SYSTEM WITH HEATING MODULE SET

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a system comprising a set of heating modules intended to be fixed to a substantially vertical support, in particular for heating a room. Documents FR 2 868 518 A1, FR 2 847 662 A1 and EP 3 578 091 A1 disclose such a system.

[0002] Document EP 3 147 576 discloses a heating assembly in which heating tiles containing an electrical resistance are arranged next to each other so as to cover a floor or a wall.

[0003] This heating assembly design faces the problem of heat dissipation due to the heating of the electrical resistors, but this is not addressed in this document.

[0004] This problem arises in particular because each heating tile thermally influences the neighboring heating tile in the assembly. As a result, each tile must not only dissipate the calories it generates but also a portion of the calories generated by the neighboring tiles. When the heating tiles are arranged vertically against a wall and therefore one above the other, this problem is accentuated since the heat dissipated by a tile arranged in the lower part of the heating assembly spreads vertically to the tiles arranged above it.

[0005] The invention proposes in particular a solution to the problem of thermal influence between vertically arranged heating tiles.

[0006] For this purpose, the invention relates to a system according to claim 1. The system comprises a heating assembly and a substantially vertical support to which said heating assembly is fixed, the heating assembly comprising at least two electric heating modules arranged against the vertical support, one of the modules, called the upper module, being arranged at a height greater than that of the other module, called the lower module, each electric heating module comprising a body which contains at least one electric heating element and which is delimited externally by a wall, the wall being provided, on the one hand, with one or more air inlet openings arranged in its lower part and, on the other hand, with one or more air outlet openings arranged in its upper part for the circulation of an upward air flow inside said body, in particular on said at least one electric heating element to be cooled,at least a portion of the air outlet opening(s) of each module being oriented so as to deflect at least a portion of the air flow leaving said module in such a way that, for the lower and upper modules, said at least a portion of the air flow heated by said at least one electrical heating element and leaving the lower module is deflected away from the upper module, the system being characterized in that each module comprises an additional wall arranged in front of the front wall of the body of the module and at a distance from said wall so as to form a front facade for the body.,

[0007] By thus orienting at least a portion of the air outlet opening(s) of each module (referred to as the oriented air outlet opening portion), the portion of the air flow that is heated upon passing along said at least one electrical heating element and that exits the module through this oriented air outlet opening portion is diverted from its vertical upward trajectory that would normally direct the flow directly onto the upper module. The hot air flow is diverted away from the upper module, i.e., it is directed toward the front of the module, as opposed to the rear of the module that faces the assembly's mounting bracket. More particularly, the air flow is directed either substantially horizontally or with an upward bias. In this way, the hot air flow does not heat the upper module. This configuration thus makes it possible to limit the thermal influence between the modules.

[0008] It will be noted that the arrangement of the modules in the arrangement of the assembly can take different forms: for example, in the arrangement the lower module can be arranged directly below another module (in line with the module above), namely the upper module, and it can possibly be arranged adjacent to another module located at the same height or whose height is higher than its own (according to a front view of the arrangement against the substantially vertical support). The lower module can be arranged in the arrangement in such a way that the upper module is offset horizontally relative to the lower module and is thus only partly below the upper module (according to a front view of the arrangement against the substantially vertical support). The lower module can also be partly below at least one other upper module.The external shape of the module bodies influences how the modules can be arranged adjacent to each other by covering all or part of the substantially vertical support (above, below and to the sides).

