SpeedTrace Self-Regulating Heating Cable

How It Works

How Self-Regulating Cable Works

• The semi-conductive core material contains a graphite network, which allows electricity to flow from one bus wire to the other. When the core is dense and colder, there are many paths for electricity to take through the graphite network, producing more heat.
• Since the core material expands as it heats, the graphite network is elongated, disrupting some of the paths. More and more paths are disrupted as heating continues until the system reaches self-controlled thermal stability. When the core material cools, it contracts, reconnecting some of the electrical paths in the graphite network, and more equivalent heat is produced.
• This temperature response occurs independently at each point along the heater. If an externally produced high temperature occurs next to a low temperature in the cable, each section of heating cable will adjust its own heat output in relation to its own local requirements.