About Textile Heating Elements
Most heating element changes electrical energy into thermal energy by the current flow through an electrical resistance. The power loss depends on the resistance of the conductive materials and the applied voltage. Therefore, the temperature of the heating element depends on more factors as the thermal conductivity of the medium around the heating element or the size of the surface of the heating wire.
Textile heating elements mostly consists out of embroidered wires out of heating alloys, conductive yarns (e.g. carbon or stainless steel) or carbon coatings of fabrics. In general, the behaviour of the resistance materials are divided into two material characteristics: negative temperature coefficient (NTC) or positive temperature coefficient PTC. That means that the electrical resistance gets higher or lower with increasing temperature. Temperature regulation is often realized with pulse width modulation of the supply voltage.
The WEARIC textile heating element is included in the Smart Textiles Kit and Smart Textiles Kit with nano controller.
Applications: smart home, wearables, chairs, socks
