Electronic – Choice of heating element (power resistor)

heatpowerresistors

Basically I need heating element which can heat up small volume of air (lets say shoes box size) up to about 60 C degrees. I am going to use 25 V source supply with 2 A current.

What I thought about doing is:

Cp= 1.00 J/gK (air specific heat)
q=1275g/m^3 (density of air)
V=0.05m^3 (volume of air I need to heat up)
T=333.15K - 293.15K = 40 K
Lets assume room temperature is 20 C = 293.15 K

How much energy does it need to heat the 0.05m^3 volume of air:

U = cp * m * T = 1*1275*0.05*40 = 2550 J

If I want it to heat that kind of volume in 2 minutes how much watt do I need?

P=U/t = 2550/120 = 21.25 W

So I know how much watts should heating element produce, but what about ohms? Should I calculate Resistance needed by:

P=I^2 * R   where I=2A, P=21.25W 
R=21.25/4 = 5.3125 Ohms

So my resistor should be 5.3125 ohms and handle AT LEAST 21.25 W (probably much more for safety?)

I am just asking if my calculations is correct as I don't know if i am going into the right direction and doesn't have anyone to ask about it.

Thanks for any help 🙂

Best Answer

I am going to use 25 V source supply

If your supply voltage source is 25 volts then you need to use this to calculate the resistance needed.

\$Power = \dfrac{volts^2}{resistance}\$

Resistance = \$25^2 / 21.25 = 29.4\$ ohms

The error you made was to assume that your power supply will always supply 2 amps irrespective. In reality if the voltage is specified then hanging a load on the output will take precisely the current needed as defined by ohms law i.e. 0.85 amps in your case.