Solid fuel heating equipment with improved structure

Abstract

 A solid fuel heating equipment with improved structure, including a brazier (11) of a combustion chamber (14), inside which the burning of the solid fuel occurs and accessible to the user through a front opening door (13), and at least one tank (15), containing solid fuel, on the bottom of which one sealing mobile door (23) is installed, connected with driving means (31, 35), which cause the opening and closing of the mobile door (23), allowing or not the passage to the burner (11) of the solid fuel contained into the tank (15); in particular, an end of a first rod or lever (37) is hinged to the aforesaid driving means (31, 35) of the mobile door (23), whose opposite end is connected in a rotating way to a shaped grid (38), suitable to move angularly between a first position, according to which the grid (38) allows user's access to the brazier (11), and a second position according to which the grid (38) is positioned frontally to the opening door (13) of the brazier (11), in order to prevent user's access to the brazier (11).

Description

[0001] The present invention relates generally to a solid fuel heating equipment with improved structure.

[0002] More particularly, the invention relates to a heating equipment, such as a stove, a thermo-stove and/or a boiler for rooms heating, working, in complete safety, both with wood and pellet and/or biomass in general.

[0003] Wood stoves have been known from time, provided with a combustion chamber, which is loaded with wood to be burned, through an opening which can be shut again, made frontally or on a side surface of the stove, adjacent and delimiting the combustion chamber.

[0004] Smokes produced by the burning of wood are expelled through a chimney flue, which connects the combustion chamber with the external environment.

[0005] The burning of wood, however, produces a relatively high production of carbon monoxide, which is the main responsible of air pollution and average temperature raising of our planet, due to the so-called "greenhouse effect".

[0006] Moreover, the burning of wood creates a large amount of solid waste which oblige the user to make frequent cleanings of the collect tray of this waste.

[0007] Solid fuel heating equipments are also known, which use as fuel the so-called wood pellets, substantially cylindrical shaped compact products derived from the waste of wood working (sawdust or wood shavings) and subjected to high pressing, and/or biomass in general.

[0008] The pellets and/or biomass in general (maize seeds, pumpkin seeds, oilseeds in general, olive pits, nut or hazelnuts shells) burn easily because of their low humidity percentage, are obtained without using additive pollutants and their burning produces a small amount of solid waste and an equally small amount of carbon monoxide.

[0009] A brazier, where the solid fuel is led for the combustion, is typically housed inside the combustion chamber of the heating equipments operating at pellets or biomass in general.

[0010] A smokes suction and discharge chamber is positioned above the aforesaid combustion chamber, where a fan is usually installed, suitable to intake smokes and produce a depression necessary to create an air flow into the combustion chamber essential for burning pellet and/or biomass.

[0011] Another fan, placed in a bottom part of the heating equipment, collects air from the external environment and conveys it inside, in such a way as it is heated and reintroduced in the external environment to be heated.

[0012] The loading of the fuel into the brazier occurs through an Archimedean screw, driven by a ratio-motor, which collects the pellet from a tank and transports it into the combustion chamber, in an area above the brazier; from here, a chute guides the fall of the fuel into the brazier.

[0013] The heating equipment can be additionally provided with an electronic device suitable to automate various operations, such as the turning on or the turning off of the equipment, the selection of a given temperature, the maintenance of the desired temperature and/or a proper depression degree into the combustion chamber, etc.

[0014] Heating equipments which use pellet and/or biomass in general can also be arranged for use, as a combustible material, common wood to be burned, alternatively or in combination with pellet and/or biomass.

[0015] In this way, it is possible to carry out, with the same heating equipment, both the burning of wood and the burning of pellet and/or biomass in general.

[0016] However, the user must operate the heating equipment, alternatively, with pellet and/or biomass or with wood, or continuously check the amount of pellet present inside the tank before introducing wood through the front door, in order to avoid dangerous overheating of the combustion chamber, which can also cause serious injuries to the user when opening the front door, as well as to avoid dangerous overheating of the tank containing pellet and/or biomass, resulting in the fire of the pellet tank itself.

[0017] The purpose of the present invention is therefore to overcome the drawbacks mentioned above and, in particular, to provide a solid fuel heating equipment with improved structure which allows to use, as solid fuel, alternatively, wood or pellet and/or biomass in general within the same heating equipment.

