Engineered Ceramics for the Analytical, Semiconductor, Electronics, Defense, Medical, and Aerospace Industries

Advanced ceramics machining

Ceramics are inorganic, non-metallic materials made from compounds of a metal and a non-metal. They include such compounds as oxides, nitrides, and carbides. Ceramics are typically insulators (electrically and thermally), but their properties can vary widely - for instance some ceramics actually belong to the super-conductor class. Advanced ceramics, such as alumina, zirconia, silicone carbide and silicone nitride are very resistant to corrosive chemicals and high temperatures. They posses higher stiffness and lower fracture toughness than metals.

Ceramics behavior under mechanical, thermal and chemical stress differs widely from other materials such as metals, which makes machining ceramics very difficult and requires knowledge, experience, equipment, and expertise. As the need for higher performance / higher precision parts has increased, advances in ceramics machining has overcome many of yesterdays machining challenges, and today's high-tech processes are yielding extremely close tolerance parts and ultra precise shapes.

Ceramic machining is the process of shaping the advanced ceramic material into high precision parts used in industry. Machining removes unwanted material by mechanical means, using very hard abrasive particles. If the machining is done before sintering (to achieve a "near-net-shape" to save time and money), the ceramic is referred to as in the "green state". Green state machining offers considerable advantages in quality, lower production costs, and manufacturing flexibility.

Grinding, the material removal process where abrasives is used, is the most prevalent machining process for advanced ceramics. Polycrystalline diamond and cubic boron nitride are the grinding materials of choice because of their hardness. Their particles are fixed to a grinding tool (or wheel) via resin or vitreous bonding, and are turned against the ceramic part at high speeds. Variation in grinding efficiency is a challenge though, due to the constant changing state of the grinding tools because of wear and abrasion.

The following chart is a helpful reference guide to the properties of some common advanced ceramics (click on chart for larger view).

For any inquiry on precision machined ceramics or thick film ceramic heaters, contact BCE at:

21060 Corsair Blvd
Hayward, CA 94545
Phone: (510) 274-1990
Fax: (510) 274-1999
www.belilove.com
E-mail: sales@belilove.com

Happy New Year from BCE

Everyone at BCE (Belilove) would like to wish all of our customers, vendors, suppliers, families and friends a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2016!

We look forward to serving our customers and working alongside our partners and employees for our mutual success and growth.

Cheers!
The BCE Team

Electric Heating Elements in Life Science and Analytical Instruments

Life science and analytical instrumentation are designed to determine the identity and structure of inorganic and organic liquids and gases, and then detect, separate and analyze their individual compounds.

These processes require the application of heat to the sample. Very specialized heating elements are normally required to achieve the temperatures (300 deg. C to 500 deg. C) to achieve breakdown of the samples into base components. Since sample sizes are normally very small, the heating elements must also be small, react quickly, and be easy to control.

Typical applications for these heaters are mass spectrometers (MS), high performance liquid chromatographs (HPLC), other gas chromatography (GC), flow instrumentation, toxic gas analyzers, and laboratory culture instruments.

BCE is a leading designer and fabricator of high performance, highly accurate, fast responding heating elements for life science and analytical instruments.

Intrinsic Safety for Hazardous Areas Explained

Intrinsic Safety Barriers are devices that limit power delivered from a safe area into a hazardous area. The possibility of an explosion is prevented, not merely contained (by a housing or a conduit). The total energy is maintained within safe limits, not electrical energy (voltage and current), eliminating an ignition from excessive heat. The use of an intrinsically safe design offer many cost and safety advantages.

• Easy access to components - no time spent opening/closing explosion proof enclosures.
• Safety assured due to low voltage system.
• Use of standard wiring, cable runs, and light gauge cable.
• Calibration and maintenance the same as if in a general purpose area.
• No special hazardous area procedures for opening enclosures, area gas testing, or shut-down process.
• Simple use of plug-in modules.

The document below provides an excellent explanation into Intrinsic Safety and goes far more in to the background, concepts, principles, and devices used in this approach to safety in hazardous areas.

