Technical Heaters/Thermolab serves customers in markets that include industrial manufacturing, automotive, and aerospace.
By Mark Shortt
SUN VALLEY, Calif.—One of the key components in emissions testing today—whether it’s continuous emissions monitoring (CEM) or diesel emissions testing—is an electrically heated hose designed to maintain the temperature of gas as it’s transported to testing equipment. These types of specialty hoses are among the products manufactured by Technical Heaters, Inc./Thermolab, a maker of heaters, heated hose and tubing, and flexible circuits.
The Los Angeles-based company manufactures a wide range of heated hoses for applications that also include mercury emissions monitoring, stack sampling, food processing, hot melt systems, and water transfer, among others. It also manufactures flexible heaters, according to the company’s website.
In addition to emissions testing, Technical Heaters/Thermolab’s products are used in fields such as industrial manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and wastewater transfer, said Brock Jones, sales manager at Technical Heaters/Thermolab, in an emailed response.
“We custom manufacture small silicone and Kapton® heaters and electrically heated hoses to customer specifications,” Jones said. “We can build our heaters to any design the customer needs and will offer alternatives should the design be out of our scope. Our current engineering team has been together for over 15 years and continues to find ways to improve the construction of our products.”
The silicone rubber heaters produced by Technical Heaters/Thermolab are described on the company’s website as “simple, rugged, and economical, with a variety of insulation choices.” Resistant to moisture and chemicals, the silicone rubber heaters are thin, flexible, and easily bonded, and can be used in “flat positions or wrapped around curved and irregular shapes,” the company said.
The manufacturer also said it can bond silicone rubber to mating metal parts to create complete thermal sub-assemblies. “Since a perfect fit between heater and part is a vital factor in heater efficiency, metal parts are normally supplied by customers so that we can bond or vulcanize the heater to the part in our factory, and thus assure optimum contact,” the company said on its website.
Technical Heaters/Thermolab also offers Kapton® Insulated Flexible Heaters with a thin design (0.0050-inch thick) that “allows close thermal contact with the heat sink for maximum heating efficiency, and also permits close adaptation to the contours of your part,” the website stated. The lightweight, transparent, and tough heaters are said to be suited for “extremely precise applications in satellites, spacecraft, and portable instruments.”
When Technical Heaters/Thermolab moved to its current facility in the city’s Sun Valley neighborhood several years ago, the larger size of the new facility came with an added benefit. The more expansive workspace means the company can manufacture longer heated hoses.
“It allows us to extend the length of heated hoses we can [manufacture] from 200 feet continual length to 210 feet continual length,” Jones said.