[0009] According to other possible characteristics: the wall delimiting the body of each module comprises a rear wall and said front wall opposite said rear wall, said rear wall facing the substantially vertical support, said at least one part of the air outlet opening(s) which is oriented so as to deflect at least one part of the air flow leaving the module being arranged in the upper part of the front wall; the additional wall forming the front facade is inclined relative to the front wall in such a way that the spacing between said additional wall and the front wall is greater in the upper part of the body than in the lower part; the additional wall forming the front facade is inclined relative to the front wall by an angle of a value between 1 and 45°, preferably between 5 and 35°, more preferably between 10 and 30°; - the additional wall forming the front facade is perforated in its thickness over at least one part of its surface;the additional wall forming a front facade has dimensions which are equal to or greater than those of the front wall; the front wall has a generally concave shape oriented towards the outside of the body so as to guide towards the outside said at least one part of the air flow leaving the module and which is deflected; that the body of each module contains an internal deflector which is arranged so as to deflect the upward air flow which passes through the area of ​​the body where said at least one electric heating element is housed in the direction of said at least one part of the air outlet opening(s) which is oriented so as to deflect at least one part of the air flow leaving the module and which is called the oriented air outlet opening part;the internal deflector separates the upward air flow entering the body through the air inlet opening(s), on the one hand, into a first upward air flow which passes through a first zone where said at least one electric heating element is housed and, on the other hand, into a second upward air flow which passes through a second zone of the body, said internal deflector guiding this second upward air flow towards one or more other air outlet openings which are arranged in a substantially horizontal upper part of the wall of the body and which are separated from the air outlet opening part oriented by the internal deflector; the internal deflector has a heat shield function between the first zone where said at least one electric heating element is housed and the second zone of the body crossed by the second air flow. ; Brève description des dessins

[0010] Other characteristics and advantages will appear during the description which follows, given solely as a non-limiting example and made with reference to the appended drawings, in which: [ Fig. 1 ] There Figure 1 is a schematic side sectional view of a system not forming part of the invention; [ Fig. 2 ] There Figure 2 is a schematic side sectional view of a system according to a first embodiment of the invention; [ Fig. 3 ] There Figure 3 is a schematic side sectional view of a system not forming part of the invention; [ Fig. 4 ] There Figure 4 is a schematic side sectional view of a system according to a second embodiment of the invention; [ Fig. 5 ] There Figure 5 is a schematic side sectional view of a system according to a third embodiment of the invention; [ Fig. 6 ] There Figure 6 is a schematic side sectional view of a system according to a fourth embodiment of the invention; [ Fig. 7 ] There Figure 7 is a schematic side sectional view of a system according to a fifth embodiment of the invention; [ Fig. 8 ] There Figure 8 is a schematic side sectional view of a system according to a sixth embodiment of the invention. Description de mode(s) de réalisation

[0011] As shown in the Figure 1 and designated by the general reference noted 10, a system comprises a heating assembly 12 and a substantially vertical support 14, here a wall of a room, to which the assembly is fixed.

[0012] The heating assembly 12 generally comprises several electric heating modules, one of which is arranged at a height greater than the height of the other module. The lower module 16, called the lower module, is shown in full on the figure 1 and the upper module 18, called the upper module, is shown partially in dotted lines. It will be noted that the upper module 18 can be arranged directly above the lower module 16 in a vertical arrangement. Alternatively, according to a front view taken in a plane parallel to that of the support 14 (plane perpendicular to the figure 1 ), the upper module 18 may be horizontally offset relative to the position of the lower module 16 so as to be only partly above the lower module, at least one other upper module also being able to be partly above the same lower module 16.

[0013] There figure 8 represents, in one embodiment, a heating assembly which comprises several electric heating modules arranged at different dimensions from each other and, for example, arranged directly above each other.

[0014] In the figure 1 , as well as in the embodiments illustrated in the figures, the electric heating modules of a heating assembly are generally all identical. However, alternatively, the electric heating modules of the same heating assembly may, at least for some of them, differ from one module to another, insofar as the lower modules of the assembly all make it possible to reduce the thermal influence that they have on the upper modules of the assembly.

[0015] It will be noted that the external shapes of the modules in front view (following a view in a plane parallel to the plane of the support 14) can adopt any geometry: square, rectangular, triangular, diamond-shaped, circular, elliptical or a non-regular geometric shape.

[0016] As shown in the figure 1 , the module 16 (the configuration of the module 18 is identical to that of the module 16) comprises a closed body 20 which contains at least one electric heating element or heating body 22 (here only one heating element is shown). It may for example be one or more electric heating resistors. The fixing of the electric heating element inside the body is not shown in the figure for the sake of simplicity. It may for example be arms connected to the internal face of the body.

[0017] The body 20 of the module generally comprises a rear cover 24 which is shaped so as to form a housing open on the front of the module (opposite the support 14) to house the heating element 22 and a front wall 26 which closes, in the manner of a front technical facade, the front opening of the housing. The convex external shape of the rear cover 24 is arranged opposite the wall support 14 and the cover is fixed to the support by means of a conventional hanging device 28 (e.g.: fixing lugs and screws or similar fixing members).

