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Heated clothing is an innovative technology that is gaining popularity, especially in cold climates and for outdoor athletes. Choosing the right heating element is crucial to strike a balance between warmth, comfort, durability and cost-effectiveness. Here is a comprehensive overview of the four main types of heating elements
used in heated clothing, with an in-depth consideration of their advantages and disadvantages.
1. Composite fibre
Advantages:
Composite fibre heaters consist of materials such as metal wires and carbon fibres, which together form a strong and flexible system. They are suitable for clothes that move a lot, such as gloves or jackets, as they are resistant to bending and abrasion.
Disadvantages:
The wires are often thicker, which can reduce comfort, especially with tight clothing. They do not reach high temperatures and can overheat with wrong settings. They also consume more energy, which causes batteries to run down faster.
2. Carbon Fiber (carbon fibre)
Advantages:
Carbon fibre heaters are thin, flexible and lightweight, making them comfortable and imperceptible in clothing. They heat up quickly, which is ideal for clothes that need to provide instant warmth, such as skiwear or heated socks.
Disadvantages:
Carbon fibres can break faster if there is a lot of movement, leading to cold spots. In addition, heat can be unevenly distributed and these elements are more expensive to produce, which increases the price of the clothing.
3. Nano carbon (nanocarbon)
Advantages:
Nano carbon technology provides an even heating surface thanks to thin carbon nanotubes, which is ideal for clothing such as heated vests and blankets. The fibres are soft, flexible and comfortable, while they are also energy efficient, making batteries last longer.
Disadvantages:
This technology is less suitable for clothes that experience a lot of movement or friction, as the nanotubes can be damaged. Moreover, production is costly, which increases the price of the final product and makes it less accessible to budget-conscious consumers.
4. Graphene (graphene)
Advantages:
Graphene is extremely thin, strong and thermally conductive, making it ideal for heated clothing. It provides a light, barely noticeable heating layer that heats up quickly and evenly. Due to its excellent electrical conductivity, graphene is also highly energy-efficient, resulting in longer battery life and efficient heat output.
Disadvantages:
Graphene is currently expensive to produce, which makes heated clothing with this material pricey. In addition, processing requires specialised techniques, which limits accessibility. The material also has low corrosion resistance, making it less suitable for intensive use in humid conditions, which can shorten its lifespan.
Choosing the right heating element in heated clothing depends very much on the specific requirements of the garment and its intended use. Composite fibre offers robustness and flexibility, but with a compromise on comfort and temperature management. Carbon fibre offers a good balance between rapid heating and wearing comfort, but is more susceptible to wear. Nano carbon delivers excellent heat distribution and smoothness, but is limited in application by its sensitivity to friction. Graphene represents the pinnacle of technology with unmatched performance, but comes with high cost and complexity in production.
What technology does HEATDRY Clothing use?
Shared secret, lost secret: unfortunately, we cannot reveal any information regarding which type of wiring technology we use in our products. Choosing which wiring technology to use per heated garment piece involves a complex, lengthy and intensive process. For instance, we spend months sampling heating elements and fabrics, to finally arrive at the perfect application that results in ultimate wearing comfort, a satisfactory temperature of the heating elements under different conditions, and where a certain product life is guaranteed. This process involves a lot of resources such as energy, time and money to finally achieve a result that meets our quality standards.
We work closely with our suppliers, and are involved in the development and sourcing process of the wiring technology of our heated clothing suppliers, to ultimately ensure that certain technologies work well and the clothing from our range fits well with what the customer wants. Besides the type of wiring technology, there are many other technical factors that play into the quality of the heating elements and the tactile effect when you wear it. For example, the size of the heating elements, the extent of the wiring technology and the wiring structure of the heating elements are essential to achieve certain quality standards. Possibly additional measures are needed to apply innovations to existing technologies. HEATDRY carefully chooses its materials and partnerships with suppliers, and takes extensive time to test how best to attach the heating elements to the fabrics of clothing.
