User Manual

7
Thermal Solutions Design Guide | Specifications subject to change
Custom Design Options
Heater designs to perfectly t your application
Heater outline shapes
With a 3-dimensional approach the possibilities are endless.
Select the proper Thermofoil heater insulation to meet your
electrical and thermal performance requirements while at the
same time satisfying your demanding packaging needs. Using
selective adhesive backing configurations will also promote
ease of installation of our heaters within smaller and smaller
device spaces. Minco also has tooling and lasering capabilities
which allows us to provide complex part outlines (holes, cut-
outs, radii) with very tight dimensional tolerances.
Profiled heater conductor routing
A profiled element levels out temperature gradients by
providing extra heat where losses occur, such as along
edges or around mounting holes. In a typical case, profiling
might reduce a ±25°C temperature variation across a surface
to ±5°C or better. Once the best profile is determined for
the application, Minco’s photo-etching process ensures
repeatability from heater to heater.
Methods to derive the profiling pattern include:
• Experimentation: Lay out a pattern with standard heaters
and vary the power levels until temperature reaches the
desired uniformity. Or, Minco can provide a custom heater
with separately powered zones for prototyping. Minco
will then reproduce the successful profile with a single
element.
• Finite Element Analysis (FEA): Although more expensive,
FEA modeling of thermal systems can reduce the number
of trials required to design a profiled heater. It may help to
map the temperature resulting from uniform heat input
(using a standard heater), then work backward in FEA to
derive the profiled pattern.
Other heater element options
• Dual element for redundancy and/or warm-up and
maintenance heating schemes
• Non-magnetic alloys for inductance canceling
• Dual layer constructions in order to provide higher
resistance (ohms) in small areas or for added inductance
canceling in element patterns
Minco puts the heat where
you need it, no matter how
complex the shape
Integrated SMT flex circuit
offers convenient onboard
control circuitry
Low profile flex circuit eliminates
leadwires, simplifying assembly
Exposed foil pads for use with zero
insertion force (ZIF) connectors
Minco’s Unmatched Design Options
Thermofoil heaters give you design options that other
heater types can’t match. Minco’s custom design options
can be quantified into three sections.
Element design: Element patterns, outline shapes, heat
profiles and terminations can be fine-tuned to create the
exact thermal and physical component to fit your unique
requirements. Get more information below.
Integrated components: Integrating temperature
sensors directly into the Thermofoil heater improves
your thermal control while at the same time simplifying
the end-use assembly operation.
Value-added services: Complete thermal sub-assembly
can provide a turnkey solution for your application. This
could entail factory mounting of heaters to fabricated
heat sinks, SMT control electronics to the Thermofoil
heaters, incorporated rigid multi-layer flex circuits and
connector termination.
Electrical termination
Leadwires
(standard)
• Welded leadwires make a strong,
reliable
connection. Options include different
colors, sizes, and insulating materials.
Solder pads
• Lowest cost, but limits foil/resistance
options.
Connectors
• Insulation displacement connectors
crimped onto etched leads make an
economical design. Other connector
types are available such as pin headers,
SMT and ZIF termination.
Flex circuits
• Minco can supply flex circuits integrally
connected with heaaters.