ELECTRIC HEATERS

Abstract: A heater assembly in or for a liquid heating apparatus comprises a thick film heater (200) and a control (2) for the heater (200). The heater (200) has a resistive heating track (204) having an electrical contact (206, 208) through which electrical energy may be supplied to the track (204). The control (2) has a movable electrical contact (116, 118) which engages with the track contact (206, 208), and which, upon operation of the control (2), moves out of engagement with the track contact (206, 208) to interrupt the electrical supply to the heating track (204).

Description: ELECTRTΓ HEA Γ-PS The present invention relates to an electric heater assembly for liquid heating apparatus and thermally sensitive controls for use therewith. Until quite recently, and particularly in the United Kingdom, liquid heating vessels such as kettles and hot water jugs were normally provided with heaters in the form of sheathed heating elements which extended into the vessel through an opening in the side wall or the base of the vessel. Such elements are, however, prone to 'furring' in hard water areas, are difficult to clean, and also make the inside of the vessel more difficult to clean. In other countries most especially in continental Europe, it has been more common to produce liquid heating vessels with sheathed heating elements attached to the external surface of the base of the vessel, for example through a thermal diffusion plate. Such an arrangement which is exemplified in EP 574310, has the advantage that the element is hidden from view and the inside of the vessel may be cleaned more easily. Quite recently however, it has been proposed to use so-called "thick film" heaters in liquid heating vessels. These heaters comprise an electrically resistive heating deposited, for example printed, on an electrically insulating substrate provided typically on a metallic support plate. In liquid heating vessels the metallic support plate may be the base of the vessel itself, or a plate for mounting in the base of the vessel. Examples of such heaters are shown, for example in 096/18331 and W096/17497. Typically the thick film heating track has a tortuous path terminating in a pair of terminals through which power is supplied to the track. The power is normally supplied via a thermally sensitive control unit which acts to open a set of contacts in the control unit to disconnect the power supply to the track in the event, for example, that the heater overheats. Power leads may be soldered on to the terminals and connected to the control unit, or as shown in GB-A-2283156 the thermally sensitive control unit may be provided with spring contacts which make electrical connection with the terminals. Both these arrangements, however, require both an electrical connection to be made between the control unit and the track and a set of electrical contacts to be provided within the switch unit, which is expensive. The present invention seeks to overcome the above disadvantage, and from a first aspect provides a heater assembly in or for a liquid heating apparatus comprising a thick film heater and a control for the heater, said heater having a resistive heating track having an electrical contact through which electrical energy may be supplied to the track, and said control having a movable electrical contact which engages with the track contact, and which, upon operation of the control, moves out of engagement with the track contact to interrupt the electrical supply to the track. Thus in accordance with this aspect of the invention, the need for separate electrical connections to the track and a further set of switch contacts within a control unit is obviated, as the electrical connection to the heater track is made through a pair of switch contacts, a fixed one of which is provided on the track and a movable one of which is provided on the control. This considerably reduces the number of parts needed, thereby significantly reducing costs. Preferably, both connections to the track are made in this manner, so as to allow for double pole switching. This arrangement could have broader application then solely to controls so from a second broad aspect, the invention provides a contact arrangement comprising a fixed contact provided on a track film heater and a movable contact mounted for engagement therewith. The track contact may be formed by a printed pad of silver or other conductive material in the normal manner when the number of operations is limited e.g. in a single operation "one-slot" protector. Preferably, however, where the control is one which will operate repeatedly e.g. a boiling control, the track contact is formed by a discrete contact bonded or otherwise mounted to the heater. This is preferable since such a contact will be better able to withstand the arcing which would occur in the event of the switch contacts opening and closing. It will be appreciated that the invention also extends to a thermally sensitive control unit for a thick film heater having a fixed electrical contact, said control unit having a movable electrical contact mounted for movement into and out of engagement with the heater contact . Preferably the movable contact is reεiliently mounted so as to be able to accommodate mounting tolerances