[0018] Another purpose of the invention is to achieve a solid fuel heating equipment with improved structure which is extremely reliable and safe for the user, as well as presents an extreme versatility of use, compared with the traditional types of heating equipments.

[0019] Further purpose of the present invention is to set up a solid fuel heating equipment with improved structure which can function even without electricity and thus also in case of power black-out and also reduces the need for periodic and/or frequent maintenances of the equipment by a user.

[0020] A last but not least purpose of the invention is to indicate a solid fuel heating equipment with improved structure of ease and economical construction, without the use of particularly expensive components and/or complex technologies.

[0021] These and other purposes are achieved by a solid fuel heating equipment with improved structure, according to the claim 1 enclosed; other technical features of detail are described in the subsequent claims.

[0022] Advantageously, according to the invention, it is possible for the user to assure that inside the heating equipment wood or pellet is alternatively loaded, in order to avoid overheating and high combustion temperatures, which can cause great risks to the user intent on loading the fuel and as great risks of fire of the tank containing the pellet and/or biomass.

[0023] In addition, the equipment according to the invention can also operate only on natural draft, without the use of electricity, and therefore even in case of power black-out; the absence of electrical components, motors and/or electronic components also reduces the risk of failures and/or malfunctions of the stove.

[0024] Further purposes and advantages of the present invention will result clear from the description that follows, referring to a preferred, but not limited to, embodiment of the solid fuel heating equipment with improved structure, and from the drawings attached, also provided by pure preferred and not limiting example way, in which:

• figure 1 is a front view of an improved structure heating equipment powered by solid fuel, in a first operating mode, according to the invention;
• figure 2 is a side view in section plane of the heating equipment of figure 1, according to the present invention;
• figure 3 is a partially sectioned side view of the heating equipment of figure 1, according to the present invention;
• figures 4 and 5 show two enlarged views of the construction details of the heating equipment indicated respectively with A and B in figure 2, according to the present invention;
• figure 6 is a front view of an improved structure heating equipment powered by solid fuel, in a second operating mode, according to the invention;
• figure 7 is a side view in section plane of the heating equipment of figure 6, according to the present invention;
• figure 8 is a partially sectioned side view of the heating equipment of figure 6, according to the present invention
• figures 9 and 10 show two enlarged views of the construction details of the heating equipment indicated respectively with C and D in figure 6, according to the present invention.

[0025] It is immediately stressed that, even if the attached figures refer to a particular type of heating equipment for civil and industrial environments and, in particular, to an electric wood and pellet and/or biomass in general stove, with natural or forced draft, the innovative concept described in the present invention can be easily extended to any other type of solid fuel heating equipment.

[0026] With reference to the figures mentioned, a containment and support structure of the improved structure heating equipment operating with solid fuel, according to the present invention, is generically shown with 10, a brazier or furnace is generically indicated with 11, where the solid fuel is burned and where the combustion products are generated, while a closing door of the combustion chamber 14, placed in front of the brazier 11, is indicated with 13.

[0027] The heating equipment can use, as solid fuel, wood, which can be loaded into the brazier 11 through the door 13, or pellet and/or biomass in general, coming from the tank 15, which may be arranged, in turn, at the side or the back of the brazier 11, while the combustion chamber 14 is thermally insulated from the tank 15 through a wall insulation (air compartment 16).

[0028] The combustion chamber 14 also presents an outlet 27 for expelling combustion smokes, connected with the chimney flue 28.

[0029] The compartment 44 of the tank 15 containing pellet and/or biomass in general can be fed through the filling opening 17, which can be closed by a door 18, associated with a loading hopper 12 (which is contained, in turn, in the room 24), and is connected, through a funnel-shaped portion 25, with the back area or zone 19 of the brazier 11, so that the solid fuel slides, by fall, down and is then introduced into the combustion chamber 14, as it is burned, in order to continuously feed the flame inside the brazier 11; furthermore, the aforesaid compartment 44 of the tank 15 is inferiorly bounded by a fixed sloped wall 22.

