Electric heating device

The present invention relates to an electric heating device, in particular for heating a temperature-control medium in a motor vehicle, with a housing (2) that has pipe connections (10) for connecting pipes carrying the temperature-control medium and encloses a circulation chamber (14), into which heating fins (22) project, each of which is provided with a U-shaped recess (24) that opens into a uniform connection chamber (30), which is separated from the circulation chamber (14) by a partition wall (12) provided in the region of the open ends of the U-shaped recesses (24), wherein the heating fins (22) extend essentially in a Y-Z plane and are provided one behind the other and offset relative to one another along an X-axis provided orthogonally thereto and are arranged alternately close to the wall, so that a meandering flow channel (96) is formed in the circulation chamber (14). [0002] The present invention seeks to provide an electric heating device of the type mentioned at the outset that enables high heating output with compact construction, while at the same time taking into account the fact that the pressure drop within the circulation chamber (14) for the temperature-control medium to be heated should not be too high and accordingly the pump pressure and thus the system pressure within the circulation system need not be set too high above atmospheric pressure. To solve this task, the present invention proposes that the heating fins (22) and the walls (16, 18, 20) of the housing (2) surrounding the circulation chamber (14) are provided such that the flow channel (19) prescribes a main flow (H) of the medium between the pipe connections (10) extending solely in the X-Y plane.