and also to provide a suitable contact pressure upon mounting. Most preferably, the movable contact is arranged in or extends through a window in the face of the control unit. This window may act to shield surrounding parts from arcs generated during operation of the control. The contact may engage the inner periphery of the window so as to be pre-loaded by it, the contact being lifted out of engagement with the window when it makes contact with the heater contact to achieve the desired contact pressure. The thermally sensitive control may, for example, comprise an overheat protection control which operates in the event that the heater overheats and/or a boiling control which operates in the event that liquid in a liquid heating vessel boils. In either event, the control may comprise a thermally sensitive actuator, such as a bimetallic actuator, which is arranged in good thermal contact with a portion of the heater or the liquid in the vessel. A problem which arises with such arrangements is that during heating and cooling the heater, which is normally generally planar, deforms due to the different coefficients of expansion of its metal support plate and the electrically insulating layer provided on it . To overcome this problem and to ensure good thermal contact with the heater during operation it has been proposed to mount controls directly to the heater, for example using studs welded onto the heater, so that the whole control will move with the heater. However such arrangements are complicated to manufacture and thus expensive and, furthermore, the mounting areas take up heating space. Alternatively thermally sensitive switch units including an actuator and switch contacts have been resiliently biased against the heater. This is expensive as the leads to the control need to be flexible to take up the movement. In yet a further proposal, as shown in GB-A-2283156 mentioned above, a thermally deformable carrier for a bimetallic actuator is resiliently biased against a part of the heater. In this arrangement, however, only a relatively small central region of the actuator is in contact with the heater. Furthermore, the biasing is intended primarily to pre-load a back-up protection mechanism which operates in the event that the bimetallic actuator fails to operate. The biasing force produced is quite substantial and if transmitted directly to the actuator could adversely interfere with its operation. To overcome this problem, from a third aspect, the invention provides a thermally sensitive control unit for an electric heater comprising a thermally sensitive actuator mounted to the control unit via spring means which, in use, will act resiliently to bias the actuator against a portion of the heater. In this way, the spring force biasing the actuator into contact with the heater can be set to produce the requisite biasing force without interfering with the operation of the actuator. Furthermore, the resilient mounting will be able to accommodate deformation of the heater and mounting tolerances . Any suitable spring may be to mount the actuator but preferably a leaf spring is used. Typically the biasing force is arranged to be less than lOOg, more preferably less than 50g. Preferably the mounting is such that the actuator engages with the heater substantially around the whole periphery of the actuator, so as to give better thermal contact with the heater. Preferably the actuator is a bimetallic actuator, most preferably a snap acting bimetallic actuator, for example of the type disclosed in GB 1542252. Such actuators are formed with a central cut out which defines a tongue, and preferably the actuator is mounted to the control unit by a leaf spring engaging with the tongue . The actuator may be mounted to a fixed support in the control, in which case it may act to open a set of switch contacts via an intermediate member such as a push rod, which may, for example, act to trip a spring loaded trip lever which opens the contacts. However, to reduce the number of components in the control and thus reduce its cost, the actuator may actually be mounted on the trip lever. This in itself is a novel arrangement, and from a further aspect, the present invention provides a control for an electric heater, comprising a control body, a spring-loaded trip lever mounted to the body portion for movement to open a set of contacts, and a thermally sensitive actuator mounted to the trip lever for engagement with a portion of an electrical heater, such that upon operation of the actuator, the trip lever is moved to open the set of contacts . The above arrangement not only has the advantage of reducing the number of parts in the control but also the additional advantage that when the actuator has operated, the trip lever may also move the actuator out of thermal contact with the heater or liquid in the vessel, allowing the actuator to cool more quickly. This will in turn allow the control to be reset more quickly. This is in itself a novel arrangement in broad terms, so from a yet further aspect, the invention provides a thermally sensitive control for an electric heater comprising a control body and a thermally sensitive actuator movably mounted with respect to the control body for engagement with a portion of the heater such that upon