Plane heating with a transparent heater film in a fish tank

Abstract

The water temperature in a fish tank is important for fish health. A conventional aquarium heater produces localized heating that causes water temperature variation, resulting in thermal stress to fish. This study presents plane heating with a transparent heater film that is aesthetically attractive when applied to fish tanks. The transparent heater film comprises a metal mesh with an optical transparency of 81 %, sheet resistance of 0.6 Ω/□, and mean heating surface temperature of 57 °C at 20 W. In the test setup, 100 W is applied to compare an aquarium heater and a transparent heater film. Increasing the water temperature from 23 °C to 24 °C at the center of the fish tank needs 28 min with the transparent heater film operating at 33 °C, whereas the same temperature increase needs 50 min with an aquarium heater operating at 49 °C. The planar heater thus results in enhanced heat diffusion and reduced water temperature variation due to its extended heating surface area.