[0018] The closed body 20 is thus delimited by an external wall, a part of which is formed by the front wall 26 and the remaining part of the wall is formed by the wall of the rear cover 24, called the rear wall.

[0019] The external wall delimiting the body of the module 16 is provided with two types of openings: one or more air inlet openings (O1, O2), generally arranged in the lower part of the body and one or more air outlet openings (O3), generally arranged in the upper part of the body.

[0020] In the configuration illustrated on the figure 1 , several air inlet openings are arranged in the lower part of the rear wall of the cover 24, in particular in adjacent portions of this wall. For example, the air inlet openings are made in a horizontal portion (openings O1) and in an adjacent inclined portion (openings O2) of the rear wall, thus allowing air to enter as illustrated by the arrows. The location, number and configuration of the air inlet opening(s) may vary depending on the configuration of the module. The opening(s) O1 may be while the opening(s) O2 are retained or vice versa.

[0021] The air outlet opening(s) O3 are here arranged in the upper part of the front wall 26, close to the upper horizontal portion of the rear cover 24. By arranging the air outlet opening(s) in the upper part of the front wall 26 which is here substantially vertical, the upward air flow which circulates inside the body of the module, after having entered through the air inlet openings O1, O2 and having licked the heating element 22, leaves the body through the air outlet opening(s) O3 which have a substantially horizontal orientation. The hot air flow exiting through these openings and which thus evacuates part of the heat dissipated by the heating body is thus directed towards the front of the module 16, away from this module and the upper module 18 as represented by the arrow on the figure 1 . The outgoing hot air flow is thus diverted from a vertical upward trajectory which would normally lead it directly towards the upper module 18 and thus heat the latter. In the absence of this configuration of air outlet opening(s) diverting the outgoing air flow, the upper module 18 would thus be subjected, on the one hand, to heating due to its own heating body and, on the other hand, to additional heating due to the hot upward flow coming from the lower module 16. This phenomenon can also be reproduced in cascade with the module(s) located above the module 18. The air flow thus diverted can rise vertically. This rise, however, occurs at a distance from the heating assembly and therefore at a distance from the upper module(s).

[0022] It will be noted that the air outlet opening(s) O3 may alternatively be oriented in an upwardly inclined manner as long as the angle of inclination remains less than 90° so that the outgoing hot air flow does not come into contact with the upper module 18.

[0023] According to a first embodiment, the system 30 of the figure 2 takes over system 10 from the figure 1 (this will therefore not be described again) and adds an additional wall 32 arranged in front of the front wall 26 and at a distance from it, thus forming a front facade for the body of the module 16'. Generally, such a facade is of an aesthetic nature and may include a decorative visual aspect (color, shape, pattern, texture, etc.). Alternatively, this facade may fulfill a technical function. Alternatively, this facade may fulfill an aesthetic function and a technical function.

[0024] The additional wall 32 is for example fixed to the body 20 of the module 16', for example to the front wall 26, by means of one or more fixing elements not shown here for the sake of simplicity. The upper module 18' is also provided with an additional wall forming a front facade.

[0025] The additional wall 32 here has dimensions that are slightly larger than those of the body (at least in the vertical direction) in order to mask the latter. The dimensions of this wall in the horizontal direction may be equal to or also slightly larger than those of the body. When the various electric heating modules of the heating assembly are positioned and fixed against the support 14 in their final configuration, the additional walls 32 of the various modules may be either contiguous with each other or spaced apart from each other. In the case where the additional walls 32 are contiguous, perforations are generally made on these walls, in particular opposite the air outlet opening(s) O3, in order to allow the hot air flow to be evacuated directly through the front face of the module, rather than allowing the hot air flow to rise along the internal face of these walls.However, if the additional walls are spaced apart from each other, it is also possible to provide perforations through these walls.

[0026] In an alternative embodiment not shown in the figure 2 , the additional wall 32 has dimensions smaller than those of the front wall. Such a configuration is for example illustrated in the figure 7 which will be described later.

[0027] The additional wall 32 generally has a substantially planar shape as shown in the figure 2 However, the external contour of this wall in front view can, like that of the modules, adopt different geometries, as mentioned above for the modules.