operation of the actuator, the actuator is moved out of thermal contact with that portion of the heater. In the preferred embodiment, the thermally sensitive actuator may be resiliently mounted on the trip lever, to accommodate assembly tolerances and also distortion of the heater plate. Most simply, the actuator is mounted on a face of the trip lever. In one embodiment of the invention, the thermally sensitive actuator may constitute an overheat protection actuator which operates when the heater overheats to trip the trip lever and open the contacts. However, the trip lever may alternatively or preferably in addition mount a thermally sensitive actuator such as a bimetallic actuator which operates when liquid in a liquid heating vessel boils . This boiling sensitive actuator could, for example, be arranged to have directed on to it vapour from within the vessel, for example via a steam pipe communicating with the interior of the vessel. Preferably however, the boiling sensitive actuator is arranged to make thermal contact with a part of the heater through which boiling may be sensed. In the preferred embodiment, the heater is provided with a sump, as disclosed in O97/04694 and the boiling actuator arranged to make thermal contact with the sump . As described more fully in 097/04694 the sump holds a small volume of liquid whose temperature lags behind that of the main mass of liquid in the vessel until the liquid boils, at which point convection will rapidly displace the liquid in the sump so allowing its temperature to rise to 100°C, which can be sensed by a suitable actuator. The provision of a boiling sensitive actuator in close thermal contact with a sump is in itself novel, so from a yet further aspect the invention provides an assembly comprising a generally planar electric heater having a sump region containing, in use, a relatively small volume of liquid, and a thermally sensitive actuator in close thermal contact with the sump. For compactness, the trip lever may be provided with an aperture, into or through which the sump may extend, and the boiling sensitive actuator may be mounted on the opposite face of the trip lever to the overheat protection actuator. The diameter of the sump may be relatively small, and typically may be smaller than the diameter of the boiling sensitive actuator. In order to provide a suitable location for the actuator against the sump, a thermally conductive mounting plate, for example of copper, may be mounted over the sump, and the boiling sensitive actuator mounted against the mounting plate. The mounting plate may be mounted on the control so as to be positioned over the sump when the control is mounted to the heater. The mounting plate may be provided with fixing means such as resilient legs for engaging over and retaining the plate on the sump once the control has been mounted. The mounting plate may also extend beyond the actuator so as more efficiently to draw heat away from the sump and allow rapid cooling of the sump after the control has operated, thereby allowing the control to be reset more rapidly after boiling has been sensed. As mentioned above, the trip lever of the control acts, when tripped by either the boiling or overheat actuators, to open a set of contacts in the electrical supply to the heater. The set of contacts may be provided within the control itself, or, more preferably, and particularly when the control is being used with thick film heaters, only one contact of the contact set need be provided in the control, the other being provided on the heater itself, an arrangement which was described in broad terms above. Thus, the trip arm may act to lift one or more movable contacts out of contact with fixed contacts provided on the heater. In the preferred embodiment, the control contacts are provided on leaf springs which are engaged by the trip lever. For reduced manufacturing costs, the leaf springs may be mounted directly to electrical terminals e.g. terminal pins of the control unit . This is in itself a novel arrangement and from a yet further aspect, the invention provides a thermally sensitive control for an electric heater having terminal means for connection to an external power supply, a movable contact for making electrical connection with a contact provided on the heater, said contact being provided on a leaf spring joined directly to the terminal means of the control unit . A potential problem with making and breaking contact between a contact on the heater and one in the control is that an arc will be generated. The strength of the arc can be quite significant, particularly if the contacts will be opened by a substantial amount . Preferably, therefore, the means are provided to shield other parts of the heater and control from the arc. In the preferred embodiment the control may be provided with an aperture in a face thereof which in use defines an enclosure around the contacts so as to contain any arc produced. This is in itself a novel arrangement and from a further aspect the invention provides a control for a thick film heater and having a movable electrical contact arrangement with a fixed contact on the heater, said control having an aperture in a face thereof which, upon assembly of the control to the heater defines an enclosure around the