WATTCO heaters can be installed in a tank or a container that is mounted on wheels for easy portability. (See Figure 1.) Many applications demand heat in hard-to-reach places, which require heaters to be situated and moved to nearby locations that are not known beforehand. Highly efficient flanged immersion heaters are used where heated gas or liquid is needed. The salient features of heaters on wheels are: All components such as temperature controllers and control panels are assembled in one unit. The heating element unit can also be raised up or lowered to suit the application.
WATTCO heaters are ideally suited to create a 100% dry environment using hot nitrogen. Nitrogen, an inert gas, is used extensively in processes where water can create havoc (explosion) if it comes in contact with chemicals like Silicon Tetrachloride (STC). In the polysilicon manufacturing industry where STC is used, every effort is made to ensure that vaporized STC never comes into contact with water. WATTCO immersion heaters ensure that pipes are purged with hot nitrogen and have a very high level of dryness (100%). The tank heater is equipped with temperature controller, and control panel in the same unit. In addition, the industrial heaters are also equipped with secure and stable lifting arrangements to deal with the height of the process plants. (The height can vary from 200 feet to as high as 700 feet)
A nitrogen heater consists of a WATTCO flanged immersion heater or a circulation heater, widely used in the solar photovoltaic manufacturing. The heater is mounted on a storage tank that can hold hot nitrogen primarily used for PV manufacturing. The unit is also equipped with sensors for temperature monitoring along with a control panel. These industrial heating products are certified to relevant standards such as CSA and UL.
For both the above applications, WATTCO brings flanged immersion heaters to heat gases such as nitrogen.
The direct immersion method is an efficient process. The end user must select a heater based on several factors including the type of fluid used (nitrogen in these applications) or the watt density required. A heater is characterized by its flange size or sheath material as well as (bent tubular or hairpin) element count. A preferred choice of sheath materials is INCOLOY™.
Immersion heaters are equipped with a high degree of sophistication when it comes to control temperature. Find more information on this by visiting our immersion heaters page. WATTCO also manufactures other industrial heating solutions such as infrared heaters, pipe heaters and inline heaters. Learn more about these heater elements by visiting the Our Products page.