Benefits of HEATWAVE™
Reasons to make the best choice for Heater Array Management.
Rugged
HEATWAVE™ has evolved into one of the most steadfast heater controller systems for vacuum forming or thermoforming. It is designed for mounting into a standard industrial 19" rack system (see the Rack Unit tab below). Each zone driver is fused and features an LED for visual zone state verification.
Clean
Most other vacuum forming / thermoforming heater controllers on the market still briefly switch off and back on again every half cycle during the ON period. HEATWAVE™ uses a latched state control signal which prevents this happening, thus operating with virtually no Electromagnetic emissions.
Versatile
Ceramic, quartz infra-red, halogen elements can all be controlled. A built-in diagnostics function can quickly measure the status of all zones relative to calibrated values. The generated screen report can save time in finding faults which may have developed, and allow you to quickly resolve issues and get on with the plastic forming process.
Accessible
The front line switching components are immediately visible and accessible at the front of the rack system. Fuses and even switching units themselves can be changed quickly. Thus essential basic maintenance requires very little downtime.
History of HEATWAVE™
In 2001, HEATWAVE™ began its life as a vacuum forming heater controller system factories across the North of England. Though the early systems were hand-made and not particularly rugged, they did prove to be reliable. A particular advantage of this system is its balanced architecture for system building. Even now in 2019 we are not aware of any other vacuum forming heater controller or thermoforming heater controller which uses this balanced 3-phase build architecture to implement this vital energy management function. From 2014 to 2016 the system underwent an aggressive ruggedization program after forming an alliance with VP Engineering.
The superbly engineered quality kit which retains all its original advantages makes it ideal for new builds and retro-fits alike. Applications include vacuum forming, thermoforming, automotive, aerospace, transport, packaging, traffic control, signage, shipping amongst many others.
T8 Unit
The T8 unit provides switching for 8 zones on one phase. It has a thermal transfer plate on the back of the unit, which mates with the front face of the rack unit heatsink.
Driver Rack Unit
Features 3 x T8 units at the front, one for each phase. Each T8 is clamped under tension to the front face of the heatsink. This maintains a robust thermal transfer characteristic.
Control Rack Unit
Performs the main interface function. Maintains control of all system timing and switching states.
Transient Protection Unit
Features 3 shunt high energy SIOV's which clamp transients to within the operating specifications of the switching semiconductors.
Documentation
The following documents are available to view and download:-
EMC Compliance ConsiderationsInstructions for replacing a T8 unit