contacts . Preferably the control engages the surface of the heater around the aperture and it may, therefore be provided with an upstanding rim around the aperture for this purpose. In the context of the sump arrangement described above, the control may also have means for at least partially surrounding the sump so as to prevent arcing to the sump. Accordingly in the preferred embodiment, the control has a wall extending around the sump between the sump and the contacts . Preferably the contact enclosing means and/or the sump shielding means is provided on a plate which at least partially closes one side of the control. Thus in its most preferred embodiment, the control may comprise three main components - a control body, a trip lever and a cover plate containing the arc shielding means . The body may be constructed as a tray into which the trip lever is assembled and whose open face is at least partially closed by the cover plate. Whilst the invention has been described with reference primarily to liquid heating vessels such as kettles and jugs, it will be appreciated that it will find application in other liquid heating apparatus such as shower heaters, dishwashers and washing machines. It will be appreciated that the invention extends to liquid heating apparatus including a control or an assembly in accordance with the invention, more particularly to such apparatus wherein the control is mounted under the base of the apparatus, more particularly to a heater forming or forming a part of the base of a liquid heating vessel. Also, whilst the invention has been described with particular reference to thick film heaters, it is not limited to application with such and in certain aspects could also be applied to heaters of the type having sheathed elements suitably secured to a support plate. As has been mentioned above heaters are now typically formed on a plate for mounting in the base of a vessel, for example a plastics vessel, and on which the thick film or sheathed element is provided. It has proved particularly difficult to provide satisfactory mounting of a heater plate in the base of a plastics vessel, since it is difficult to provide a sufficient depth of plastics material into which to secure fixing means such as screws . In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the control is mounted to the vessel body as to clamp the plate between the control and the vessel, with sealing means interposed between the heater and the vessel. To this end, the base of the vessel is provided with a number of mounting bosses over which locate a number of bores provided around the periphery of the control . One end of each bore engages the heater around the base of the boss, and clamping screws or the like tighten against the other end of the bore. This mounting arrangement allows a greater depth of mounting boss to be provided on the vessel, thereby improving the clamping force attainable. This is in itself a novel mounting arrangement so from a yet further aspect the invention provides a liquid heating vessel comprising a plastics vessel body, a plate heater arranged in the base of the vessel body and a control unit mounted below the heater and clamping the heater to the vessel body, said vessel body having a plurality of mounting bosses over which locate a plurality of bores provided on the control unit . A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: - Figure 1 is a perspective view of a control unit embodying the invention looking at the face of the control which in use will engage the face of the heater; Figure 2 is an exploded view of the control unit of Figure 1 showing how the control unit is positioned against a heater; Figure 3 is a view of one side of the trip lever of the control unit of Figure 1; Figure 4 is a view of the other side of the trip lever; Figure 5 is a sectional view along the line V-V of Figure 1 showing the control unit mounted to a heating plate and in a first operative condition; Figure 6 is a sectional view along the line V-V of Figure 1 in a second operative condition of the control unit; Figure 7 shows the control unit and heater mounted to the base of a liquid heating vessel, with the vessel upturned; and Figure 8 shows a section along line VIII-VIII of Figure 7. With reference to Figures 1 and 2, a control unit 2 embodying the invention comprises four main moulded plastics parts namely a tray-like body part 4, a trip lever 6, a cover plate 8 and a knob moulding 10. The control is intended for use with a thick film heater 200 having a stainless steel plate 202 on which is deposited an insulating glass layer (not referenced) , on top of which is a tortuous heating track 204. The heating track 204 is provided with a pair of contacts 206, 208 through which power may be supplied to the track. For purposes which will be described further below, the plate 202 is provided with a central sump 210 which may be formed as a separate part and joined to the plate, for example, by discharge welding. It should be noted that for ease of explanation, the control unit 2 heater is shown upside down in Figures 2 , 5, 6 , 7 and 8. Returning to the control unit, the trip lever 8 (some of whose detail is shown in phantom lines in Figure 2 and which is described more fully in Figures 3 and 4) is pivotally