Intrinsic Safety Explained from Belilove Company-Engineers

For more information, contact:

BCE

P.O. Box 55936
21060 Corsair Blvd
Hayward, CA 94545

www.belilove.com
Phone: (510) 274-1990
Fax: (510) 274-1999
E-mail: sales@belilove.com

Immersion Heater Application Note - Cooling Tower Basin Freeze Protection

Screw plug heaters used as basin heaters on cooling towers.

Industrial electric immersion heaters, more specifically "screw plug" immersion heaters are used in many commercial and industrial applications for keeping gases and liquids flowing at required temperatures. Cooling towers use screw plug immersion heaters for freeze protection of the cooling tower basin.

Cooling towers are an important part of many HVAC systems, providing comfort or process cooling across a broad range of applications. They function to remove system heat by dissipating it to the atmosphere through an evaporative process. They are common in many industries such as chemical processing, power plants, oil refining, and steel mills, as well as many other manufacturing processes where process cooling is required. Another huge market for cooling towers are commercial buildings including airports, shopping malls, hotels, casinos, conference centers, and

Cooling tower diagram with basin heater.

medical centers.

The purpose of a basin heater is to prevent water from freezing in the cooling tower basin during periods of shutdown or standby operation.

After the water passes from the top of the tower through the distribution system, it cascades down to the collection basin at the base of the tower structure. From the collection basin, the cool water can be pumped back into the system and begin the process all over again.

As a general rule, basin heaters are normally sized to maintain a 40°F basin water temperature at a 0°F ambient condition. When the system is running, the basin heaters should be powered off as the heater isn't required due to agitation and the heat load picked up during the cooling cycle. The heaters do need to be operational when the cooling tower enters standby or is shutdown for maintenance though. Thermostats, or other on/off controls, are used to tun the heaters on below 40°F  and when the cooling tower pumps are not running. The basin heaters are intended only to keep the basin water from freezing and not intended to act as freeze protection for other pumping or filling components.

NEW BCE Clean Flow Electric Mini-Heater with Probe Assembly

Check out the new design mini heater designed to heat flowing gases and liquids. Designed and developed by BCE.

Applications

Baking, Drying, Laminating, Metal Working, Packaging, Plastic Welding, Preheating, Sealing, Soldering, Shrink Fitting, Synthetic Fabric Sewing.

Mini Clean Flow Electric Heater:

• Designed for heating of clean gas. 
• Gas flow passes over an enclosed heated body; 
• not exposed to resistive elements (ni-chrome). 
• All parts exposed to gas flow are constructed of 
• 304 stainless (other material available). 
• High temperatures and ranges are available ask a 
• BCE engineer.

BCE Clean Flow Electric Mini-Heater with Probe Assembly from Belilove Company-Engineers

Ceramic Thick Film Electric Heating Elements

Need a high performance electric heater in a low mass, low profile package? Need to put high watt density a small space? Or maybe you need to distribute wattage disproportionately to an irregularly shaped part?  Thick film ceramic heater technology is the answer!

Ceramic thick film heaters.

Ceramic thick film heaters are easily customized into a variety of shapes and sizes, and provide excellent heat transfer. Long life is assured by precise thermal matching between ceramics and resistor traces.

The heater ceramic substrates provide excellent hardness, wear resistance, and compression strength. The physical properties of the ceramic also provide optimal thermal conductivity and excellent uniformity. Thick film ceramic heaters are perfect for application in analytical equipment, life science equipment, mass spectroscopy, medical devices, semiconductor processing, packaging machines, and in applications ultra pure and chemically aggressive media.

Flexibility in Design:

Custom shapes
and designs.

• Virtually unlimited in shape or size.
• Single or double sides, one or two layers per side.
• High purity applications no problem.
• Precise control and uniformity via custom watt densities and patterns.
• Distributed wattage for ideal application of heat to part with minimal losses.
• Multiple heating zone capabilities for more precise control.
• Available in virtually any voltage, AC or DC.
• Integrated sensors including thermistors, thermostats, thermal fuses, and printed RTD's.
• Wide variety of lead configurations conforming to shock and vibration, vacuum and purity standards.

For more information contact:

BCE 
21060 Corsair Blvd
Hayward, CA 94545
Phone: (510) 274-1990
Fax: (510) 274-1999
www.belilove.com
E-mail: sales@belilove.com