Best way to generate heat in portable battery powered application

[mike gibson]

Hi,

I am trying to figure out the most effecient method to heat an electronic component in a portable battery powered device. The first thought was just an ordinary wire wound resistor or another possiblity is a peltier TEC. The whole thing needs to be as efficient and small as possible.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Danger]

I really don't know anything about this, but could you just cram all of your components really close together and wrap some insulation around them to let their own heat build up?

 

[cesiumfrog]

If you want to heat everything, rather than one single component, then anything you do should have 100% efficiency. So.. resistor sounds least likely to break. If you want to heat just one part then peltier sounds like your smallest possible heat-pump.