[0028] According to the figure 3 , the system 40 comprises a heating assembly with at least one lower heating module 42 and an upper heating module 44 shown partially in dotted lines. The two modules are fixed to the substantially vertical support 14 in a manner identical to the figures 1 et 2 .

[0029] The lower module 42 (just like the upper module 44) comprises a body 46 whose general shape is substantially the same as that of the body 20 of the figure 1 and which is formed by the assembly of an open rear hood 50 and a front wall 48 closing this hood.

[0030] The body also comprises at least one electric heating element identical to the electric heating element 22 of the figure 1 . The air inlet openings O1 and O2 are identical to those of the figure 1 .

[0031] Unlike the figures 1 et 2 , the body of the module 42 contains an internal deflector 52 arranged to deflect the upward air flow which enters the module through the air inlet openings O1 and O2.

[0032] This deflector 52 takes the form of an internal wall which separates the space internal to the body into a first zone, called the front zone, where the electric heating element 22 is housed and a second zone, called the rear zone, devoid of an electric heating element and therefore of a heat source. The internal deflector generally has the shape of an inverted L whose horizontal bar 52a is arranged in the upper part of the body against the front wall 48 and whose vertical or substantially vertical bar 52b extends substantially vertically towards the lower part of the body as shown in the figure 3 .

[0033] The upward airflow at room temperature which enters the body through the air inlet opening(s) O1 and O2 is separated by this deflector into a first upward flow which is diffused in the first zone and a second flow which is diffused in the second zone.

[0034] The first upward air flow is guided by the deflector 52 in the first zone and encounters the heating element 22 which it passes along on all sides while cooling it. This heated air flow is then deflected substantially horizontally by the upper part 52a of the deflector and is thus forced to use the air outlet opening(s) O3 to escape from the module in an outlet direction which is not directed towards the upper module.

[0035] The second ascending air flow is guided by the deflector 52 into the second zone which runs along the rear wall of the cover 50 and rises along it until it reaches the upper part of the second zone where one or more air outlet openings O4 are arranged in the substantially horizontal portion of the upper part of the rear cover. This second air flow is almost not heated by the zone during its ascending path since the internal deflector acts as a heat shield between the two zones. This second air flow can therefore be evacuated from the module in a substantially vertical direction which it brings directly onto the upper module, in particular at one or more of its air inlet openings O1, O2. This is not, however, a problem since this air flow is not hot and therefore does not thermally influence the upper module.The air outlet opening(s) O4 are separated from the air outlet opening(s) O3 by the internal deflector 52, in particular its upper part 52a.

[0036] According to a second embodiment, the system 60 of the figure 4 takes over the system 40 of the figure 3 (this will therefore not be described again) and adds an additional wall 62 identical to the wall 32 of the mode of the figure 2 . The elements, characteristics, functions associated with the figure 3 and to the wall 32 of the embodiment of the figure 2 and the advantages relating thereto are retained and will not be described again here. The system 60 comprises the lower module 64 identical to the lower module 42 of the figure 3 without the additional wall 62 and the upper module 66 identical to the upper module 44 of the figure 3 .

[0037] The system 70 of the third embodiment of the figure 5 differs from the mode of the figure 4 by the inclination of the upper part of the additional wall forming the front facade 72 of the lower module 74. Thus the spacing between the additional wall 72 and the front wall 48 of the body widens from the lower part of the body to the upper part of the latter. The flow of hot air leaving the air outlet opening(s) O3 is thus deflected from its substantially horizontal trajectory by the inclined upper part of the wall 72 which directs the flow of air upwards, in an inclined direction away from the upper module 76.

[0038] With this orientation the hot air flow rises away from the upper module 76 and can flow, through the gap I (generated by the geometry of the assembly of the lower and upper modules together) between the two adjacent additional walls of the two modules, along the external face of the inclined additional wall of the upper module. There is therefore no risk of the temperature of the upper module 76 being raised by the hot air flow leaving the lower module. It will be noted that this additional deviation of the hot air flow leaving the lower module makes it possible to avoid having to pierce the additional wall 72 for the evacuation of this flow, as has already been explained with reference to the modes of figures 2 And 4 .