[0030] According to the illustrative and preferred, but not limiting, embodiments of the present invention, it is designed to provide the hopper 12 with a lever-shaped angular portion 20, on which a rod is hinged, connected rigidly with the upper loading door 26 of pellets and/or biomass in general, so that, when the user opens the loading door 26, through the lever 29, the door 18 remains completely closed, thus preventing any smoke and/or gas formed on the surface of the solid fuel loaded into the tank 15 invests the user intent on loading the fuel into the hopper 12 and/or escapes into the external environment creating troubles and unpleasant smells; the closing of the door 18 also avoids the entry of combustive air into the tank 15, thus preventing the danger of fire of the pellet and/or biomass contained inside the aforesaid tank 15.

[0031] On the other hand, once the solid fuel has been loaded into the hopper 12, after having closed the loading door 26 through the lever 29, the user can act on the door 18 through the lever-shaped portion 20, causing the opening of the hopper 12, with the consequent fall of pellets and/or biomass, accumulated in the hopper 12, into the compartment 44 of the tank 15.

[0032] According to further illustrative and preferred, but not limiting, embodiments of the invention, the solid fuel heating equipment so far described is also equipped with an additional intermediate door 23, arranged inside the tank 15 and, in particular, in correspondence of a narrowing, located in the zone 19, at the back of the brazier 11, and formed by a lengthening 34 of at least one wall of the funnel portion 25 of the tank 15.

[0033] The door 23 can be operated from the outside by the user, by means of the lever 35 which, in turn, acts on the lever 31, hinged in 32 to the door 23, to turn off the heating equipment.

[0034] Indeed, when the door 23, from a rest position, according to which it rests along the wall 30 of the funnel portion 25 of the tank 15 (fig. 7 and 8), in order to define the opening 21, is driven to close, through the lever 35, disengaged from the safe block 33, and the lever 31, the aforesaid door 23 extends, inside the tank 15, between the wall 36 and wall 22 (fig. 2 and 3), interrupting the natural fall of the solid fuel from the tank 15 to the zone 19 and from here to the brazier 11.

[0035] Therefore, as a result of the closing of the door 23, after the fuel remaining in the brazier 11 and in the compartment 47 below the door 23 itself has been consumed, the heating equipment is turned off, keeping some residual fuel in the tank 15; there is, thus, for the user the possibility to turn off the stove even when the tank 15 is at least partially full.

[0036] By driving to open the lever 35 and thus opening the door 23, it is possible to reload pellet and/or biomass in general into the brazier 11 and restart the stove.

[0037] According to the present invention, a further lever 37 is also hinged, at an end, to the lever 31, in turn hinged to the lever 35, the lever 37 being connected in a rotating way, at the opposite end, with a shaped grid 38, hinged on the upper inner portion 39 of the combustion chamber 14 and suitable to prevent access to the brazier 11, by the user, through the front door 13 of the stove.

[0038] In particular, when the door 23 is in close position and suitable to prevent the fall of pellet and/or biomass from the tank 15 into the brazier 11, the lever 37 is hinged to the lever 37 and the grid 38 in such a way as the same grid 38 is sloped, with respect to the front door 13, inside the combustion chamber 14 of the heating equipment, thus allowing the user to load wood into the brazier 11 directly from the outside, after having opened the front door 13 (as clearly visible in fig. 1-5 enclosed); in such a condition, the heating equipment works, then, using wood as solid fuel.

[0039] Alternatively, by operating the lever 35 toward the inside of the envelope 10 of the heating equipment, the door 23 is driven to open, allowing the pellet and/or biomass in general to overflow into the brazier 11 while, simultaneously, the lever 31 makes an angular motion which causes a consequent lowering of the lever 37, which thereby determines the lowering of the grid 38 frontally to the front door 13, in order to prevent the user to load wood directly into the brazier 11 (as clearly shown in the figures 6-10 attached).

[0040] Then in this operating condition, the heating equipment works using pellet and/or biomass as solid fuel material and, simultaneously, the safe block described, formed by the levers 31 and 37, the lever 35 and the grid 38, assures the impossibility to load from the outside additional solid fuel material directly into the brazier 11.

[0041] In case it is required to reload wood into the brazier 11 through the front door 13, it is sufficient to release the lever 35 from the safe block 33 and pulling it outwardly the envelope 10, so as to rotate the lever 31, allowing the closing rotation of the door 23, and, simultaneously, the rotation of the lever 37 upwardly and the opening positioning of the shaped grid 38.

