User Manual

6
Thermal Solutions Design Guide | Specifications subject to change
Thermofoil™ Solutions for Heating
Industry-leading heater technology
tight control and accuracy. And, with flex circuit capabilities
and in-house pick-and-place equipment, control circuitry can
be incorporated in the same assembly to save you assembly
time and cost.
Custom tailored for better fit
Size and shape possibilities are limitless. Minco can
manufacture heaters as large as 8 feet (2.4 m) long, and smaller
than 0.25” x 0.25” (6.4 mm x 6.4 mm). You can specify intricate
geometries to follow the bumps and curves of your hardware
at the same time designing the heater for best accuracy and
reliability.
Value-added assembly
As an added service, Minco can laminate, vulcanize, or clamp
heaters to mating heat sinks. Our specialized equipment
guarantees tight bonds, high reliability, and superior
performance. We can mount the heater to your furnished parts,
or provide machined heat sinks to offer you a complete turnkey
solution.
Best fit — best price
Minco’s custom heaters are typically more cost effective than
our standard models at OEM quantities (e.g. 500+ pieces).
Start with our off-the-shelf solutions for experimentation and
proof-of-concept testing. Then, we’ll work with you to optimize
a custom solution. Contact us early in the design process so
our expert engineers can help you design the best and
most efficient heating solution available.
Flexible Thermofoil™ Heaters
Thermofoil™ heaters are thin, flexible components consisting
of an etched-foil resistive heating element laminated between
layers of flexible insulation. Since their introduction by Minco
over 55 years ago, Thermofoil heaters have demonstrated
significant advantages over conventional electric heaters.
Precise heating
Thermofoil heaters put heat where you need it. You simply
apply them to the surface of the part to be heated. The thin
construction provides close thermal coupling between the
heater element and heat sink. You can even specify profiled heat
patterns with higher watt densities in areas where heat loss is
greater.
Faster warmup and longer life
The flat foil element of Thermofoil heaters transfers heat more
efficiently, over a larger surface area, than round wire. Thermofoil
heaters, therefore, develop less thermal gradient between the
resistive element and heat sink. Heaters stay
cooler. The result is higher allowable watt densities, faster
warmup, and prolonged heater life. Thermofoil heaters can
safely run at wattages twice those of their wire-wound
equivalents. Insulation life may be ten times greater. For high
levels of reliable heat, the obvious choice is Thermofoil.
Space and weight savings
A polyimide (e.g. Kapton™) heater typically weighs only
0.009 oz/in² (0.04 g/cm²) and measures just 0.010” (0.25 mm)
thick over the element. For applications with limited space —
defense electronics, aircraft, portable medical instruments,
high density electronic devices — Thermofoil heaters deliver the
heat you need.
Custom and integrated components
Minco’s four different product lines, all coordinated in the
same facility for faster, seamless integration that can improve
your time-to-market. This makes us unique in our ability to
customize and integrate components into turnkey assemblies
and complete thermal, sensing and flex circuitry solutions. All of
our components can be designed, manufactured, and integrated
to perfectly fit your application while providing matched system
accuracy.
We can furnish heaters with integral resistance temperature
detectors (RTDs), thermocouples, thermistors, or thermostats.
Minco controllers can monitor sensors and power heaters for