Transparent foil heaters
Harsh outdoor weather conditions and temperature fluctuations – together with other sensors, optical cameras must withstand the harsh conditions of their field of application. To keep these cameras operational, their field of view must always be free of condensation and ice. Any potential compromise of their functionality can pose a real problem.
The solution: transparent foil heaters
These protect the field of view of cameras and sensors from external influences – while always ensuring maximum transparency.
Smart Heating
Transparent foil heaters are thin, flexible heating films that generate heat through electricity. They consist of conductive materials in a transparent carrier foil and offer high conductivity and transparency. Thanks to these properties, they heat up quickly and are virtually invisible when integrated into surfaces.
Their lightweight, thin design also allows installation on irregular surfaces. Moreover, their targeted, even heat distribution conserves energy by heating only the required areas, such as cameras, sensors, and displays. Thanks to the robust metal mesh technology we use in their production, they are also suitable for long-term outdoor use.
Metal-Mesh-Technologie
Metal mesh technology makes it possible to produce homogeneous, transparent, and conductive films by printing silver wires into a film equipped with a transparent coating of micro-thin copper and carbon nanotubes (CNT). These materials offer significantly lower resistance values than traditional techniques and enable the heaters to operate at low voltages, even with batteries. This result is high heat output with low power consumption.
With a transparency of over 90% in the wavelength range from 400 nm to 900 nm and resistances of up to 1 Ohm/square, this technology is ideal for robust and highly transparent heaters. These properties also make them suitable for lidar and radar systems, which are becoming increasingly important in automation applications in difficult conditions. With power densities of up to 3000 W/m² and peak temperatures of 85 degrees, it opens up a broad range of possible applications.
"Film heaters based on transparent electronics offer numerous advantages. With metal mesh technology, we can achieve significantly lower resistance values while increasing productivity. Smart heating allows us to achieve the same heat output with less power. This not only saves users time, but also energy."
- Sebastian Gepp, Head of Printed Electronics Development at KUNDISCH
Selective multimeter
This is a measuring instrument for selective current and voltage measurements on audio and low-frequency track circuits. The film heater allows its integrated LCD display to function perfectly.
Mining
Mining relies on the constant functionality of camera-based sensor systems to maximize operational reliability.
Light
The transparent film heater uses heat to prevent the formation of ice, thereby ensuring that the legal requirements for light intensity are met, even at −50 °C.
- Selective multimeter
- Mining
- Light
- Up to 3000 W/m2 and 85 °C
- Up to 93% transparency
- Suitable for use with cameras, lidar, and radar
- Specific resistance of only 1 Ohm/square
- Foil finishing by screen printing possible
- Flexible and easy to integrate, freely structurable
- Already economical in small quantities
- Diverse areas of application
The challenge in manufacturing transparent foil heaters is that they require a material that is both sufficiently conductive and transparent. Our metal mesh technology meets this requirement. This technology is used to produce homogeneous transparent and conductive foils in the form of printed layers that can be used to heat transparent surfaces. For this purpose, two silver wires are printed into the foil in order to conduct the electricity. A transparent coating is located between the two silver-printed wires. This coating consists of a mixture of micrometer-thin copper and CNTs and is both highly conductive and highly transparent. Unlike other techniques, such as ITO (indium tin oxide), the wafer-thin, barely visible material offers significantly lower resistance. This means that users achieve the same heating output with less power. The most significant advantage of a transparent film heater is its rapid heating capacity. This saves users energy and time.
Another advantage of the technology is that it allows the use of printing techniques to structure the material according to customer requirements. A rectangular coated surface cannot always be used to achieve a desired heating output with a specific set of electrical parameters, for example. We can use metal mesh technology to adapt the products precisely to the application. Furthermore, using this technology boosts productivity many times over compared to the current state of the art.
Virtually invisible, yet so effective: Transparent heaters are genuine problem-solvers in many different areas.
Transparent foil heaters are used in highly diverse areas of application, including the automotive industry, laser and radar systems for traffic control, vehicle distance measuring instruments, and many more. Whether robots, autonomous forklifts, or agricultural vehicles: Areas characterized by a high degree of automation benefit particularly from transparent foil heaters.
They are also used in medicine, for example in incubators for newborns. They can also be built into various displays, such as in e-readers. But transparent heating foils are also a true problem-solver in other areas. For example, when light bulbs whose heat prevents the formation of ice can no longer be used, transparent heating foils protect lamps otherwise susceptible to icing. This also applies to the field of measurement technology, such as climate cabinets, or agricultural engineering along with construction site vehicles and crane technology.
The production of transparent foil heaters makes sense from a quantity of 25 onwards. Their visible area should exceed 3 x 3 cm, as circulating wire heaters are no longer effective from this point. Thanks to our innovative production, we can offer you an economically attractive solution even for small quantities.
Our development times range from 6 weeks to 6 months. This depends mainly on the integration of the heaters and application-specific tests. We strive to process every order as quickly as possible.
In most cases, the transparent film heaters are bonded to a glass pane or visor using OCA adhesive. They can also be inserted into display units. Our experts integrate the heaters with the utmost precision under cleanroom conditions.
There are various types of connection options. The most common are crimp connections from film to wire using connectors with and without locks. However, rivets with ring eyelets are also often used. We adapt the connection to your individual needs.
