Heater

Abstract

A heater for a room heating system includes a heating element, a housing having the heating element disposed therein, a thermal distribution fluid inlet into the housing, a thermal distribution fluid outlet from the housing, and at least one safety feature connection. The housing is arranged to contain thermal distribution fluid as the thermal distribution fluid follows a flow path from the thermal distribution fluid inlet to the thermal distribution fluid outlet and over the heating element. The at least one safety feature connection includes a passage through the housing.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention is concerned with a heater for heating a thermal distribution fluid. The heater includes a housing containing a heating element, which operates to heat the thermal distribution fluid as it follows a flow path from an inlet to the housing and an outlet from it.BACKGROUND ART[0002]Room heating systems are in use all over the world to provide warmth to residential, commercial and industrial buildings. Known in such room heating systems are heaters as described above for heating a thermal distribution fluid as it circulates around a network of pipes to give off heat in heating units such as radiators and under-floor heating. In common use as the thermal distribution fluid is water.[0003]One application of a heater to which the present invention is particularly concerned is a backup heater in a heat pump based room heating system. A heat pump based room heating system is discussed below with reference to FIG. 1. As will become clear in the follo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]Thus, a connection for a safety feature of a room heating system is integrated with a heater. A safety feature may be connected to it. The safety feature is responsive to the fluid contained by the housing. Preferably, the safety feature comprises a connection providing a passage through the housing into a fluid space contained by the housing, where a safety device is to be mounted to the connection. Mounting the safety feature to the housing can offer improved manufacturing possibilities. It has been found that the heater is particularly suitable for receipt of such features because it is where the thermal distribution fluid changes temperature, sometimes from a coldest temperature to a hottest temperature in its cycle. The heater has thus been found to be a site where any fault conditions in the system will be most keenly felt.

[0010]Preferably, the heater comprises a plurality of such safety feature connections and preferably a respective such safety feature connected thereto. Each connection provides a passageway into a space defined by the housing that, in use, contains fluid as it follows the flow path from the inlet to the outlet connection. The provision of a number of the safety features means the necessary manufacturing steps to install these safety features can be performed on one work piece. Maintenance may also be eased.

[0013]Mounting the at least one safety feature connection to the side wall allows manufacturing to be further eased as space requirements are not so tight on the side wall as opposed to the end wall. This is particularly prevalent when it is considered that the heating element extends from one end to the other and is electrically connected at the first end, which makes space constraints at that end even more of an issue.

[0015]Further, the longitudinal extent of the heater can be reduced by providing the inlet and / or the outlet at the sidewall of the housing as opposed to the ends. This then opens up the possibility of mounting the heater sideways, but with the heater still being suitably compact. A side mount also allows a twist to be provided in the flow path between the inlet and the outlet connection, which can improve the heating efficiency of the heater. Preferably, the housing is adapted to be mounted in a predetermined orientation, which orientation is generally sideways such that the longitude of the housing is horizontal. Preferably, in this configuration, the inlet and the outlet extend through the sidewall in the housing as discussed above. This configuration allows the gas valve connection to extend through the sidewall of the housing at the top of the housing to reach any air that will accumulate there. This is a preferred feature of the invention.

[0016]The side oriented heater means that gas will accumulate longitudinally, which offers a large area for gas to be collected without the depth of the water significantly dropping and exposing the heating element. Heater exposure will thus only occur after a relatively large amount of gas has been collected. Further, mounting the heater sideways with the inlet and outlet connections at the bottom of the housing allows the gas to be centrally, in terms of the room heating system, accumulated and thus centrally released, thereby easing maintenance burdens. This will become clearer in the following.

[0020]Preferably, the heater is mounted at a top part of the indoor unit. This top mounting is made more feasible by downward extension of inlet and outlet pipes connected to the inlet and outlet connections.

Problems solved by technology

As will become clear in the following, there may arise situations in which the heat pump can not efficiently or sufficiently provide the required heat to the water in the room heating system.

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