal direction of the sheet heater 2, the sheet heaters 2 ′ produced in the same manner as above are arranged, and after removing the base film located at the ends of the electrodes 3 and 4 of the sheet heater 2, The removed electrodes 3 and 4 are overlapped on the ends of the electrodes 3 'and 4' of the planar heater 2 '. Then, welding was performed by arranging electrodes of a welding machine (not shown) at the portions where the electrodes 3, 4 and the electrodes 3 ', 4' overlapped. Thus, the heater device 1 in which the thickness of the connection portion was 135 μm was manufactured. Here, in the heater device 1, the electrodes 3, 3 'and the electrodes 4, 4' respectively function as electric buses, and the resistor 6 and the resistor 6 'are configured to be connected in parallel. Note that insulating members made of a PET film having a thickness of 50 μm were arranged on both surfaces of the heater device 1.
[0019]
Example 2
First, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, there is a base film 5 made of a PET film having a thickness of 75 μm. On this base film 5, a pair of stainless steel foils obtained by etching a stainless steel foil having a thickness of 30 μm is formed. The electrodes 3 and 4 and the resistor 6 are provided to form the planar heater 2. The resistance value of the resistor 6 is set to 800Ω so as to be (100V-12.5W).
[0020]
Next, in the longitudinal direction of the sheet heater 2, the sheet heaters 2 ′ produced in the same manner as above were arranged, and the ends of the electrodes 3 and 4 of the sheet heater 2 and the electrodes of another sheet heater 2 ′ were formed. A conductive member 7 made of stainless steel and having a length of 10 mm, a width of 8 mm, and a thickness of 50 μm is overlaid on the ends of 3 ′ and 4 ′. Then, welding was performed by arranging electrodes of a welding machine (not shown) at the portions where the electrodes 3, 4 and the conductive member 7 overlapped and at the portions where the electrodes 3 ', 4' and the conductive member 7 overlapped. Thus, the heater device 1 in which the thickness of the connection portion was 155 μm was manufactured. Here, in the heater device 1, the electrodes 3, 3 'and the electrodes 4, 4' respectively function as electric buses, and the resistor 6 and the resistor 6 'are configured to be connected in parallel. Note that insulating members made of a PET film having a thickness of 50 μm were arranged on both surfaces of the heater device 1.
[0021]
Here, the heater device 1 thus obtained was mounted on the surface of a cylindrical pipe (object to be heated) 11 having an outer diameter of 30φ as shown in FIG. 5 using an adhesive. It was confirmed that the heater device was also mounted in a state in which the entire surface thereof was in close contact with the surface of the cylindrical pipe (the object to be heated) 11 without any gap.
[0022]
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. In the above embodiment, an example in which two planar heaters are connected to form a heater device has been described. However, by the same connection method, two or more planar heaters are connected to each other, and the heating target is heated. A heater device having a predetermined length according to the length may be configured.
[0023]
【The invention's effect】
The heater device of the present invention has a configuration in which an arbitrary number of planar heaters are connected by connection terminals instead of a conventional configuration in which an arbitrary number of planar heaters are connected. Therefore, the connection portion does not become thick, and the entire heater device is in a flat state. Further, since the connection portion is also excellent in flexibility, the connection portion can be deformed corresponding to a curved surface. Therefore, the heater device can be mounted in a state where the entire surface of the heater device is in close contact with the surface of the object to be heated without any gap. Therefore, for example, it can be suitably used for a heater device attached to the outer peripheral surface of an object to be heated such as a pipe or a duct to prevent freezing.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a first embodiment of the present invention, and is a top view illustrating a structure of a heater device.
FIG. 2 is a view showing Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional view showing a connection state of a heater device.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a second embodiment of the present invention, and is a top view illustrating a structure of a heater device.
FIG. 4 is a view showing a second embodiment of the present invention, and is a cross-sectional view showing a connection state of a heater device.
FIG. 5 is a view showing the embodiment of the present invention, and is a perspective view showing a state where the heater device is mounted on the surface of the object to be heated.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention, and is a diagram illustrating a circuit configuration of a heater device.
FIG. 7 is a view showing a conventional example, and is a top view showing a structure of a heater device.
[Explanation of symbols]
Reference Signs List 1 heater device 2, 2 'planar heater 3, 3' electrode 4, 4 'electrode 5, 5' base film 6, 6 'resistor 7 conductive member 11 cylindrical pipe {object to be heated}
13 Electric bus 14 Electric bus

Claims (2)

A resistor provided in a foil shape on a base film and functioning as a heating element, and a pair of electrodes formed continuously with the resistor and functioning as an electric bus, an arbitrary number of sheet heaters including a sheet heater are prepared. A heater device comprising the arbitrary number of planar heaters connected by welding at the ends of the pair of electrodes. A resistor provided in a foil shape on a base film and functioning as a heating element, and a pair of electrodes formed continuously with the resistor and functioning as an electric bus, an arbitrary number of sheet heaters including a sheet heater are prepared. A heater device, wherein the arbitrary number of planar heaters are connected by welding to the ends of the pair of electrodes via a separately prepared foil-shaped conductive member.

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