Vehicle Urea Tank Heating Device With PTC Foil And Pretensioned Insert
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing heating devices for urea tanks in vehicles lack a simple and efficient design that allows for effective adaptation to various container shapes and sizes, leading to suboptimal heat transfer and potential damage to the heating elements.
Innovation Solution
A heating device with a surface heating element that covers the inner surface of the outer casing, pretensioned by an insert to ensure a flush and secure contact, allowing for efficient heat transfer and easy adaptation to different container shapes, using a PTC foil heating element and a slotted tubular body with spring elements for secure attachment and strain relief.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a conventional heating device with tubular outer casing and insert is used, then the heating element is protected from corrosion, but the heat transfer efficiency is reduced due to gaps between components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a flexible heating element that can be pressed against the inner surface of the tubular outer casing, creating intimate thermal contact. This flexible film approach allows the heating element to conform to the container's inner surface, eliminating gaps while maintaining the protective barrier function of the casing.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating element is pre-shaped or pre-formed to match the contours of the inner surface of the outer casing before installation. This preliminary preparation ensures that when the heating element is inserted, it automatically achieves optimal contact with the casing surface, maximizing heat transfer efficiency from the start.
2Device complexity
If the heating device is designed for fixed container dimensions, then the structure is simplified, but the adaptability to different container sizes and shapes is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The heating element is designed with variable geometric parameters, particularly its length and flexibility, allowing it to be adjusted or selected to match different container dimensions. The element can be manufactured in various lengths or configured to flex into different shapes, enabling the same basic design to adapt to multiple container sizes and geometries without increasing overall device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The heating element incorporates dynamic flexibility, allowing it to bend and conform to the inner surface of containers with different shapes. This dynamic adaptability enables a single heating device design to serve multiple container configurations, from cylindrical to irregular shapes, while maintaining structural simplicity through the use of a single flexible component rather than multiple rigid parts.
3Ease of operation
If the heating element is loosely fitted in the container, then the assembly is easy, but the heat transfer contact is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The heating element is designed with a curved or contoured shape that matches the curvature of the container's inner surface. This curved geometry allows the element to naturally conform to the container shape, maximizing surface contact area for heat transfer while maintaining ease of assembly, as the curved element can be simply inserted and will self-align with the container contours.
4Area of stationary object
If the heating element extends beyond the container surface, then more surface area is covered, but the element is exposed to damage from external factors
Solution Approach 1:
The heating element is nested within the tubular outer casing, with the casing serving as a protective outer shell. The heating element is positioned inside the casing rather than extending beyond it, so the casing protects the vulnerable heating element from mechanical damage, corrosion, and other external harmful factors while still allowing thermal energy to transfer to the container contents.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a compact, efficient heating device with improved heat transfer and reduced risk of damage, allowing for easy assembly and adaptation to various container sizes, ensuring reliable operation and protection against overheating.
Implementation Method 1
A heating device with a surface heating element that covers the inner surface of the outer casing, viewed in the circumferential direction of the outer casing, at least over a partial circumference, in thermal contact with the outer casing
Implementation Method 2
The insert, or at least parts thereof, is pretensioned and thereby presses the at least one surface heating element against the inner surface of the outer casing, at least in partial regions, and preferably flush
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, methods, and devices are disclosed. In an exemplary embodiment, a heating device for heating liquids in a reservoir, such as a tank or a container of a vehicle is disclosed. The heating device may have a housing which is resistant to the liquid to be heated and has a tubular outer casing closed at one end by a base part and at the other end by a cover part. The heating element may also include an insert inserted into the outer casing of the housing and at least one surface heating element arranged between the outer casing and the insert. Connecting conductors of the heating element may be routed out of the housing sealed, and at least one surface heating element may cover the inner surface of the outer casing, viewed in the circumferential direction of the outer casing, at least over a partial circumference, with which the outer casing may be in thermal contact, and the insert, or at least parts thereof, may be pretensioned and press the at least one surface heating element against the inner surface of the outer casing at least in partial regions.