If your industry relies on precision heating, a standard heating element might be costing you more than just energy. It could be affecting performance and efficiency. When your system needs to deliver variable heat in different zones, a tailored approach is essential. This is where Tempco's custom-designed coiled tubular heater stands out.
Whether you’re managing uneven heat distribution or optimizing temperature precision, understanding variable pitch is crucial. Let’s dive into the design process, challenges, and how Tempco is setting a new standard in thermal management.

What Is a Tubular Heating Element with Variable Pitch?

Imagine you’re running a production process where every second of downtime or temperature fluctuation costs you money. Now, think about the precision needed to maintain consistent, reliable heat exactly where you need it most. This is where a variable pitch coiled Tubular Heating Element comes in.
Traditionally, the turns of a cylindrical coil is spaced evenly, which means you can end up with areas that may overheat, or worse, areas that won’t have the adequate amount of heat, depending on heat sink or heat loss in the application. With a variable pitch design, the spacing between the coil's turns changes along the its length. This allows you to concentrate heat exactly where it’s needed.
In one of Tempco’s recent projects, we used a variable pitch design. One of our customers needed precise temperature control in different zones of their application. By adjusting the pitch of the helix, we were able to deliver heat exactly where needed, tailoring the system’s performance to each specific zone. The coil pitch ranged from 1 ½” to 2 ½”. This allowed the system to focus less heat concentration in the center of the helix while increasing the heat concentration at the ends of the helix. This prevented undesired effects that would be caused by an evenly pitced coil.

The result? Improved heat distribution and robustness in the overall system, enhanced performance, and reduced downtime. All of which led to significant cost savings and a more sustainable system overall.

The Design Challenges: Precision and Customization

Creating a variable-pitch coiled Tubular Heater element isn’t as simple as winding a uniform-pitch coil. The design process requires meticulous attention to detail and precise engineering. This ensures that each element meets the unique requirements of the application.
Here are some of the key challenges Tempco faced while developing the custom coil:
Uneven Cold Sections: The element needed to have an uneven cold section at both ends. This required step-by-step work instructions, process measurement, and controls through the production processes. 
Stretch Calculations: As the helix is formed, the sheath material stretches, and that stretch will affect the length of the formed coil. Through calculations, our engineers accounted for this stretch to ensure the length of the coil was as intended, so the fully formed helix could be achieved.
  
Alignment: Ensuring cold sections at both ends aligned perfectly with the heating zones was another challenge. The coil’s alignment needed to be spot-on to avoid any undesired heat or lack thereof in the heat-cold teansition zone. 

The Solution: Delivering Precision

Once the coiling process was initially completed, a skilled operator adjusted the coil's pitch by stretching and compressing using custom-designed tools and templates to meet the design requirements.
Tempco delivered a solution that not only met the customer's needs but exceeded expectations.

Why Tempco? The Benefits to Your Business

Tempco isn’t just about designing heating elements — we’re about solving your specific challenges. Our products deliver solutions that standard products can’t, whether by achieving optimal heat distribution, improving energy efficiency, or creating a more reliable system.
Is your heating system in need of a custom solution? Tempco’s engineering team is ready to work with you to create a custom solution to meet your specific needs.

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