mounted at one of its ends to one end of the body 4 via knife edges 12 which engage in corresponding V-grooves 14 provided in the control body 4. The trip lever 8 is an over centre mechanism which is biased between two stable position by a C-spring 16 mounted between V grooves 18, 20 provided in the trip lever 8 and body control body 4 respectively. The C- spring 16 also acts to bias the knife edges 8 into the grooves 10 on the body part 4. At its end remote from its pivotal mounting to the control body part 4, the trip arm 6 is provided with a pair of laterally extending pins 22, 24 which are received in slots 26, 28 provided in one end of the generally U-shaped knob moulding 10 whose arms 30, 32 in use extend outside the base of the vessel for manipulation by a user. The arms 30, 32 are provided with journals 34, 36 which fit over mounting bosses 38, 40 provided on the body part 4. This will allow the knob moulding 10 to pivot in the opposite direction to the movement of the trip lever 6. The trip lever also mounts a pair of snap-acting bimetallic actuators 42, 44 of the type described in GB- A-1542252. The first bimetallic actuator 42, which constitutes an overheat protection actuator, is mounted on a pillar 46 provided on the side of the trip lever 6 which, in use faces the heater 200. As shown more clearly in Figure 3, the actuator 42 is mounted to the pillar 44 via a frame-like spring 48 having a first end 50 which engages over the pillar 46 and which clicks into position under a pair of lugs 52, 54, and a second end with an opening 56 through which extends the central tongue 58 of the actuator 42. The side arms 60, 62 of the spring 48 act resiliently to bias the periphery of the actuator 42 against the heater 200 as will be described further below. The trip lever 6 is also provided with an aperture 64 through which, in use, the sump 210 of the heater extends. A second pillar 66 is provided on the other side of the trip lever 6 adjacent the aperture 64, and which mounts the second bimetallic actuator 44. To this end, the pillar 66 has a pair of laterally extending lugs 67 under which a slot 69 in spring 49 may engage. As will be described further below, this actuator 44 will, in use, sense when liquid in a vessel boils. Finally, the trip lever arm 6 is also provided with a pair of slots 70, 72 and a pair of contact lifting surfaces 74, 76. Turning now to the control body 4, this is moulded with an inlet 100 for a power cord (not shown) , the inlet receiving line, neutral and earth terminal pins 102, 104, 106 in a standard configuration. The pins 102, 104, 106 extend through the rear wall 108 of the inlet and are riveted to respective leaf springs 110, 112, 114. The leaf springs 110, 112 which are connected to the live or neutral pins 102, 104 mount contacts 116, 118 which, will make contact with the fixed contacts 202, 204 provided on the heater 200. The earth leaf spring 114 is bent around the inlet 100 and has a tongue 120 for earthing engagement with a slot 212 in the heater plate. The control body 4 has a central aperture 122 in which provides access to the sump 212 of the heater. The aperture 122 is surrounded by a flange 124 which receives a dished copper mounting plate 126 having a central planar bottom 128 and an inclined periphery 130. The flat bottom 128 rests on the flange 124, and the plate 126 is retained in position on the sump by a plurality of legs 132 pressed out from the plate 126. A plurality of lugs 132 retain the plate 126 on the control body 4. The bottom 128 of the plate 126 acts as a mounting location for the bimetallic actuator 44. To facilitate this, the aperture 122 in the body 4 is extended into a slot 136, and the plate is provided with a slot 138 through which the mounting pillar 66 for the actuator 42 may pass . The control body 4 is also provided with a number of bores 150 arranged around its periphery for mounting to the bottom of a vessel. The bores 150 have a closed end 152 against which a fastener such as a screw may clamp, and the other end of the bore engages with the heater, as will be described further below. Also, it is provided with four grooves 152 into which T-shaped tongues 214 of the heater 200 may be folded in order correctly to position the control with respect to the heater 200. A number of bosses 156 are also provided on the control body 4 for mounting a cover moulding to the vessel. Finally, the control body 4 has four slots 154 for receiving mounting clips of the cover plate 8. Turning to the cover plate 8, this is generally planar, but with a number of apertures and upstanding features . Firstly, it has a pair of apertures 160, 162 behind which are arranged the line and neutral contacts 114, 116 of the control. In the unmounted state, the contacts may be positioned within, or may protrude slightly from the apertures 160, 162 depending on the size of the contacts provided on the heater. The arrangement should be such that upon assembly, the respective contacts engage with one another with a sufficient contact force. The spring leaves mounting the contacts 114,116 may engage the inner edge of the apertures 160,162 to set the position of, and pre-load, the contacts 114,116 prior to mounting to the heater. Respective rims 164, 166 are raised around the apertures 