US 12,169,079 B2
Heater bundle for adaptive control
Mark Everly, St. Charles, MO (US); and Louis P. Steinhauser, St. Louis, MO (US)
Assigned to Watlow Electric Manufacturing Company, St. Louis, MO (US)
Filed by Watlow Electric Manufacturing Company, St. Louis, MO (US)
Filed on Feb. 19, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/278,910.
Application 15/907,595 is a division of application No. 15/058,838, filed on Mar. 2, 2016, granted, now 10,247,445.
Application 16/278,910 is a continuation of application No. 15/907,595, filed on Feb. 28, 2018, granted, now 10,260,776.
Prior Publication US 2019/0178530 A1, Jun. 13, 2019
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. F24H 9/20 (2022.01); F24H 1/10 (2022.01); F24H 15/20 (2022.01); F24H 15/37 (2022.01); H05B 1/02 (2006.01); H05B 3/04 (2006.01); H05B 3/48 (2006.01); H05B 3/82 (2006.01); F24H 15/128 (2022.01); F24H 15/25 (2022.01)
CPC F24H 9/2028 (2013.01) [F24H 1/103 (2013.01); F24H 15/20 (2022.01); F24H 15/37 (2022.01); H05B 1/0283 (2013.01); H05B 3/04 (2013.01); H05B 3/48 (2013.01); H05B 3/82 (2013.01); F24H 15/128 (2022.01); F24H 15/25 (2022.01); H05B 2203/014 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of controlling a heating system comprising:
providing at least one heater assembly including an outer heating surface for heating a heating target outside the outer heating surface, the heater assembly comprising a plurality of heater units disposed along a length of the heater assembly and enclosed within the outer heating surface of the heater assembly, and a plurality of power conductors extending through the plurality of heater units, each heater unit including a resistive heating element defining an independently controlled heating zone;
supplying power to the resistive heating elements in the independently controlled heating zones through the plurality of power conductors, the power conductors electrically connected to the resistive heating element in each of the independently controlled heating zones;
determining a temperature within the independently controlled heating zones; and
automatically modulating power supplied to the resistive heating element in each of the independently controlled heating zones through the power conductors in response to the determined temperature by using a controller to change a heat output of at least one of the heating zones to provide a desired heat distribution along a length of the outer heating surface of the heater assembly.