Author: FERNANDO ZICARELLI (Printed Electronics Product Manager) |&nbsp;<a target="_self" href="mailto:f.zicarelli@e2ip.com" data-test-app-aware-link="">f.zicarelli@e2ip.com</a><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/e2ip-technologies/" data-test-app-aware-link="" target="_blank">E2IP TECHNOLOGIES</a> manufactures Flexible Heaters using Screen Printing Technology. We use flexible and conformable inks for the manufacturing of our heaters. Printed heaters can be manufactured in high volumes using print processes such as flatbed, rotary, and roll-to-roll presses. The size of the order and complexity of the device determines the equipment that we would use.Typical applications are Airplane/Automotive interiors, Battery and fuel cell heating, Hand tools, De-icing, Defogging, Medical, Display panels or touchscreens, Food and drink tempering, Heating for trains, mobile homes, and caravans.<figure><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1710066396502-1710066396501.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></figure><figure><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1710066396285-1710066396285.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"><figcaption>Join us and the global industry in Boston on 12 &amp; 13 June 2024. Register before early bird expires on 22 March 2024. Explore program here&nbsp;</figcaption></figure>Thermal Management Solutions is a hot topic of discussion in recent months; we at E2IP Technologies have multiple solutions for every application. We currently make 4 types of heaters: Serpentine (left picture), Resistive, PTC (right picture) and Transparent heaters (see below).Each type has its advantages and disadvantages which are highlighted below:&nbsp;A. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Serpentine heaters are made with metallic pastes which are screen printed with materials such as silver, copper, silver/carbon, graphene, and our own Silver Salt Minks. &nbsp;They are a very cost-effective solution since most of the time you only need one single printed layer of a serpentine pattern (as electricity flows through the conductive traces by applying specific voltage levels will cause the metal to heat up). &nbsp;These types of heaters are usually printed on PI, PC, PET, Kapton and TPUs.&nbsp;B. Fixed Resistance heaters combined a layer of silver paste with a resistive paste to obtain the desired value. Mixing of the resistor inks is one of the most important steps in the manufacturing of these heaters. They normally require only 2 printing steps, but a dielectric layer is sometimes added to protect from physical damage. They can be printed on PI, PC, PET, Kapton and TPUs as well.&nbsp;C. PTC heaters are made with conductive inks and a specialty formulated carbon inks (for temperature output) which are arrayed in parallel as resistors tiles. As electricity flows through the conductive traces to the carbon tiles, the temperature increases in the tiles (and so does the resistance). Both the temperature and the resistance will continue to rise until the resistance is too high for electricity to flow through (this is called the Shut-off point). Afterwards, the tiles begin to cool down until the resistance is low enough for the electricity to begin flowing again. PTC heaters normally require only 2 printing steps, but a dielectric layer is sometimes added to protect from physical damage. They can be printed on PI, PC, PET, Kapton and TPUs as well.&nbsp;D. Transparent Heaters are new to the industry and are becoming essential for LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and other applications. The technology sends beams of light towards and object and then it measures the time it takes for the reflections to be detected by the sensor. These heaters are printed grids of silver with different levels of line widths and pitch distances. 90-100% transparency is not needed for applications where defrosting and defogging is needed, but in the case of cameras and sensors, it is absolutely required. Very specific substrates are used for this technology as the surface tension is extremely important to be able to produce fine line patterns.<figure><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1710066397327-1710066397327.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></figure> Flexible printed heaters rely on a range of conductive, resistive, and dielectric pastes which are deposited on flexible substrates, such as thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU), polyester (PET) and Kapton. Through specific patterns and deposition levels, our engineers tailor flexible heaters to meet specified operating parameters based on the application. Printed heaters typically have a good bend radius which is a function of the materials used and heater thickness. A good rule of thumb for a flexible printed heater is to have a minimum bend radius of 0.4 in. (1 cm). We recommend that power supplied to the heater to be constant for the temperature to remain constant.For a Typical PTC Heater, the selection of the correct ink is essential to obtaining the desired; below you can see the temperature range and electrical specifications: <ul><li>Input voltage: 5 to 250 V (AC or DC)</li><li>Drive current: at startup less than 2 A</li><li>PTC inks available: 40°-115°C</li></ul> Thermal Management Solutions are different in most cases, we would like to encourage anyone to contact our Technical Team to discuss your application.Author: FERNANDO ZICARELLI (Printed Electronics Product Manager) |&nbsp;<a target="_self" href="mailto:f.zicarelli@e2ip.com" data-test-app-aware-link="">f.zicarelli@e2ip.com</a>Join the global industry in Boston and Berlin and let us RESHAPE the Future of Electronics.&nbsp;<a target="_self" href="https://www.techblick.com/registration" data-test-app-aware-link="">Register before 22 March 2024 for early bird rates</a><figure><img src="https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wevolver-project-images/froala%2F1710066397129-1710066397129.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii"></figure>

E2IP Technologies manufactures Flexible Heaters using Screen Printing Technology. This is one of the most important segments of printed and additive electronics with applications in cars, homes, and industrial settings. 

