ELECTRIC RADIATOR

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to heating equipment, and in particular to an electrical heater for indoor use.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

[0002] With people's living standard steadily improving, more and more families are using electrical heaters. The existing electrical heaters comprise a case and heating elements with two major kinds of structures.

[0003] One has a reflecting plate located in the case, which radiates heat produced by heating elements to heat and warm a limited space. Some electrical heaters of this kind have a fan in the case. The electrical heaters of this structure can only raise the temperature of a partial space. After the heaters have been switched on for some time, even the temperature of the partial space rises very high, temperature of the other parts in the same room is raised little. People will still feel cold when they leave the heated space for the other part of the room. The electrical heaters of this structure can only heat a limited space and a lot of heat energy is wasted with low effect.

[0004] Another kind of heater is equipped with radiator in its case, in which there are hollow columns. The hollow columns are filled with thermal conducting oil. When the oil is heated, it floats up. The heat produced by heating elements will make the heat circulate in the columns. A large quantity of heat will spread to the air indoor to raise the temperature of the whole room by convection of the radiator via the top of it. But the heater of this structure increases temperature slowly. People can feel warm only after it has been switched on for a long time. The structure of the heater is complicated, bulky and too heavy to move easily. And the cost of the heater is also comparatively higher for it is filled with thermal conducting oil and then strict hermetic seal is required.

[0005] UK Patent 981,150 acknowledges that electrical heating elements emit heat largely by radiation and by convection, and teaches that a heating element should be designed to reduce heating by radiation to a minimum and to increase heating by convection to a maximum. More particularly, it discloses an electrical convection heater having a casing including a curved deflector plate to direct the heated air upwards and outwards. The convection heating element is constructed from a series of fins (in the form of heat conducting plates) and tubular components threaded in turn onto an electrical heating element and adjustably clamped and locked thereon by nuts or circlips acting on springs to compress the assembly. The heat generated by the electrical heating elements is therefore conducted to the fins and the tubular elements.

SUMMARY TO THE INVENTION

[0006] UK Patent 981,150 has taught that an electrical heater should comprise a casing for upwardly directing convection heated air, a plurality of heat conducting fins mounted within the casing, and two spaced heating elements positioned within the casing with each heating element passing through aligned aperture formed in the heat conducting fins. UK Patent 981,150 discloses the features of the preamble of claim 1.

[0007] The present invention provides a heater with simple and compact structure, lighter weight and lower cost, which not only raises the temperature of the partial space rapidly by radiation but also raises the temperature of the whole room by convection.

[0008] The present invention, thus, relates to an electrical heater, which comprised of a casing, heating elements and a reflecting plate whose reflecting face directly towards *the heating elements, wherein the heating elements are ranked at a distance and passed through the aligned apertures on the heating conducting plates made of heat-resistant materials in the case.

[0009] Because there is a reflecting plate in the present invention, by the radiation of the reflecting plate, the present invention can heat partial space quickly. Based on the principle that the air ascends when heated and descends when refrigerated, the radiant conductive sheets made of strong heat-resistant material will make the air in the electrical heater convect vertically. The room temperature will rise by continuous cycling of heat. As the radiant conductive sheets do not require hollow columns and thermal conducting oil, the heater has the advantage of simple and compact structure, lighter weight and lower cost.

[0010] The invention is described in great detail as follows with reference to the attached figures and exploiting examples.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] 

FIG.1 is a perspective view of an electrical heater according to the invention.

FIG.2 is the internal structure of the electrical heater.

FIG.3 is an end view of FIG.2 taken in the direction of arrow B

FIG.4 is a cross-section view along the line A-A in FIG.1.

FIGS illustrates an embodiment of the radiant conductive sheets connecting with joint rods.

FIG.6 illustrates an embodiment of the aligned apertures opened in the radiant conductive sheets.

FIG.7 illustrates another embodiment of the aligned apertures (slots) opened in the radiant conductive sheets.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Example 1 of exploitation

[0012] The present invention relates to an electrical heater, which comprises a case 1, in which heating elements 11 and a reflecting plate 14 are located. The heating elements 11 can be infrared heating elements, halogen heating elements or other elements that can transform electricity energy into heat. The case 1 comprises left side cover 2, right side cover 3, upper cover 4, and lower cover 5. The reflective surface of the reflecting plate 14 is located towards the heating elements. There are radiant conductive sheets 12 manufactured with heat-resistant material in the case. The heat-resistant material can be stainless steel, copper, aluminum or other nonmetal heat-resistant material. The joint rods 13 pass through the radiant conductive sheets 12, as shown in FIG.5, and the two ends of the joint rods 13 are bolted with left side cover 2 and right side cover 3. Therefore the radiant conductive sheets 12 are fixed on the case 1, as shown in FIG.3 and FIG4. The heating elements 11 rank at a distance, and pass through the aligned apertures 19 opened in the radiant conductive sheets 12. The inner diameter of the aligned apertures 19 is bigger than the outer diameter of the heating elements 11. There is always a space of about 0.5mm-5mm between inner edge of the aligned apertures 19 and outer edge of the heating elements 11. The space between the aligned apertures 19 and the heating elements 11 not only makes the heating elements 11 operate normally, avoiding the damage caused by the hot and expanding radiant conductive sheets, but also produce enough vertical convection. The radiant conductive sheets 12 can be either rectangle or other shape fitted with the shape of the case 1, even irregular shape. There can be various diversion grooves and corrugations on the radiant conductive sheets 12 to strengthen heat radiation and vertical convection.

