Film heaters
Film heaters using Canatu CNT provide clear field of vision for ADAS systems to function in any weather.
In harsh weather, sensors get covered with ice, fog, and snow, risking reliable ADAS sensor ranging. The Canatu film heater keeps sensors clear, enabling autonomous driving in any weather. These wire-free film heaters offer industry-leading optical performance with high transmittance and minimal scattering. They provide fast, uniform, and power-efficient heating across the sensor cover, eliminating common issues associated with traditional metallic heating wires, such as thermal gradients, hotspots, and obstruction of the view.
Film heater benefits:
- Industry-leading optical performance: high transmittance in VIS / NIR range
- Fast, uniform, and power-efficient heating
- 3D formable and in-moldable enabling design freedom for complex geometries
- Customized to meet specific optical and heating requirements
- Automotive-grade reliability
High optical performance
The Canatu film heaters feature high transmittance in visual and near infrared range. They are completely wire-free, enabling event heating without optical distortion. Canatu film heaters exhibit ultra-low haze, minimal light scattering and they preserve wavefront uniformity, making them ideal for the most demanding optical applications.
Even and power-efficient heating
Carbon nanotubes are one of the best thermal conductivity materials. In fact, CNTs are 1000x more conductive than copper. Applied on a plastic substrate, Canatu CNTs form a very thin coating with very small thermal resistance, providing even and power-efficient heating across the whole area. The Canatu film heaters are also energy-efficient, using 40% less energy compared to wire heaters, which means you get the same heating performance with lower power consumption.
Design freedom for complex geometries
Our film heater can be 3D formed before integration if desired. Our material is highly stretchable (>200%) and can be bent with the bending radius of only 1mm. Film heaters using Canatu CNT can be thermoformed or high-pressure formed into any 3D shape, offering design freedom for complex geometries.
Easy integration by FIM or lamination
Canatu film heaters can be seamlessly integrated into the plastic cover lens through film insert molding. For the glass lens, the heater can be sandwiched between interlayers and laminated between B and C glass surfaces, or it can be laminated behind the glass on the D glass surface.
Download technical data
Download further information on our film heaters for LiDARs, cameras and headlights.
Download technical data
LiDAR heaters
Reliable LiDAR systems are critical in the development of autonomous driving. Key challenge in the automotive LiDAR adoption is reliable sensor performance in inclement weather. Accumulation of snow and ice on LiDAR sensor cover can cause perception challenges preventing accurate 3D mapping of the vehicle’s surroundings. Canatu film heaters provide efficient deicing and anti-fogging of the LiDAR cover lens supporting autonomous driving in any weather.
Camera heaters
ADAS cameras create a continuous video stream of the environment. This is the source for advanced machine-learning-based object identification and incident detection algorithms. ADAS camera heaters based on Canatu film heaters ensure reliable system performance in any weather.
In mass-production since 2015
Canatu has been mass-producing CNT films and sensors since 2015 with the automotive industry and 2021 with the semiconductor industry. Today, Canatu mass produces its products for two leading electric vehicle (EV) companies and two premium sports car OEMs. As of today, over 700,000 sensors have been successfully delivered with a truly exceptional Field Return Rate (FRR) of 0.
- Electric vehicle SUV – US
- Electric vehicle truck – US
- Sports car SUV – Europe
- Sports car – Europe
Automotive-grade reliability
With autonomous cars on the rise, safety and reliability standards in the automotive industry are more rigid than ever. In light of this, Canatu film heaters have undergone rigorous testing to earn 3rd party validation in these aspects, passing several rigorous test procedures. This is in line with Canatu’s commitment to R&D, which has allowed the company to consistently improve upon its products and solutions.
The Canatu film heaters have successfully passed automotive industry standard 85°C/85% 2000 hrs reliability tests. Usually, 2000 hrs tests at 85 degree Celsius and 85 percent relative humidity are used to predict up to 25 years of operation.
The reliability standards ultimately vary between markets, with Japanese benchmarks being universally recognized as most stringent. Thus, meeting reliability requirements in Japan signifies that Canatu will likely be able to comply other international standards.
“We are extremely happy that Canatu’s heater product has achieved the high industry standards for reliability. We have set rigid quality standards for our suppliers in accordance with customer needs. High evidence of reliability is required to ensure products will always work,”
Toshihiko Muraki, Senior Director, Thermal Systems Business Group at DENSO CORPORATION
Increasing CNT performance and lowering manufacturing costs
Canatu has been mass manufacturing for automotive applications since 2015. Since then, Canatu has moved towards effectively industrializing CNT film by more than doubling previous performance levels whilst also lowering costs.
Years of R&D has resulted in a record-breaking industrially applicable sheet resistance to optical transparency ratio in CNT films at 35Ω/sq to 90% transmittance. Though increasing electrical conductivity without harming transmittance or adding cost is a significant challenge, these constraints were mitigated due to Canatu’s wealth of nanotechnology expertise. Canatu’s careful control over the synthesis process produces longer CNTs that are extremely clean, enabling the formation of thin yet strong CNT networks.
Industrializing CNT film manufacturing has brought costs down to a tenth, and the trend continues.
Furthermore, Canatu’s scalable product platforms provide a solid core for applying Canatu CNT for various industries. Production costs have decreased ten-fold in the past three years, with the downward trend projected to continue.
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