Thermal and Heating Solutions for Printed Electronics

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Dielectric mirrors, also called Bragg mirrors, can reflect light almost completely.&nbsp;This makes them suitable for countless applications, for example in camera systems, in microscopy, in medical technology or in sensor systems.&nbsp;Previously, these mirrors had to be manufactured in expensive vacuum equipment.&nbsp;Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now printed high-quality Bragg mirrors with inkjet printers for the first time.&nbsp;The process could open the way to the digital manufacture of tailor-made mirrors.&nbsp;The results appeared in Advanced Materials (&nbsp;<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.202201348" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1002/adma.202201348</a> ).For Bragg mirrors, several layers of material are thinly applied to a carrier.&nbsp;These mirrors, which consist of a large number of thin layers, form an optical mirror that ensures that light of a specific wavelength is reflected in a targeted manner.&nbsp;How strongly Bragg mirrors reflect depends on the materials, but also on how many layers are applied and how thick they are.&nbsp;Previously, Bragg mirrors had to be manufactured using expensive vacuum manufacturing equipment.&nbsp;The Karlsruhe team has succeeded for the first time in printing them on different media.&nbsp;This greatly simplifies production.<h2>Inks made from nanoparticles</h2>&quot;It was a great challenge to develop suitable inks and to establish a reliable process for producing multiple layers,&quot; says Professor Uli Lemmer from the Light Technology Institute (LTI) of KIT, who is responsible for the project as part of the &quot;3D Matter Made to Order&quot; Cluster of Excellence. directs.&nbsp;The components of the inks must have suitable optical properties and also be soluble.&nbsp;In addition, each layer should be as even as possible to ensure a consistent stack of layers.&nbsp;In addition, the pressure must be able to be precisely controlled and the results must be reproducible in order to reliably guarantee excellent optical properties, i.e. a high reflectivity of the Bragg mirror.&nbsp;The research team relied on nanoparticles:&nbsp;&quot;Due to the rapid development in nanochemistry, nanoparticles are becoming cheaper and more diverse,&quot; says Lemmer.&nbsp;His team used a mix of two different materials, titanium dioxide and polymethyl methacrylate, as optically active components of the inks.&nbsp;Using these inks, they were able to inkjet print the optical properties and thickness of a single layer with extreme precision.&nbsp;&quot;We achieved an ultra-high reflectivity of 99 percent with just ten double layers,&quot; says Lemmer.&nbsp;to create the optical properties and thickness of a single layer with extreme precision in inkjet printing.&nbsp;&quot;We achieved an ultra-high reflectivity of 99 percent with just ten double layers,&quot; says Lemmer.&nbsp;to create the optical properties and thickness of a single layer with extreme precision in inkjet printing.&nbsp;&quot;We achieved an ultra-high reflectivity of 99 percent with just ten double layers,&quot; says Lemmer.<h2>Printing on large and small surfaces</h2>On the one hand, the manufacturing method developed by the researchers at the LTI can be applied to very small areas down to the range of a few micrometers, so that, for example, optical components for microsystems technology or for camera systems can be easily manufactured. On the other hand, large areas such as solar modules, facade elements or advertising displays of a few square meters can also be printed. The mirrors could even be printed on flexible plastic films. &ldquo;The completely digital manufacturing process allows the production of mirror layers that are precisely tailored to the application. This is an immense advantage compared to previous production processes,&rdquo; says Lemmer.&nbsp;<hr><h3>original publication</h3>Zhang Q, Jin Q, Mertens QA, Rainer C, Huber R, Fessler J, Hernandez-Sosa G, Lemmer U. &ldquo;Fabrication of Bragg Mirrors by Multilayer Inkjet Printing&rdquo;.&nbsp;Advanced Materials 34, 2201348 (2022).&nbsp;DOI: 10.1002/adma.202201348<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.202201348" target="_blank">https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adma.202201348</a>

Colored, printed mirror layer on a film. Inkjet printing allows structuring so that large-area logos can also be printed (Photo: Qihao Jin, KIT; DOI: 10.1002/adma.202201348)

KIT researchers are developing a process with which, for the first time, mirrors with a reflection of more than 99 percent can be printed in variable sizes

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