[0039] In this configuration, the dimensions of the additional wall 72, in particular its height, can be increased compared to the modes of the figures 2 And 4to the extent that the adjacent additional walls of two lower and upper modules are not likely to come into contact with each other. For example, the wall 72 of the lower module 74 can thus partially cover the additional wall of the upper module 76 in the manner of tiles. Preferably, the covering only occurs over a small portion of the height of the additional walls.

[0040] It will be noted that the inclination of the additional wall 72 can vary between a value of a few degrees (e.g.: 5°) relative to the substantially vertical arrangement of the front wall 48 up to a higher value of the order of 10°, 15°, 20° or more depending on the configuration of the modules and the heating assembly. More generally, the additional wall 72 is inclined relative to the front wall 48 by an angle of a value located between 1 and 45°, preferably between 5 and 35°, more preferably between 10 and 30°.

[0041] The system 80 of the fourth embodiment of the figure 6 differs from the 70 system of the figure 5 by the inclination of the front wall 82 of the body 84 of the module. As a result, the body 84 of the module is wider in its upper part than in its lower part (the width of the body is engaged horizontally in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the support 14. This inclination of the front wall 82 makes it possible to deflect more than in the mode of the figure 5 the flow of hot air exiting through the O3 air outlet opening(s) of the lower module. For the same configuration and orientation of the O3 air outlet opening(s) as in the mode of the figure 5 , the flow of hot air coming out of this or these openings is directed downwards (the inclination is greater the more the wall 82 is inclined), which moves it even further away from the upper module. The inclined front wall 82 also makes it possible, by its inclination, to guide this flow of air, together with the additional wall 72, even further away from the upper module than on the figure 5 .

[0042] The system 90 of the fifth embodiment of the figure 7 differs from the systems of previous modes in several aspects.

[0043] The module 92 comprises a body 94 which has a rear cover 96 closed by a front wall 98. The body 94 contains one or more electric heating elements 22, an internal deflector 100 which performs the same function as the internal deflector 52 of the previous modes, one or more air inlet openings O1, O2 in the lower part of the body, one or more air outlet openings O'3 in the upper part of the front wall 98 and one or more air outlet openings O'4 in the substantially horizontal upper part of the rear cover 96.

[0044] The front wall 98 has a generally concave shape oriented towards the outside of the body so as to guide towards the outside the part of the hot air flow leaving the module through the air outlet opening(s) O'3 and which is deflected, in this case by the deflector 100. This part of the hot air flow corresponds to the first air flow which propagates in the first zone of the body where the heating element 22 is housed, as already explained above with reference to the mode of the figure 3 . The front wall 98 extends beyond the concavity by a substantially planar peripheral edge 98a which is arranged on the figure 7 in a substantially vertical plane. The peripheral edge 98a may extend over the entire periphery of the front wall or only over a portion thereof. The internal deflector 100 is mounted on the internal side of the wall 98.

[0045] More particularly, the front wall 98 has a general bowl shape, for example a shape of essentially truncated appearance, the air outlet opening(s) O'3 being made in the substantially flat portion forming the bottom of the truncated cone. The truncated cone shape is extended externally by the substantially flat peripheral edge 98a. The internal deflector 100 has a first portion 100a which follows the inclination of the inclined portion of the truncated cone and a second portion 100b falling substantially vertically.

[0046] The module also comprises an additional wall 102 which is arranged in front of the front wall 98, at a distance from the latter, fixed to the latter for example by arms 104, but which, unlike the previous modes, is positioned flush with the peripheral edge 98a of the front wall. The additional wall 102 therefore does not protrude from the body 94 of the module as for the other modes but is circumscribed in the external envelope of the body 94 and therefore does not cause additional bulk on the front face of the module. The design of this module is more compact than that of the other embodiments.

[0047] On the figure 8 the system 110 comprises a heating assembly 112 comprising several electric heating modules 114 fixed to a substantially vertical support not shown by means of a plurality of attachment devices 116 which are here all identical to each other from one module to another.

[0048] The modules 114 are here all identical and are arranged one above the other in a vertical assembly according to a view perpendicular to the plane of the substantially vertical support to which the heating assembly is fixed. In front view, that is to say in a plane parallel to the plane of the substantially vertical support, the modules may have a horizontal offset relative to each other without this affecting their difference in dimension or altitude.

