A control system for use in a fluid flow application includes a heater and a control device. The heater has at least one resistive heating element and the heater is operable to heat fluid. The control device determines at least one flow characteristic of a fluid flow based on a heat loss of the at least one resistive heating element and determines a mass flow rate of the fluid based on the at least one flow characteristic and a property of the at least one resistive heating element. And the property of the at least one resistive heating element includes a change in resistance of the at least one resistive heating element under a given heat flux density.

A method for operating a heater system including a resistive heating element having a material with a non-monotonic resistivity vs. temperature profile is provided. The method includes heating the resistive heating element to within a limited temperature range in which the resistive heating element exhibits a negative dR/dT characteristic, operating the resistive heating element within an operating temperature range that at least partially overlaps the limited temperature range, and determining a temperature of the resistive heating element such that the resistive heating element functions as both a heater and a temperature sensor. The resistive heating element can function as a temperature sensor in a temperature range between about 500 C. and about 800 C., and the non-monotonic resistivity vs. temperature profile for the material of the resistive heating element can have a local maximum and a local minimum.

A heater is provided that includes at least one resistive heating element having a material with a non-monotonic resistivity vs. temperature profile and exhibiting a negative dR/dT characteristic over a predetermined operating temperature range along the profile. The heater can include a plurality of circuits disposed in a fluid path to heat fluid flow.

A heater system for an exhaust system is provided. The heater system includes a heater disposed in an exhaust conduit. The heater includes a plurality of heating elements disposed in the exhaust conduit. A heating control module controls the plurality of heating elements differently according to operating conditions specific to each heating element. In other forms, the heater system for an exhaust system has a plurality of heating zones, instead of a plurality of heating elements. The heating control module controls the plurality of heating zones differently according to operating conditions specific to each heating zone.

A control system for use in a fluid flow application is provided. The control system includes a heater having at least one resistive heating element. The heater is adapted to heat the fluid flow. The control system further includes a control device that uses heat loss from at least one resistive heating element to determine flow characteristics of the fluid flow.

The present invention concerns a method for producing a plate heat exchanger (1) with a multiplicity of parting sheets (20) and a multiplicity of fins (11, 12), a fin being respectively arranged between two neighboring parting sheets, wherein at least one capillary (30) with at least one thermocouple and/or measuring resistor element (40) is introduced into at least one parting sheet (20), and wherein in each case a parting plate of the multiplicity of parting plates and a fin of the multiplicity of fins are alternately arranged and are connected to one another in a material-bonding manner, and concerns a plate heat exchanger (1) produced in such a way.

A method for assessing and improving the performance of a finned tube heat exchanger under non-uniform face velocity is disclosed. First, a mathematical analysis method of the finned tube heat exchanger under the non-uniform face velocity is established. Second, a heat exchange amount and the heat resistance of the heat exchanger are obtained. Third, a quantitative relation between the non-uniform face velocity distribution and the performance of the finned tube heat exchanger are obtained. Finally, the heat exchange amount and the heat resistance of the heat exchanger are drawn in a rectangular plane coordinate system; and the coordinate system is partitioned in accordance with change rules of the curves, so that a performance assessment diagram of the finned tube heat exchanger under the non-uniform face velocity condition is obtained.

A method may include identifying, by a device, a set of components of an optical device. The method may include determining, by the device, a set of design criteria based on the set of components of the optical device. The method may include identifying, by the device, an initial heater configuration based on the set of design criteria. The method may include determining, by the device, a set of optimization parameters for determining a target heater configuration based on the set of design criteria. The method may include performing, by the device and based on the set of optimization parameters, an optimization procedure to alter the initial heater configuration to determine the target heater configuration. The method may include providing, by the device, information identifying the target heater configuration based on performing the optimization procedure.

An inspection system for a heat exchanger having a vision system to obtain an image of an inner surface of the at least one tube.

The present invention relates to a method for determining a number of mechanical stresses (304) prevailing at different first locations in a material of a process engineering apparatus (1), wherein the number of mechanical stresses (304) prevailing at the different first locations in the material of the process engineering apparatus (1) is determined from a number of temperatures (301) prevailing at different second locations in the material of the process engineering apparatus using an empirical model (M3), the empirical model (M3) being trained by means of training data (207), which are derived using a thermos-hydraulic process Simulation model (M1) and a structural-mechanical model (M2) of the process engineering apparatus (1).