PTC Ceramic Heating Element With Sprayed Traces for High-Power Output
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electric heaters using PTC materials face challenges in manufacture due to the need for numerous PTC elements, which complicates production, especially for high-power applications, and require additional elements to maintain contact, making the process cumbersome and impractical.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a substrate coated with an electrically insulating ceramic layer, where a PTC ceramic layer and electrically conductive traces are deposited using thermal spraying, allowing for simple and fast production of a heating element suitable for high-power applications without additional contact elements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If a large number of PTC elements are used for high-power operation, then the power output is improved, but the manufacturing complexity and difficulty increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple discrete PTC elements into a single integrated PTC heating element by depositing a continuous PTC ceramic layer on a substrate with conductive traces. This single element design achieves high-power output (e.g., several hundred volts DC) without requiring dozens of separate PTC elements, thereby simplifying manufacturing while maintaining high power capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a discrete, modular approach (multiple separate PTC elements) to a continuous, planar approach (single PTC ceramic layer with trace patterns). This dimensional change allows current to flow through the PTC layer in a controlled manner, achieving high power output through area expansion rather than element multiplication.
2Reliability
If additional contact elements are used to maintain PTC element contact, then the reliability of contact is improved, but the device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the substrate, contact elements, and PTC heating element into a single integrated structure. The conductive traces are deposited directly on the substrate, and the PTC ceramic layer is deposited over the traces, eliminating the need for separate contact elements like leaf springs. This integration maintains reliable electrical contact while simplifying the overall structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The substrate serves as an intermediary that provides both mechanical support and electrical conduction. The conductive traces deposited on the substrate act as intermediaries to deliver current to the PTC ceramic layer, eliminating the need for additional contact elements while ensuring reliable electrical connection.
3Power
If multiple discrete PTC elements are assembled, then the desired power output is achieved, but the manufacturing throughput decreases and cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple PTC elements into a single continuous PTC ceramic layer that can be deposited in one manufacturing step. This eliminates the need to assemble dozens of separate elements, dramatically increasing manufacturing throughput and reducing labor costs while achieving the same high-power output.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical assembly of discrete PTC elements with a deposition-based manufacturing process. The PTC ceramic layer and conductive traces are deposited using thermal spraying or similar processes, enabling automated, high-speed production without manual assembly, thereby increasing productivity and reducing costs.
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 efficient, high-throughput manufacturing of PTC heating elements at moderate cost, with the ceramic layer tightly bound to the substrate, simplifying the manufacturing process and ensuring self-regulating electrical heating.
Implementation Method 1
PTC materials are materials whose electrical resistance increases when their temperature is raised. PTC materials offer an inherent degree of safety in electric heaters, in that the electrical heating of PTC materials is self-regulating: if the temperature of the PTC material is raised (e.g. due to a failure in the electric heater), then the electrical resistance of the PTC material increases, and a further raise in temperature is partly or totally inhibited.
Implementation Method 2
the coating step is performed by a thermal spraying process and the depositing step is performed by said thermal spraying process. Preferably, said thermal spraying process is a plasma spraying process.
Implementation Method 3
the substrate is made of a heat conductive metal. the electrically insulating ceramic layer is heat conductive. Accordingly, and especially in case the substrate is made of a heat conductive metal, the heat generated within the PTC ceramic layer is conducted to the substrate via the electrically insulating ceramic layer. As a result, the substrate serves as a heat exchanger, in that the substrate transmits the heat to an outside medium, such as ambient air or some other gas, or a solid, or a liquid.
Data Source
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Figure 1A
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a heating element (10, 110, 210, 310, 410) for an electric heater (1), the method comprising the following steps: - a coating step comprising coating a substrate (20) with an electrically insulating ceramic layer (30); and - a depositing step comprising depositing, on the electrically insulating ceramic layer (30), a PTC ceramic layer (40) and electrically conductive traces (50), wherein the electrically conductive traces (50) comprise at least one positive trace (51, 53) and at least one negative trace (52, 54), the positive trace (51, 53) and the negative trace (52, 54) being arranged in a spaced apart manner such that an electrical current may flow from the positive trace (51, 53) to the negative trace (52, 54) through the PTC ceramic layer (40). The invention further relates to a method for manufacturing an electric heater, and to the products obtained by the methods.