Epec's Blog | Electronics Manufacturing Solutions

When talking about flexible heaters, determining the amount of efficient heat necessary for the application is required. A range of factors impacts generated electrical heat, including the materials that are used, the wattage, the voltage, the size of the heater, and the pattern of the conducive materials within the heater. One of the vital factors in designing a flexible heater revolves around Ohm's Law.

Many applications do not run as standalone systems. Instead, there will be multiple subsystems involved that can perform a variety of functions for the work output or to monitor internal systems to ensure optimal and safe performance. These systems need additional logic support to keep systems running or to improve system performance. However, there will be times when the application itself does not have these logic functions originally installed. So, another system must be added into the application to provide these functions.

One of the most common reasons for selecting a custom cable assembly is to satisfy some type of flexibility or bending requirement. Even the bulkiest of electrical cables have some sort of give to them, allowing them to form around corners or be coiled.

Customers who have products or applications using lithium-based batteries understand the risks involved in keeping the battery packs safe during manufacturing processes, when transporting them to specified locations and when they are in use.

There are many forms of Night Vision Imaging Systems (NVIS) that help our nation’s warfighters, pilots, and other professionals. Known as Night Vision Goggles (NVG), these devices are highly specialized and amplify various wavelengths of light allowing the user to “see” in darkness.

Supplying custom battery packs to companies in aerospace, medical, military, oceanography, and other industries requires the skills and technical expertise provided by quality manufacturers such as Epec. Yet, the design and build of the battery pack is often only part of the customer's order.

As printed circuit boards (PCBs) progressed, requiring their functions to be more and more complex and diverse, the number of layers increased from 1-2 layers, up to 4-30 layers, with 4-12-layer boards being more typical.

With electronics becoming more portable and lightweight, they require batteries that offer long hours of battery life before recharging. Lithium batteries are becoming common place in electronics such as smartphones, laptops, and tablets as they can last for up to 2 years to 5 years. However, failures can cause lithium battery packs to malfunction. The type of problem will be based on the construction of the battery pack, how it is charged, how it is used and handled, and environmental factors.

Polyimide flexible heaters are highly desired in industries such as aerospace, medical, food service, military, and others to provide controlled heat in specified areas in their applications. This heater type may be used in instrument panels inside aircraft to provide moisture-control properties and to prevent the systems from malfunctioning due to extreme cold temperatures at high altitudes. They may also be found in medical diagnostic devices, analytical test equipment, optoelectronic components, and many other applications.

Cable assemblies used in the medical the industries have to be biocompatible, made of a material that will not cause issues or adverse effects when coming in contact with the body. The material should not cause any type of toxicity (whether it is to the skin or to internal organs, bone, blood, or tissues) that could endanger a person's health.