Ceramic Heater with Embedded Electrodes for Complex Patterns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional ceramic heaters face challenges in forming fine and elaborate heater patterns due to deformation and severing of heater lines during the sintering process, and they lack visual inspection capabilities for the planar arrangement of heater lines after production.
Innovation Solution
A ceramic device with a three-layered substrate structure comprising a base layer, an intermediate layer, and an overlayer, where the resistance heating element or electrode is embedded on the intermediate layer's surface, preventing deformation and allowing for visual inspection through brightness differences between layers, enabling more complex patterns and independent power supply configurations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If heater lines are made finer to improve heating efficiency, then resistance increases and heating efficiency improves, but the heater lines become more prone to severing during compression molding and sintering
Solution Approach 1:
The heater lines are embedded in the lower green body before the upper green body is formed, establishing a stable foundation that protects the lines from damage during subsequent compression molding and sintering processes
Solution Approach 2:
The lower green body acts as an intermediary medium that supports and protects the heater lines during the formation and sintering processes, preventing direct exposure to damaging forces
2Productivity
If elaborate heater patterns are formed to improve performance, then heating performance improves, but the complexity of the pattern makes the lines more susceptible to deformation and severing
Solution Approach 1:
The lower green body is prepared in advance with the heater lines embedded, creating a stable platform that maintains pattern integrity during subsequent upper green body formation and sintering
Solution Approach 2:
The ceramic heater is divided into lower and upper green bodies, with the heater lines contained in the lower portion, isolating the delicate pattern from the stresses of the overall forming process
3Ease of operation
If the heater plate is cut to form electrode terminals, then power supply is enabled, but the terminal formation process complicates the layout and limits pattern design flexibility
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode terminals are extracted and formed separately on the upper surface of the lower green body, before the upper green body is added, allowing terminal placement without interfering with the heater line pattern design
Solution Approach 2:
The terminals are positioned on the upper surface of the lower green body, utilizing the vertical dimension to separate terminal locations from the heater line pattern plane, enabling independent optimization of both
4Ease of manufacture
If compression molding is applied to form the ceramic green body, then the ceramic structure is formed, but the upper surface of the lower green body becomes frail and cannot maintain planarity
Solution Approach 1:
The heater lines are embedded in the lower green body before the upper green body is formed through compression molding, establishing the lines in a stable position before the molding stresses occur
Solution Approach 2:
The ceramic structure is segmented into lower and upper green bodies, with the heater lines contained in the lower portion that is less affected by the compression molding of the upper portion
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables the creation of finer, more elaborate patterns without deformation or severing, and allows for visual inspection of the pattern's arrangement, accommodating complex designs and independent power supply configurations.
Implementation Method 1
a resistance heating element or an electrode embedded in a ceramic substrate... having a resistance heating element or an electrode embedded in a ceramic substrate which is sintered and has a predetermined pattern extending in a planar shape
Implementation Method 2
the ceramic green body (1c) is sintered. With ceramic as the raw material, when using aluminum nitride, heating is performed in a nitrogen atmosphere at 1600° C. to 2000° C. for several hours
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides a ceramic device enabling more complex, elaborate patterns for resistance heating elements or electrodes. A ceramic device includes a ceramic substrate consisting of a ceramic sintered body and including at least a base layer, an intermediate layer laminated over the base layer, and an overlayer laminated over the intermediate layer; and an electrifiable resistance heating element or electrode having a predetermined pattern extending in a planar shape and being embedded in the ceramic substrate. A horizontal surface is defined in the upper surface of the intermediate layer, along which the resistance heating element or electrode is arranged, and the overlayer is laminated onto the upper surface of the intermediate layer to cover the resistance heating element or electrode.