[0049] Each module 114 here presents the configuration of module 70 of the figure 5 with the exception, however, of the internal deflector 118 which here is positioned by its flat upper part against the flat upper part of the rear cover of the module. As a result, the air outlet opening(s) O4 of the figure 5 , referenced here O"4, are offset towards the rear of the hood on the figure 8 , set back from the front wall. Other details of the construction of the figure 5 are not included on the figure 8 for the sake of simplicity.

[0050] As shown in the figure 8 , the inclined upward arrows which are each arranged in the geometric gap formed between two neighboring modules (lower module and upper module) each represent the deflected hot air flow which escapes from the lower module in a manner spaced apart from the upper module in order to limit, or even avoid, thermally influencing the upper module.

Claims

1. System (10) comprising a heating assembly (12) and a substantially vertical support (14) to which said heating assembly is fixed, the heating assembly (12) comprising at least two electric heating modules (16, 18) positioned against the vertical support, one of the modules, referred to as upper module (18), being at a level higher than that of the other module, referred to as lower module (16), each electric heating module comprising a body (20, 46, 84, 94) which contains at least one electric heating element (22) and which is bounded externally by a wall, the wall being provided, on the one hand, with one or more air inlet openings formed in its lower part and, on the other hand, with one or more air outlet openings positioned in its upper part for the circulation of an upward air flow inside said body, notably over said at least one electric heating element that is to be cooled, at least a part of the air outlet opening or openings of each module being oriented in such a way as to deflect at least a part of the air flow leaving said module in such a way that, for the lower (16) and upper (18) modules, said at least part of the air flow heated by said at least one electric heating element (22) and leaving the lower module (16) is deflected away from the upper module (18), characterized in that each module (16, 18) comprises an additional wall (32, 42, 62, 72, 102) positioned in front of the frontal wall (26, 48, 82, 98) of the body (20, 46, 84, 94) of the module and at a distance from said wall so as to form a front facade for the body (20, 46, 84, 94).

2. System (10) according to Claim 1, characterized in that the wall bounding the body (20) of each module (16, 18) comprises a rear wall (24) and said frontal wall (26) opposite to said rear wall (24), said rear wall (24) facing the substantially vertical support, said at least a part of the air outlet opening or openings which is oriented in such a way as to deflect at least a part of the air flow leaving the module being created in the upper part of the frontal wall (26).

3. System (10) according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the additional wall (72) forming a front façade is inclined with respect to the frontal wall (26) in such a way that the separation between said additional wall and the frontal wall is greater in the upper part of the body (20) than in the lower part.

4. System (10) according to Claim 3, characterized in that the additional wall (72) forming a front façade is inclined with respect to the frontal wall (26) by an angle of a magnitude situated between 1 and 45°.

5. System (10) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the additional wall (32) forming a front façade is perforated in its thickness over at least a part of its surface.

6. System (10) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the additional wall (32, 62, 72) forming a front façade has dimensions equal to or greater than those of the frontal wall (26, 48, 82).

7. System (10) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the frontal wall (98) has a concave overall shape oriented towards the outside of the body (94) so as to guide towards the outside said at least part of the air flow leaving the module and which is deflected.

8. System (10) according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the body (94) of each module contains an internal deflector (100) which is positioned in such a way as to deflect the upward air flow that passes through the region of the body (94) in which said at least one electric heating element (22) is housed toward said at least part of the air outlet opening or openings (O3) that is oriented in such a way as to deflect at least part of the air flow leaving the module and which is referred to as the oriented air outlet opening part.

9. System (10) according to Claim 8, characterized in that the internal deflector (100) divides the upward air flow entering the body through the air inlet opening or openings into, on the one hand, a first upward air flow that passes through a first region in which said at least one electric heating element is housed and, on the other hand, a second upward air flow that passes through a second region of the body, said internal deflector guiding this second upward air flow towards one or more other air outlet openings which are positioned in a substantially horizontal upper part of the wall of the body and which are separated from the oriented air outlet opening part by the internal deflector.

10. System (10) according to Claim 9, characterized in that the internal deflector (100) acts as a heat shield between the first region in which said at least one electric heating element (22) is housed and the second region of the body through which the second air flow passes.