[0042] It has been noticed how the present invention allows to provide an effective and reliable safety device, suitable to avoid dangerous overheating of the brazier 11 of heating equipments operating with solid fuel and, in particular, operating, alternately, with wood or pellet and/or biomass in general, comprising a tank 15 for containing pellet or biomass in general and a brazier 11 where it is possible to directly load the wood.

[0043] In particular, the system described is used to assure that the equipment does not use simultaneously pellet or biomass and wood, as solid fuel material, since such contemporary load of solid fuel can cause dangerous overheating of the tank containing pellet and/or biomass with consequent possible fires.

[0044] From the description made, the features of the solid fuel heating equipment with improved structure, which is the object of the present invention, as well as the resulting benefits, are clear.

[0045] It is clear that several other changes could be made to the heating equipment in question, without for this reason going out of the novelty principles inherent to the inventive idea, as it is clear that, in the practical implementation of the invention, materials, shapes and sizes of the details illustrated could be any, depending on the needs and the same could be replaced with others equivalent.

Claims

1. Solid fuel heating equipment with improved structure, including at least one brazier (11) of a combustion chamber (14), inside which the combustion of a solid fuel occurs, said brazier (11) being accessible to the user through at least one opening door (13), and at least one tank (15), containing the solid fuel, on the bottom of which at least one sealing mobile door (23) is installed, which is connected to driving means (31, 35) for opening or closing the mobile door (23), allowing, respectively, the passage of the solid fuel contained in the tank (15) from said tank (15) to said brazier (11) or the stopping of said solid fuel inside the tank (15), characterized in that an end of at least one first rod or lever (37) is hinged to said driving means (31, 35), the opposite end of said first rod or lever (37) being connected in a swiveling way to a shaped grid (38), which is able to move angularly between at least one first position, according to which said shaped grid (38) allows the user to access the brazier (11), and at least one second position, according to which said shaped grid (38) is positioned in front of said opening door (13) of the brazier (11), in order to prevent the user to access said brazier (11).

2. Heating equipment as claim 1, characterized in that said tank (15) contains pellets and/or generally biomass, while said opening door (13) of the brazier (11) is used for putting wood in the brazier (11) of the combustion chamber (14).

3. Heating equipment as claim 1, characterized in that said tank (15) is fed through an opening (17), which is closable by means of at least one door or bulkhead (18), said door or bulkhead (18) being associated with at least one load hopper (12).

4. Heating equipment as claim 3, characterized in that at least one rod is hinged to the hopper (12), said rod being rigidly connected to a loading upper door (26), so that, when said loading upper door (26) is open, said bulkhead (18) is closed, in order to prevent any smoke and/or gas formed on the surface of the solid fuel loaded into the tank (15) escape into the environment.

5. Heating equipment as claim 3, characterized in that said bulkhead (18) is opened by the user, through a lever (29), in order to cause the fall of the solid fuel, which is accumulated in the hopper (12), into the tank (15).

6. Heating equipment as claim 1, characterized in that said sealing mobile door (23) is opened or closed from the outside by a user through at least one second rod or lever (35), acting on at least one third rod or lever (31), which is hinged to said mobile door (23) in correspondence of at least one point (32).

7. Heating equipment as claim 6, characterized in that said second lever (35) is engaged or disengaged through at least one safe block (33).

8. Heating equipment as claim 1, characterized in that, with the mobile door (23) is closed below the tank (15), said first rod or lever (37) is hinged to said third rod or lever (31) and to said shaped grid (38), so that said shaped grid (38) is inclined, with respect to the opening door (13) of the brazier (11), inside the combustion chamber (14) of the heating equipment, in order to allow the user to load the solid fuel from outside directly into the brazier (11), after having opened said opening door (13).

9. Heating equipment as claim 1, characterized in that, when said mobile door (23) is opened, said third rod or lever (31) is angularly moved, so as to cause a lowering of said first rod or lever (37), which leads to a lowering of said shaped grid (38), in front of said opening door (13) of the brazier (11), in order to prevent the user access to said brazier (11).

Drawing