JPHEAT editors (Kawaguchi Seiken Co., Ltd.) / Updated 15 Nov 2026
What heating wire is.
Heating wire is a line-shaped heating element that warms when current flows. In heated carpets and electric blankets the wire is laid through the body at set intervals, and the heat made along it passes into the filling and the cover fabric. The spacing, the layout and the material around the wire are designed product by product.
What a flat heating element is.
In a flat heating element the sheet itself warms. Some are made of a conductive material such as carbon, formed into a sheet or a woven mesh. When current flows, heat is made across the sheet; the size and shape of the heating sheet, not a laid wire, set the area that warms.
Heat travels three ways.
With either structure, heat travels in three ways: conduction between things in contact, convection through moving air, and radiative transfer, which carries heat as infrared without passing through the air. [1]
A warm surface gives off infrared according to its temperature. Heated carpets and underblankets are used in contact with the body, the floor or the bedding, so conduction from the surface you touch also plays a part.
What a thermal image shows.
A thermal image captures the infrared a surface gives off and shows the surface temperature as colour. [2] With heating wire, depending on the shooting conditions, stripes may follow the layout of the wire. With a flat heating element, the area of the heating sheet shows as a single area.
The colours are a guide to the surface temperature at the moment of shooting and change with the camera settings and display range. Colours from different images cannot be compared directly, and a thermal image does not show how warm something feels or how well it performs.
How to check the type of heating element.
The type of heating element is given in the product specifications, the manual or the maker’s description. The heating element entry may say whether it is heating wire or a flat element, and what it is made of. If it is unclear, ask the seller.
The JPHEAT heating element.
The four heated carpets and two electric underblankets JPHEAT sells in Hong Kong and Macau use no heating wire; their heating element is ORIZUMI, a woven mesh of water-based carbon. The heated carpets are AC 220 V versions for Hong Kong and Macau with insulation built into the base; the underblankets run on DC 24 V. The technology page shows the infrared thermal image from the test report and a thermal image of a working unit.
Questions and answers
How do heating wire and a flat heating element differ?
In the shape of the part that warms. Heating wire warms along the wire laid through the body; a flat heating element warms across its heating sheet. Which suits you depends on the size of the product, how you use it and where it goes.
What are flat heating elements made of?
Some are made of a conductive material such as carbon, formed into a sheet or a woven mesh. JPHEAT’s ORIZUMI is a fine woven mesh of water-based carbon.
Does a flat heating element give off far infrared too?
Anything with a temperature gives off infrared according to that temperature. Whatever the heating structure, a warm surface gives off infrared; the amount and the wavelength spread depend on the temperature and the material.
If a thermal image shows no stripes, is it a flat heating element?
A thermal image alone cannot tell you. Whether stripes show depends on the wire spacing, the thickness of the fabric and filling, and the shooting conditions. Check the type of heating element in the specifications or the manual.
Where can I check that a product uses no heating wire?
In the heating element entry of the specifications or the manual, or in the maker’s description. JPHEAT states that the heating element of every product it sells is ORIZUMI, a flat heating element with no heating wire.
Does the structure change how warm it feels?
How warm it feels depends on many things: the set temperature, how you touch it, the floor or bedding material and the room temperature. The structure alone does not decide it.