Why mica?

Mica is a silicate mineral often used in electronics and other electric and heating applications. Rather than one distinct mineral, mica is the name used for a group of minerals that can have different chemistry depending on the other atoms within its atomic structure, like aluminum, magnesium, calcium, iron, and others. Mica’s mineral structure gives it a high electrical resistance along with resistance to light and moisture, making it a great insulator in industrial applications.

Mica helps heating elements get hot quickly, heat evenly, and cool quickly, which is why mica is often used in consumer electronics like kitchen toasters and space heaters as the heat-resistant material that supports heating elements. In mica industrial heaters, an etched foil element is sandwiched between layers of mica. Because mica heaters can reach temperatures beyond what adhesives are spec’d for, the heater is installed to a heat sink using clamps, which also allow it to distribute heat more evenly.

Our design and manufacturing process can even tailor the heating profile of a mica heater to make one part of the heater hotter than another. We do that by varying the width of the etched element. This is a standard capability of etched foil heaters, and Minco Mica Thermofoil heaters can be customized the same way.

How are mica heaters used?

The features of mica heaters make them versatile across many different industrial applications. Since they allow you to put heat where you want it while staying within a uniform temperature, they’re ideal for…

• Semiconductor processing
• Packaging, strapping, and sealing equipment
• DNA thermocycling
• Food service appliances
• Supplemental heat for plastics and rubber molding

To give you an idea of the versatility of mica heaters, one Minco customer uses Minco Mica Thermofoil heaters to fuse PVC pipes. It’s a highly exacting process that requires quick, consistent application of heat to two pipe surfaces at once. Mica is a great fit for this unique use case because it allows the user to quickly apply even, consistent heat across a large area (i.e., the diameter of the pipe’s mouth) that wouldn’t be possible with other heater types.

Advantages and disadvantages of mica heaters

Mica heaters have a few distinct advantages over other heater types. For one, they’re excellent conductors of heat, and clamping enables them to distribute it uniformly in many applications. For example, Minco Mica Thermofoil— heaters provide a broad temperature range of -150°C to 600°C (-238°F to 1112°F) and a high watt density (up to 110 W/in²) for faster processing times than conventional mica heaters. Also, while they’re often supplied flat, mica heaters can be pre-formed to curves (like inside pipes or other non-standard surfaces).

Want to know more about mica heater design?
Download the Minco Thermal Solutions Design Guide here.

Handling can be an issue with mica heaters: mica is a formed mineral sheet, which can be damaged more easily. The porous nature of mica makes it a challenge in high vacuum applications. Arguably the biggest downside to mica heaters is that they’re installed using clamps rather than adhesive or tape. Clamping enables one of the biggest benefits of mica heaters – but it also means they either have to be custom designed to account for clamping or the user is left to devise a means of clamping in the application. This customization can add cost to development, but it can pay off with lower assembly costs in production.

Comparing mica heaters to other options

If you’re in the market for industrial heaters, you may wonder what the main differences are between mica and other types of heaters. Here’s a basic rundown of their advantages and disadvantages in key areas.

Mica heaters vs. ceramic heaters

• Lifecycle: Ceramic heaters generally have a longer life expectancy than mica heaters (but this depends on the application and average heat range utilized).
• Temperatures: Mica heaters have a temperature range up to 600°C (1112°F). Ceramic heaters operate in temperatures up to about 760°C (1400°F), giving ceramic heaters a slight advantage over mica in industrial applications.
• Customizability: Mica heaters are much more customizable than ceramic heaters. That’s because mica sheets can be cut to almost any size or shape you need, making it a great material for unique or awkward applications.
• Watt density: Clamping layers of mica provides better heat transfer to the surface and a more uniform distribution. The watt density profile can be custom designed to put heat where it is needed on the heating surface. 

Mica heaters vs. cartridge heaters 

Advantages of cartridge heaters:

• More standard sizes and power options available than mica heaters.
• Can be easy to install and replace when damaged.
• Generally lower cost than mica (but not always).
• Simpler to create a vacuum or fluid seal around the heating element to lead wire exit.

Disadvantages of cartridge heaters:

• Element temperature runs higher than flexible mica Thermofoil heaters, which can lead to failures in the heating element.
• Fit to hole can change over time in cartridge heater, which can lead to changes in heating performance and failure.
• Cartridge heaters require a heatsink that is thick enough to have a hole drilled into it.
• Cartridge heaters require a thicker heatsink to allow the heat to spread out from the individual heatsink points of the cartridges.

Advantages of mica Thermofoil heaters:

• Mica heaters are more customizable than cartridge heaters.
• Mica heaters perform better in highly customized sizes, shapes and power options.
• Mica heaters make it easier to achieve higher heating surface watt densities.
• Mica doesn’t need insertion holes drilled into it, which is better for thinner heatsinks.

