Heater Fabric

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TDCraft
 
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Heater Fabric

Post by TDCraft »

I'm considering the EeonTex High-Conductivity Heater Fabric - NW170-PI-20 Product ID: 3670 for making a heated glove. I my case, I'm looking to provide uniform heat around the wrist and back of hand and leave my palm and fingers free to work. My goal is to provide enough heat that it takes the edge off the cold when I work in freezing temperatures outdoors without my fingers covered, cause it is hard to do some of my work with gloves on.
https://www.adafruit.com/product/3670#technical-details

The description says "Unlike conventional resistive wire heaters, the whole surface of the fabric is conductive, providing more uniform and foolproof heating without the discomfort, weight and hazards of wires. It functions even if punctured, cut, spindled or mutliated!" however, the video shows heat only passing between the two electrodes and certainly not heating uniformly. Viewing other forum topics such as viewtopic.php?f=19&t=167939&p=822215&hi ... ic#p822215 leads me to believe the application described is not really realistic. Then again, perhaps there is some other method of applying voltage that achieves the "uniform and foolproof heating" claimed in the description. Is there any further information to help figure out how to use this as a uniform heating element?

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: Heater Fabric

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

The images in the product photo are correct for single-point connections between the power source and the fabric. Electrons want to follow the most direct path they can, and they all have to enter and leave through the contact area of the alligator clips.

For more uniform heating, connect power through continuous wires along opposite edges of the fabric, or multiple single-point connections whose spacing is less than about 1/10th of the distance across the fabric. That will let the electrons spread out more evenly.

We did the sample photo that way because the point-to-point heatmap is more interesting than the one for uniform heat.. "yep, all yellow. It's warm all right."

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