11 Common Myths about Infrared Heat

  1. Infrared energy can be harmful: Myth. Infrared energy is naturally occurring from the sun, travelling to the earth in wavelengths, and absorbed by all objects. Every object emits and absorbs infrared naturally without harmful effects – even us.
  2. Infrared radiation is heat: Myth. Infrared radiation is electromagnetic energy that can be used to generate heat.
  3. An infrared system is only concerned with heating: Myth. There are three considerations when dealing with infrared: Absorption, Reflection, and Transmission. Infrared systems emit electromagnetic energy and an effective infrared system will deal with these 3 issues as efficiently as possible.
  4. To control temperature is to adequately control an infrared emitter: Myth. Radiation is generated by source temperature. The adjustment of temperature changes the infrared wavelength, hence the reason systems operate within a waveband output and not a wavelength output.
  5. Infrared absorption of a target material is dictated by a single spectral analysis at ambient e.g. 20ºC: Myth. The spectral analysis and spectral absorption characteristics change as the target material temperature changes. It’s important to consider the use of waveband rather than wavelength to ensure the infrared output from an emitter or system is capable of meeting the spectral absorption characteristics of the material.
  6. Emitters can be set at full values without thermocouple watch control: Myth. There’s a significant difference between starting the emitters (heaters) at an ambient temperature e.g. 20ºC and starting emitters in an ambient temperature of 400ºC. Turning on the heater at higher ambient values could result in burn out of the emitter.
  7. The design and manufacture of infrared ovens, oven controls, and the application variables are separate, independent, components of an infrared system: Myth. All of these are important elements/components. They’re essential to each other in order to create effective and successful heat work process.
  8. Temperature control systems can typically set the performance of infrared systems: Myth. This method of operation is a poor way to control radiation because temperature and % control are not developed with radiation in mind. However, these are the current and typical choices available – but should be used advisedly.
  9. Infrared emitters can be used like furnace elements: Myth. The materials used to build effective infrared emitters don’t lend themselves to being used in a furnace-like environment. If used in this way, the transmission, absorption, and reflection, together with the resulting directional qualities, are not being adequately dealt with and will lead to heat up and burn out of the emitters.
  10. Radiation can be treated in a similar fashion to conduction and convection: Myth. There are no circumstances where conduction and convection are comparable to radiation. These are three separate methods of heat transfer that do not relate to one another in any way.
  11. Environmental conditions, such as weather, have no impact on the use of Infrared: Myth. These have a huge impact. The conditions of the surroundings, such as humidity, will have a big effect on the transfer of infrared radiation.

October Festivities

Samhain is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the “darker half” of the year. Traditionally, it is celebrated from 31st October to 1st November, this also coincides with Halloween so we take this opportunity to remind all our customers and friends that this years October bank holiday is on October 28th and our offices will remain closed until 8am on Tuesday October 29th.

Patsy Bear has been getting in on the action helping set up a festive display in our foyer.

Friedr. Freek at K Show 2019

Ceramicx will be represented by our German Distributor Friedr. Freek at this week’s K-Show. This is the first time in many years Ceramicx will not be sharing the stand with Freek. We encourage you to visit their stand and discuss any enquires you may have about infrared heating.

Freek with novelties at K 2019

German-based heating element specialist Friedr. Freek presents three novelties at K-Show from 16. to 23. October in Duesseldorf. Their square cartridge heaters, alternative nozzle heaters as well as their systematic selection and optimization procedure for IR heat work applications convince by numerous mechanical, economic and ecological advantages (hall 11 / A01).

Energy savings through systematically selected infrared heaters and optimized heat work set-ups

Energy efficiency is a particularly important topic for infrared emitters. If an unsuitable emitter is selected, zoning is not appropriate or distance to target material too far a large part of the energy input could easily left untapped, hence be wasted.

To thoroughly understand the significant influence those and other parameters have on the effectiveness of infrared heat work, IR heating specialist and long-term Freek partner Ceramicx back in 2015 developed and utilizes their unique IR test robot HERSCHEL, besides other useful test rigs. How such a selection and optimization procedure is gone through and which further adjusting screws Ceramicx has discovered in their scientifically accompanied IR research and what’s more, how all this found its way into Ceramicx’ products, Freek is happy to show and demonstrate by the example of products and test reports on their K show stand, hall 11, A01.

We wish them a successful and enjoyable exhibition!

Please contact Freek or visit their website for more information on their stand and team.

Website and logo development marks a new chapter for Ceramicx

In the last issue of our in-house magazine, Heatworks 20, we told you all about our newly constructed facilities here at Ceramicx. While they’ll keep us at the forefront of the advancement of infrared heating, our update and expansion plans continue as we get ready to launch our new look website and logo.

Giving a clear identity

Over the last 25 years, our logo has evolved with us, and we’re now ready to add a new version. But as we’ve been working on the website, logo, and general refresh of our online presence, we’ve made the distinction between our customer and market differences.

Ceramicx logos

As our infrared heating solutions become a more prevalent part of our business, we want to share more of our engineering and infrared capabilities, together with case studies of our systems. Just as importantly, we also want to continue to be your one stop shop for all infrared components, parts, and systems well into the future.

Ceramicx logos

As such, we’re launching two new websites with new logos and fresh straplines, giving both a clear identity: Ceramicx infrared for industry with its green logo, and Ceramicx infrared industrial solutions with its red counterpart.

Brand evolution

The site and logo changes now give a clear distinction between the core areas of our business. But they also show our brand evolution and growth as a company and underline our commitment to giving customer satisfaction in every area.

Of course, we couldn’t have done it all on our own. Working alongside our in-house design and marketing team, the team at D2 Creative design agency did a fantastic job for us. Together with the websites, you’ll also see all the new branding online and offline in our advertising, packaging, and everything Ceramicx related over the next few months.

The main purpose for this post is to tell you about the new changes, so you won’t be too surprised when the websites look a little different on your browser. We’re really pleased with the results and we hope you like them as much as we do.

Ceramicx logos