[0013] There is also a metal protecting mesh 18 as shown in FIG.1 and FIG.4 to prevent the user from touching high-temperature heater carelessly.

Example 2 of exploitation

[0014] There are grooves on the case 1. The radiant conductive sheets 12 pass through the open aligned apertures in the reflecting plate 14 and are inserted in the grooves on the case 1. So the radiant conductive sheets are fixed in the case 1 without joint rods 13. The other structures are the same as example 1.

Example 3 of exploitation

[0015] The aligned apertures 19 opened in the radiant conductive sheet 12 can be sealed as circular ones or non-sealed slots. The other structures are the same as example 1 of exploitation.

Claims

1. An electrical heater comprising a casing (1), a plurality of heat conducting plates (12) for upwardly directing convection heated air, the plates (12) being made of strong heat resistant material and being mounted within the casing (1), the plates being connected together in spaced-apart relationship by mounting means (13), and a plurality of spaced electrical heating elements (11) positioned within the casing (1) with each electrical heating element (11) passing through aligned apertures (19) formed in the heat conducting plates (12), whereby the apertures (19) in the heat conducting plates (12) H are dimensioned such that there is a space between the inner periphery of each aperture (19) and the outer surface of the electrical heating element (11), the electrical heater also comprising a reflecting plate located within the casing, characterised in that the reflecting plate has a reflective face directed towards the electrical heating elements (11).

2. An electrical heater according to claim 1, in which the apertures (19) are slots opening to an edge of one or more plates (12).

3. An electrical heater according to claim 1, in which the mounting means comprise connecting rods (13) passing through the plates (12) and secured in the casing (1).

Ansprüche

1. Elektrischer Heizkörper umfassend ein Gehäuse (1), eine Vielzahl von wärmeleitenden Platten (12) zum Nachobenführen von durch Konvektion erwärmter Luft, wobei die Platten (12) aus stabilem wärmebeständigen Material gefertigt und innerhalb des Gehäuses (1) montiert sind, wobei die Platten durch Befestigungsmittel (13) voneinander beabstandet miteinander verbunden sind, und eine Vielzahl von beabstandeten elektrischen Heizelementen (11), die in dem Gehäuse (1) positioniert sind, wobei jedes elektrische Heizelement (11) sich durch miteinander fluchtende Öffnungen (19) erstreckt, die in den wärmeleitenden Platten (12) ausgebildet sind, wobei die Öffnungen (19) in den wärmeleitenden Platten (12) so dimensioniert sind, dass ein Zwischenraum zwischen der Innenwand einer jeden Öffnung (19) und der Außenfläche des elektrischen Heizelements (11) besteht, der elektrische Heizkörper ferner eine reflektierende Platte aufweist, die innerhalb des Gehäuses angeordnet ist, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die reflektierende Platte eine reflektierende Seite aufweist, die zu den elektrischen Heizelementen (11) gerichtet ist.

2. Elektrischer Heizkörper nach Anspruch 1, bei dem die Öffnungen (19) Langlöcher sind, die sich zu einer Kante einer oder mehrerer Platten (12) öffnen.

3. Elektrischer Heizkörper nach Anspruch 1, bei dem die Befestigungsmittel Verbindungsstäbe (13) umfassen, die sich durch die Platten (12) erstrecken und an dem Gehäuse (1) befestigt sind.

Revendications

1. Radiateur électrique comprenant un corps (1), une pluralité de plaques conductrices de chaleur (12) destinées à diriger vers le haut de l'air chauffé par convexion, les plaques (12) étant faites d'une matière résistante à la chaleur forte et étant montées dans le corps (1), les plaques étant reliées ensemble dans une relation espacée par des moyens de montage (13), et une pluralité d'éléments de chauffage électrique espacés (11), positionnés à l'intérieur du corps (1) avec élément de chauffage électrique (11) passant à travers des ouvertures alignées (19) formées dans les plaques conductrices de chaleur (12), ce par quoi les ouvertures (19) dans les plaques conductrices de chaleur (12) sont dimensionnées de telle sorte qu'il y a un espace entre la périphérie intérieure de chaque ouverture (19) et la surface extérieure de l'élément de chauffage électrique (11), le radiateur électrique comprenant également une plaque réfléchissante située à l'intérieur du corps, caractérisé par le fait que la plaque réfléchissante a une face réfléchissante dirigée vers les éléments de chauffage électrique (11).

2. Radiateur électrique selon la revendication 1, dans lequel les ouvertures (19) sont des fentes débouchant sur un bord d'une ou plusieurs plaques (12).

3. Radiateur électrique selon la revendication 1, dans lequel les moyens de montage comprend des tiges de liaison (13) passant à travers les plaques (12) et fixées dans le corps (1).

Drawing