Electric Heat Tracing Design for Impedance and Skin Effect Systems

When a material is transported by pipeline at a temperature above its surroundings, it will lose heat. Insulation will slow the heat loss, but will not prevent it. Temperature can be maintained by adding heat to make up the loss. This can be accomplished in many different ways. Heating stations can be located along the pipeline to make up the loss at discrete points. The problem with this technique is that the product does not stay at a uniform temperature, and if flow stops the product could lose so much heat that it becomes unpumpable.