Disadvantages of mica Thermofoil heaters:

• Mica heaters require a clamping plate.
• Customization means they can be more expensive for simpler heating applications.
• Outgassing of the heater may be required depending on the end use.
• The wire exit area from the heater can be more fragile. 

How Minco Thermofoil Mica heaters excel

The additional investment in mica heaters means you need to be able to control as many factors of design and manufacturing as possible to increase efficiency and decrease costs. Mica heaters from Minco offer all the benefits of mica heaters along with our custom design capabilities to ensure you get exactly what you need for your application.

Additionally, we conduct thermal modeling to ensure your mica heaters meet your temperature uniformity goals. Thermal modeling can increase the efficiency of production and cut out the time and money you’d normally spend on second and third iterations of your custom-designed heater.

Interested in learning more about using mica heaters in your application?
Find more information on Minco Mica Thermofoil— heaters here.

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Minco’s New Product Introduction (NPI) process was designed to guide the development of customer projects through design and production and to maximize their quality and manufacturability, ameliorate risks, and manage expectations.

In Episode 4 of Minco’s Engineer’s Corner podcast, Engineering Director Tom Hart, managers Bryan Myers and Paul Lefief, and Manager of Product Marketing Brian Williams discuss Minco’s process and how it helps the customer create the best possible product, reduce manufacturing costs, and improve time-to-market.

Listen to the podcast below, or to learn more about NPI at Minco, read the blog post or download the sell sheet from our Product Guides folder.

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Minco has thrived for over sixty years by focusing on a number of key product groups: Heaters, Flex Circuits, and Sensors/Instruments.

In this podcast Minco Product Managers Brian Williams, Chris Clark, Darrell Hyde, and Steve Romslo discuss Minco’s strengths and capabilities, not only covering our products but also talking about our history as a manufacturer of custom solutions in applications deemed too critical to fail.

Why choose Minco? They’ll tell you!

If you’re interested in following up on the information the Product Managers shared? Read more about our product groups, download a design guide, or get in touch with a sales person via our contact page.

Planned topics for the Engineer’s Corner podcast include New Flex Product Pitfalls, an update on our temperature probe fittings, and coverage of new equipment in our factory. Subscribe on your favorite podcast aggregator today. To find more information about SmartHeat, refer to our dedicated product page, which includes links to sales literature, a product brief, a white paper, and a lot more.

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If you’re new to the Engineer’s Corner, it’s Minco’s gathering of engineering minds to talk about what we do and to share our knowledge with current and potential customers. Listen to the podcast on the following web player, or you can listen or subscribe on Apple Podcasts.

The post Engineer’s Corner Podcast #3: Common Pitfalls in Flex Circuit Design appeared first on Minco.

The marketing team at Minco is excited to share our latest project: The Engineer’s Corner podcast. We sat down with five experts to discuss one of our most fascinating products: SmartHeat SLT self-limiting heaters.

Participants included product managers Brian Williams and Steve Romslo, as well as engineers Paul Lefief, Jack Stangl, and Joe Wagner, all working in Minco’s Thermal Solutions product group. In the podcast the team talks about the advantages of the remarkable technology behind SmartHeat, which allows the heaters to operate without sensors or instrumentation. Listen and learn more about this unique product.

Planned topics for the Engineer’s Corner podcast include New Flex Product Pitfalls, an update on our temperature probe fittings, and coverage of new equipment in our factory. Subscribe on your favorite podcast aggregator today.

To find more information about SmartHeat, refer to our dedicated product page, which includes links to sales literature, a product brief, a white paper, and a lot more.

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By Brian Lindgren

Minco is great because it is international focused.  This focus is important for providing great service to customers as well as providing interesting opportunities and rewarding challenges for its employees.

Since I first started working at Minco in 1996, the global presence and engineering support to customer has increased.  I have been fortunate to be a firsthand witness to the benefits it provides to our customers and to the employees at Minco.

I left the company in 2009 to move from the USA to the Philippines with my family. In 2012, when we moved to Japan, I reconnected with the company just as they were starting a direct sales office in Tokyo.  I had the exciting opportunity to be the first engineering hire for Minco in Japan.

In the two years I was in Japan, I was able to meet with a wide variety of customers around the country at short notice.  This allowed for easier communication and collaboration on complex engineering designs.  Utilizing my experience from my previous time at Minco, I was able to provide training to new hires to the Minco Japan Office and to Minco’s local business partners.

I then went on to spend 4 years working as design engineer in the Washington D.C. area, where I was often able to take advantage of being closer to some customers in the region.  During this time, I spent more time working on a diverse range of projects with customers around the world and work with Minco’s engineers in the company’s offices in Singapore, China, and Europe.

Just recently I have moved to Estonia where I plan to add my experience to quality level of service that is already provided in the region.  Minco has had a manufacturing facility in France for many years and direct sales/engineering support from there as well.

