What is STEP Heating Element™?
The History
In 1981, the University of Linköping in Sweden searched for a product capable of replacing heating cables in car seats. A manufacturer of car seat covers was sued due to a short circuit that started a fire causing a fatal accident to an invalid unable to get out of his car.
In this project about electrically conductive plastics, the unique self-regulating STEP Heating Element™ was developed. At that time, conductive plastics already existed, but no one had managed to make a product offering the necessary stability for an overall even heat. The self-regulating element was initially used mostly for car seats, mattresses and medical applications.
In the following years, this technology was developed to meet the needs of heating in many areas, including heating residential, commercial and industrial buildings, and snow/ice-melting applications. STEP Heating Element™ has been produced in USA since 1994. Various types of the element each having different power outputs and sizes are produced and used in unique STEP systems for different applications. It has been successfully used in thousands of projects, and applied in areas totaling millions of square feet all around the world. The product won many technology awards in many significant international or North American fairs or tradeshows.
In this project about electrically conductive plastics, the unique self-regulating STEP Heating Element™ was developed. At that time, conductive plastics already existed, but no one had managed to make a product offering the necessary stability for an overall even heat. The self-regulating element was initially used mostly for car seats, mattresses and medical applications.
In the following years, this technology was developed to meet the needs of heating in many areas, including heating residential, commercial and industrial buildings, and snow/ice-melting applications. STEP Heating Element™ has been produced in USA since 1994. Various types of the element each having different power outputs and sizes are produced and used in unique STEP systems for different applications. It has been successfully used in thousands of projects, and applied in areas totaling millions of square feet all around the world. The product won many technology awards in many significant international or North American fairs or tradeshows.
Description
STEP Heating Element™ is a patented, self-regulating, thin, flat and flexible sheet heater that provides even heat with no hot spots. It is a patented, low voltage (24V, AC or DC), semi-conductive polyethylene heating mat. It is ideal for a wide range of applications that includes radiant floor heating (STEP Warmfloor™) and a limitless number of OEM applications found in the transportation, medical, veterinary, horticulture, sports, marine, military and consumer product markets.
Being self-regulating, the element will vary the heat it generates relative to the surrounding temperature. The colder the temperature, the higher the heat output and inversely, the warmer the temperature, the lower the heat output. This self-regulating characteristic allows the STEP Heating Element™ to provide even, gentle heating with no burnout as typical of constant wattage heating elements. In addition, this even heat-output allows the STEP Heating Element™ to be safely used in conjunction with a wide range of low-temperature materials such as man-made fabrics, vinyl, rubber and wood.
STEP Heating Element™ has the added safety benefit of being a low voltage device. The heaters can operate using a 5V to 30V AC or DC source. The heaters can even operate from a battery pack or a solar or wind power source. The STEP Heating Element™ can easily be incorporated into your OEM application as there are numerous widths and wattage outputs to choose from; the heaters are field cut to length to suit the application; and they can be powered from inexpensive low voltage power sources.
Being self-regulating, the element will vary the heat it generates relative to the surrounding temperature. The colder the temperature, the higher the heat output and inversely, the warmer the temperature, the lower the heat output. This self-regulating characteristic allows the STEP Heating Element™ to provide even, gentle heating with no burnout as typical of constant wattage heating elements. In addition, this even heat-output allows the STEP Heating Element™ to be safely used in conjunction with a wide range of low-temperature materials such as man-made fabrics, vinyl, rubber and wood.
STEP Heating Element™ has the added safety benefit of being a low voltage device. The heaters can operate using a 5V to 30V AC or DC source. The heaters can even operate from a battery pack or a solar or wind power source. The STEP Heating Element™ can easily be incorporated into your OEM application as there are numerous widths and wattage outputs to choose from; the heaters are field cut to length to suit the application; and they can be powered from inexpensive low voltage power sources.
Please email us with any questions:
luxon@luxon.ca
luxon@luxon.ca
