Flat infrared heaters are already available in many variants and can be installed in bathrooms, for example, to save space. In contrast, heating panels from the Finnish start-up The Warming Surfaces Company from Oulu are even thinner and less conspicuous. The developers produced wafer-thin electrical conductor tracks less than a millimeter thick, which are operated with low voltage. They should heat small rooms to a comfortable temperature quickly and efficiently.
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Originally, the flat heating loops were intended for military purposes. In this way, objects with the dimensions of a vehicle can be equipped with the heating loops on the surface in order to imitate a heat profile of a tank, for example. An opponent’s infrared cameras could be misled in this way. Only later did the company founders around Jani-Mikael Kuusisto realize that their heating loops made of copper, aluminum or a copper-zinc alloy could also be used for civil purposes.
Image 1 of 7 The flat heating loops from “The Warming Surface Company” are hidden behind thin laminate modules.
(Bild: The Warming Surfaces Company)
Together with the Portuguese laminate manufacturer Surforma, the resourceful Finns designed a prototype for efficient and almost invisible space heating. They attached the heating loops under a thin laminate, which could be heated with an adjustable DC voltage between 0 and 110 volts. These laminate modules can be mounted, for example, on the walls of a room or on larger outer surfaces of furniture. With a maximum output of 600 watts with four heating loops – each measuring 32 by 22 centimeters – an area output of 70 watts per square meter should be achievable.
According to the company, the development of series production is promising. The first products could come onto the market in the course of the coming year. The company has not yet revealed any details about the costs of the flat heating modules and the efficiency compared to infrared heaters or electric hot air systems. Even if the heating panels can probably not completely replace conventional building heating – heat pumps, district heating, gas or oil burners – they offer a smart addition to heat individual rooms quickly.
(jl)
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