Product News

St. Louis, MO (March 5, 2007) - Watlow, a St. Louis-based provider of thermal solutions, introduces its ULTRAMIC™ 600 advanced ceramic heater. The high thermal conductivity aluminum nitride (AIN) ceramic composition is paired with a proprietary, thermally matched, heating element to enable a fast responding heater configured in a low mass package.

“Watlow’s R&D team developed the ULTRAMIC 600 heater to meet the low leakage requirements found in medical device equipment,” said Dr. Hongy Lin, principal scientist. “Numerous hours of life testing and development of proprietary techniques and practices have made all of this possible.”

With a leakage current of less than 10μA, the ULTRAMIC 600 heater makes it easier for medical devices to pass the 500μA, IEC 60601, total system requirement the first time. Plus, the ULTRAMIC 600 can often eliminate a low voltage AC or DC medical grade power supply. “With less heat and weight, your electronics package can be made smaller and lighter to the advantage of your customers,” added Dr. Lin.

The construction technique of the ULTRAMIC 600 heater is to sinter the ceramic at elevated temperatures to create a monolithic, geometrically stable structure. The result is a very low porosity, homogeneous, robust heater assembly that provides the necessary heat transfer for high temperature and long heater life.

Constructing an electric heater using sintered ceramic materials provides many benefits including high dielectric strength, a leakage current of less than 10μA, uniform temperatures, high durability at low mass, a rapid ramp rate and an extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion.

Watlow’s ULTRAMIC 600 heater can operate up to 600°C (1112°F) with a ramp rate of up to 150°C (270°F) per second depending on the application, heater design and process parameters. This heater also contains a unique (patent pending) integrated thermocouple configuration that improves the reliability of the sensor/heater interface to ensure fast responsiveness during high ramp rate applications.

Watlow’s ULTRAMIC 600 heater is available in either rectangle or ring forms and can be machined to meet specific design requirements including holes, vacuum grooves or ultra-fine surface finishes.

About Watlow
Since the company's founding in 1922, Watlow has brought its thermal expertise to numerous applications, including semiconductor, plastics processing, foodservice equipment, life sciences, power generation, aerospace and others. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, Watlow is the largest custom designer and manufacturer of industrial heaters, sensors, controllers and software with offices and manufacturing facilities around the world.