Beside the obvious benefits to both Minco and our customers from direct communication on projects, there have often been times where Minco has been able to bring together engineers from our customer’s various global offices and share important details about projects that may have been otherwise went uncommunicated.  As customer projects move from design in one location to manufacturing in another, Minco can provide local support on both ends.

The benefits of Minco’s international focus are a closer understanding of our customer’s needs both in initial design and as a product moves into production.  Better serving our customers allows Minco to thrive in a way that provides opportunities for employees to challenge themselves and grow along with Minco and our customers.

Contact Minco to learn how our international focus can be put to work for you.

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Each year, Minco awards a recognition trophy to individuals and teams recognizing their efforts making Minco successful and a great place to work. Each week the trophy recipient(s) sign the trophy and hands it off to another group or individual where the cycle of recognition repeats throughout the year. At the end of the year, the fully signed trophy is awarded to one individual who has demonstrated outstanding achievements over the year. In recent years, the trophy has been sports related, previously including a baseball, football, and frisbee.

Last February, Minco organized a table-top curling event inspired by the Winter Olympics. This “food and fun” event was held in celebration of National Engineers Week to recognize and congratulate Minco Engineering on their instrumental role in acquiring new capital equipment, developing and launching new products, improving our processes, delivering a record amount of new custom prototypes, and many other significant improvements in 2017.

Since this event was so much fun, and keeping the tradition alive, Minco decided to 3D print a full-scale replica curling stone as the 2018 recognition trophy utilizing our new printers. The curling stone was printed via FDM (fused deposition modeling) technology in two colors. This was a fun opportunity to test and dial in settings for relatively large objects on recently acquisitioned print equipment, as well as making the recognition trophy a little more personal for its recipients. During this time, Minco has acquired and calibrated a variety of printers, allowing quick-turn fabrication of both large parts and high precision difficult (or impossible) to machine parts for mock-ups, prototypes, and fixtures at low cost.

We are excited to use our capabilities in providing our customers with quality engineering solutions and guidance; using them to show appreciation for our employees in a fun and interesting way is just a bonus. 2017 was a great year for Minco that wouldn’t have been possible without the strong work ethic and high energy of our team. 2018 is on pace to be even better, way to go Minco!

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Measuring the temperature of fluid flowing through a pipe can be critical in a variety of applications. But deploying the necessary sensors can be a challenge. There are several ways to get a sensor into the pipe, but those can be costly and complex, especially if they involve retrofitting an existing system. At the same time, taking a measurement at the surface of the pipe may not be sufficiently accurate using traditional technology, but there is a simple and accurate way to measure fluid temperature without opening the system–using surface-mounted Thermal-Ribbon sensors.

There are two ways to deploy temperature sensors in direct contact with fluid in a pipe. A sensor can be placed longitudinally in the pipe, but that has to be done either when the system is being built or by opening an existing system. These are complex and invasive processes. A second option is to place a thermowell into the system by drilling and tapping a hole in the side of the pipe and inserting a probe that remains in direct contact with the flowing liquid. (See Figure 1) Besides being a complicated and invasive process, installing a thermowell creates a significant break in the insulation around the pipe and provides a metal conduit that draws heat away from the fluid flowing in the pipe.

There are surface mounted sensors that can provide non-invasive temperature measurement at a single point on the pipe surface of a pipe. (See Figure 2) The problem with that approach is that, like a thermowell, it creates both a significant break in the pipe’s insulation and a physical conduit drawing heat away from the pipe surface. This approach virtually ensures that the reading at that point will be affected by both radiant and convective heat loss.

Using a Thermal-Ribbon for surface-mounted temperature sensing is a far simpler solution. It can be as effective as sensing inside the pipe. While the surface of an uninsulated pipe is warmed by the heated fluid and cooled by the ambient air, if the pipe is well insulated, the outside surface of the pipe will be warmed to the same temperature as the fluid. That temperature will, of course, drop within the insulating layer until it reaches the outside air. But thin, flexible Thermal-Ribbon sensors applied directly to the pipe surface under the insulating layer will measure temperature before any of the heat loss takes place. (See Figure 3)

Testing has shown that a Thermal-Ribbon can be just as accurate as a probe within the pipe or a thermowell assembly inserted into the pipe. In testing, surface-mounted ribbons are slower to respond to temperature change than a probe within the pipe, but quicker to respond than the “fast-responding” brass thermowell. Thermal-Ribbon sensors have the significant advantage over both of the alternatives of being easy to apply without opening the system or cutting into the pipe. Simply remove the pipe’s insulation, apply the ribbon to the pipe using pressure sensitive adhesive, stretch tape, or RTV cement, and replace the insulation. Rapid response and easy installation make Thermal-Ribbon sensors an ideal way of measuring the temperature of fluids flowing within a pipe.

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