Free Chromalox software for heat tracing cable systems

Chromalox announces availability of unique software for designing electrical heat trace systems. Available as a free download from the company's web site or on CD-ROM for PCs, ChromaTrace 2.0 allows a user to design and specify heat trace cable for applications such as freeze protection and process temperature maintenance. The software automatically generates a complete bill of materials with exact quantities and part numbers of the equipment needed, plus on-screen product data sheets and manufacturer's cross-reference guidelines for easy reference.

The types of products covered are self-regulating cable, mineral insulated cable, constant wattage cable, roof and gutter de-icing cable, single point on/off controls, multi-loop PID controllers and connection accessories. To quickly find the most cost-effective solution, the software's What-If analysis allows a user to determine, for example, whether to use a constant-wattage or self-regulated cable and what would happen with a different control scheme.

Software features include IEEE-compliant heat trace calculations for pipes and tanks, a cable and accessory selection guide, as well as control design procedures. Control can be either local or remote, with the option of specifying temperature and power control panels for centralized installations. Project management features of ChromaTrace help you control hundreds of drawings for several projects, whether they are entire stadiums, plants or commercial buildings. You can even tie pipe and tank data to specific drawings. Moreover, ChromaTrace tracks which pipes are freeze-protected in specified areas of a building and the electrical loads they carry. The user can instantly view on-screen information about each kind of pipe and tank using heat trace, and create detailed reports.

For a limited time, Chromalox offers a 5% product discount to ChromaTrace 2.0 users that submit orders using the software-generated bill of materials.

Edited by Stephen Heiser