WATTCO Inline Heaters

In line heaters (a.k.a circulation heaters) are ideal for processing fluid, including hazardous liquids, that requires intermediate heating while maintaining a flow rate. Instead of stripping the heat from another source as it would for a heat exchanger, an In line heater simply transfers the heat generated from electrical power into the target fluid. The main characteristics of the in line heater are for efficient heat transfer, the easiness to install and to maintain, and its high range compatibility with the current standard industrial piping. Applications such as waste oil, steam and water processing can use in line heaters in order to regulate and control the temperature, but also to maintain the fluid viscosity. An improper liquid viscosity could gradually slow down the overall processing time of the production. In addition, the product’s final yield and purity could also be affected by a slight deviation of the viscosity. To avoid this type of problem, a heater inline is used to heat the fluid so that at the proper temperature, the viscosity remains unchanged and at the same time to process the medium at a desirable steady flow rate. To control the liquid flow rate of the heater, the wattage can be manipulated and regulated to obtain the desired temperature (in other words, the flow rate is directly proportional to the temperature/liquid viscosity). An in line heater is composed of an immersion heater covered by an anti-corrosion metallic vessel chamber. This casing is mainly used for insulation to prevent heat loss in the circulation system. Heat loss is not only inefficient in terms of energy usage but it would also cause unnecessary operation expenses. A pump unit is used to transport the inlet fluid into the circulation system. The fluid is then circulated and reheated in a closed loop circuit around the immersion heater continuously until the desired temperature (up to 1000°F) is reached. The heating medium will then flow out of the outlet nozzle at a fixed flow rate determined by the temperature control mechanism. Tools such as the RTDs and digital thermocouples can be used to precisely control the temperature of the heating system. For extra protection, optional components such as moisture resistant or explosion proof housing are available for special applications. Drain valves are also available on the circulation heater to facilitate the procedure with the system maintenance, whereas the leftover fluid or residues (such as water or Calcium) can be easily removed from the equipment. Special mounting options are available for the target application’s mobility requirement. The flange immersion heater inside the circulation unit can be customized by WATTCO™’s manufacturing depending on the chemical and physical properties of the target fluid. Other customization options, such as the equipment orientation (vertical or horizontal) or flange type, are also available to consider for your target application. There is a large variety of immersion heaters available in the market which can even be tailored to meet specific needs of an oil plant. The offered products can be used in a variety of applications that feature high pressure ranges or are executed in hazardous regions. Generally, whenever an immersion heater is used for heating, it is usually immersed in the solution which has to be heated. As such, the heating elements are often covered by a sheath so that they remain protected. Inline heaters comprise of heating elements that are mounted in a rounded tube. Often, the flanged heater is thermally insulated by either the side or inline operation so that the efficiency of the heating process can be increased. This is particularly done when a flowing medium has to be heated. Almost all inline heaters use thermocouple sensors that can be integrated with any control to manage the temperature range. Different applications call for varying options for terminal enclosure, sheath material, flanged connections, and temperature ranges. Several mounting options are also available such as integral mounting utilizing SCRs and remote mounting which uses contactor control panels. A vessel heater is manufactured as a packaged unit which contains several components such as heating element, chamber, thermostat, sensors, insulated material, brackets for mounting and electrical connections. The efficiency of this heater is high as all heat is produced within the substance or vessel. The operation is fast and executed in a short time. The heat generated is evenly distributed throughout the substance. Many applications make use of indusrial heaters. The most common of these are heating oils, corrosive solutions, water cooled engines, oil sump heaters, process kettles, blending mills, molding dies, steam superheating and preheating purposes such as viscosity pumping and oil delivery to burners.