Thermal TechnologiesIndustry
Packaging Machinery
Sealing bars, cutting and creasing tools, shrink tunnels and hot melt tanks.
Short cycles, tight tolerances on the seal, and a machine that cannot stop.
The process, and where the heat goes in
Read left to right. Each block is a place on the machine that has to be held at a temperature, coloured by how hot it runs.
Scroll the diagram sideways to see every zone.
- Coolest
- Warm
- Hot
- Hottest
Zone by zone
This table is the whole argument for the page. It maps the machine you already have to the element type that suits each position on it, and every product name links to the family page with the sizes, the options and the codes.
| Zone | Duty | Typical temperature | Swiftheat product | Why this element |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Film unwind and preheat | Gentle, radiant or air | 40 to 90 °C | Ceramic Infrared Heaters | Radiant preheat without dragging the film through hot air |
| Sealing bars and jaws | Cyclic, fast response | 120 to 250 °C | Cartridge Heaters | Bore mounted along the bar, so the seal face is even end to end |
| Long seal bars and platens | Flat surface | 120 to 220 °C | Strip Heaters | Clamped to the flat, hole pattern made to your drawing |
| Cutting and creasing tools | Cyclic, embedded | 100 to 200 °C | Cartridge Heaters | Small diameter cartridges in the tool body |
| Shrink tunnel | Air heating, high flow | 120 to 220 °C | Tubular Heaters | Finned tubular elements into the air stream |
| Hot melt tank | Liquid or block | 140 to 180 °C | Strip Heaters | Clamped to the tank wall, or cartridges into the block |
Temperatures are typical for the process and are given as a starting point. Send us the zone temperatures your machine actually runs at and we will work back to a safe loading.
Products for packaging machinery
A shortlist, not the whole catalogue.
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Cartridge Heaters
Bore mounted in moulds, platens and dies. Round, swaged, made to your length.
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Strip Heaters
Flat and gently curved surfaces, sealing bars, platens and duct air.
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Tubular Heaters
Air, liquids and surfaces. Straight, U form, W form or coiled to your drawing.
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Ceramic Infrared Heaters
Radiant surface heating, thermoforming, drying and preheating.
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Ceramic and Mica Band and Nozzle Heaters
Barrels, cylinders, pipes and injection nozzles. One piece, split, expandable or partial coverage.
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Thermocouples and Temperature Sensors
Types J, K, N, T, E, R, S, B and C, plus PT100, PT500 and PT1000 RTDs, made to length.
Application notes
An even seal face is a heater layout problem
A sealing bar heated by one cartridge in the middle is hotter in the middle. Multiple cartridges at the right pitch, or a distributed wattage element, is what gives a seal that passes at both ends of the bar. Send us the bar drawing and the seal temperature.
Cyclic duty is harder than continuous
Packaging tools switch on and off constantly. That is thermal cycling, and a heater specified for continuous running at the same wattage will not last as long. Say how many cycles an hour the machine runs.
Leads move, so protect them
On a reciprocating jaw the lead flexes every cycle. Armour or braided metal sleeve at the exit is the difference between a heater that lasts a year and one that lasts a month.
What to send us
An enquiry with these in it can be quoted the same day. An enquiry without them takes three phone calls first.
- Machine type: form fill seal, flow wrap, cartoning, shrink or labelling
- Sealing bar length, section and the existing hole pattern
- Seal temperature and cycles per hour
- Whether the heated part moves in service
- Tunnel dimensions and air flow for shrink applications
- Existing part numbers or old elements you are replacing
A photograph of the old element next to a tape measure is worth more than a paragraph of description, and a drawing is worth more than both.
Build the list instead
If you are replacing several elements at once, the list builder walks through each one, draws it as you specify it, and produces a single printable document you can send by email or on WhatsApp.
Request a quote for packaging machinery
Tell us the machine and the zone. If you are not sure which element type suits it, leave the product blank and our engineers will propose one.