Heater and thermocouple assembly

An injection molding hot runner apparatus comprising:

• a hot runner distributor block;
• a plurality of hot runner nozzles coupled to the distributor block, each hot runner nozzle having a nozzle head, a nozzle body, a melt channel, a nozzle tip, and a valve positioned in a front end portion of the nozzle;
• a plurality of valve pins associated with the plurality of hot runner nozzles, each valve pin being guided by at least one guiding element positioned in the melt channel adjacent the valve;
• a plurality of heater and thermocouple assemblies,
• wherein each assembly is fitted around each hot runner nozzle for controlling the temperature of the melted material in the nozzle body,
• wherein each heater has a heater body positioned around the nozzle body,
• wherein the heater body has
• a first heating section which is positioned during operation in contact with a front end portion of the hot runner nozzle,
• a second heating section positioned during operation in contact with the nozzle head of the hot runner nozzle, and
• an intermediate annular section distanced from the nozzle body to reduce heat transfer to the nozzle body;
• a thermocouple positioned along the heater body, wherein a front end of the thermocouple is positioned outside the heater body to measure the temperature delivered by the heater at the nozzle tip;
• and
• wherein the nozzle tip is removably coupled to the nozzle body.