HEATING ELEMENT FOR HEATING STREAMING, ESPECIALLY GASEOUS MEDIA

1. Heating element for heating flowing, in particular gaseous media, in which a metal body (1) is used as a heat exchanger and is heated using lamelliform ceramic PTC resistors (7, 24) which are secured on part of the surface of the metal body using a thermally conductive and electrically insulating plastic adhesive (14) or using a thermally and electrically conductive plastic adhesive (13), characterized by the following features : a) the metal body (1) is composed of a metal of good thermal conductivity, in particular, aluminium or copper, and is provided with passage openings (2, 12, 22, 23, 29) arranged in regular fashion, the inside widths of which decrease, starting from the inlet side (3), for the purpose of providing favourable flow conditions and avoiding turbulences and, at the outlet side (4), correspond to no more than the inside width at the inlet side (3), b) the total volume of the parts of the metal body (1) between the passage openings (2, 12, 22, 23, 29) is equal to or greater than the total volume of the passage openings (2, 12, 22, 23, 29), c) the ceramic PTC resistors (7) are adhesively bonded to opposite parts of the outer surface of the metal body (1).