160, 162 for engagement with the surface of the heater. The apertures 160, 162 and the rims 164, 166 form an enclosure around the contacts in use, as shown in Figure 5, for example to shield the heater and other parts of the control from arcing. The cover plate 8 has a larger aperture 170 through which the sump 212 of the heater can extend. A rim 172 of the same height as the rims 164, 166 is raised around the aperture 170 on the heater-facing side of the cover plate for engagement with the surface of the heater 200. On the other side of the cover plate 8 a generally cylindrical wall 174 is raised which in use extends around the sump 212 of the heater 200, so as to shield the sump from arcing. The internal surface of the wall 174 is provided with grooves 176 to accommodate the legs of the mounting plate 126 fitting over the sump. Finally, the cover plate 8 is provided with four clips 180 which engage in the slots 154 in the control body 4. To assemble the described control unit, the terminal pins 102, 104, 106, the leaf springs 110, 112, 114 and the copper plate 126 are first mounted to the control body 4. The mounting plate 126 is then clipped in behind the lugs 130 so as to form a first sub- assembly. The first bimetallic actuator 42 is then mounted to the pillar 46 of the trip lever 6 via the spring 48 to form a second sub-assembly. These sub- assemblies are then assembled together such that the mounting pillar of the second bimetallic actuator 44 extends through the apertures 136, 138 in the body 4 and plate 126 respectively and such that the leaf springs 110, 112 lie over the contact lifting surfaces 74 of the trip lever, with the line and neutral contacts 116, 118 extending through the apertures 72 in the trip lever arm 6. The knife edges 12 of the trip lever are positioned in the corresponding grooves 14 in the control body 4 and the C-spring 16 then snapped into position between the grooves 18, 20. Then, the second bimetallic actuator 44 may be mounted to the pillar 66 of the trip lever arm 6 via the spring 49 which biases it lightly against the mounting plate 126. The knob moulding 10 then mounted to the control body 4 with its end slots 22, 24 engaging the pins 18, 20 of the trip lever. Finally, the cover plate 8 is snapped into position over the trip lever 6 by pushing the clips 180 into the slots 154 in the control body 4. In this condition the control unit 2 may be mounted to the heater 200. The grooves 152 on the control body 4 can be aligned with the tongues 214 on the heater plate 202 and the control offered up to the heater plate 202 to the extent that the rims around the apertures in the cover plate 8 engage the surface of the heater 200. During mounting, the legs 134 of the copper plate 126 engage over the sump 212 of the heater 200. The lugs 132 of the control body 4 urge the plate 126 fully into thermal contact with the sump 212. At the same time, the first bimetallic actuator 42 is brought into a lightly biased contact with a region 216 of the heater 200, and the contacts 110, 112 brought into contact with the fixed contacts 206, 208 on the heater track as shown in Figure 5. As both the actuator 42 and the contacts 110, 112 are resiliently mounted, they may accommodate assembly tolerances and still maintain adequate contact with the heater 200, and also accommodate any movement of the heater during operation. As stated above, the second bimetallic actuator 44 is biased lightly by spring 49 into contact with the bottom 128 of the copper plate 126. The control 2 can then be fixed in position on the plate 202 by turning over the tongues 214 into the grooves 152. This assembly may then be mounted in the base of a liquid heating vessel, as shown in Figures 7 and 8. With reference to Figures 7 and 8, a plastics liquid heating vessel 300 is provided with an inwardly facing flange 302 in its base. A plurality of mounting bosses 304, equal in number to the number of bores 150 on the control body 4, are provided on the outer edge of the flange 302, adjacent the lower wall 306 of the vessel 300. Each boss 304 has a bore 308 for receiving a fastener such as a self tapping screw 310. Radially inwardly of the bosses 304 is a raised ring 312 against which the periphery of the heater plate 202 rests. A seal 314 is compressed between the flange 302 and the plate 202 inwardly of the ring 312. As can be seen from Figure 8, a bore 150 of the control body 4 engages over a boss 304. The lower edge 151 of the bore 150 engage on the plate 202 and when screwed down by the fastener 310 will clamp the plate 202 to the flange 304 via the seal 312. It will be seen that the boss 304 provides a significant depth of material into which the fastener 310 can be screwed, thereby improving retention of the heater 200 on the vessel 300. Operation of the assembled control will now be described. In the operating condition shown in Figure 5, the trip lever 6 is in a position in which the movable contacts 106, 108 of the control unit 2 resiliently engage the fixed contacts 204, 206 of the heater 200. Also, the overheat sensitive bimetallic actuator 42 is lightly biased into contact with a portion 216 of the heater 200, by the spring 48 and the boiling sensitive actuator lightly biased into contact with the base 128 of the copper plate 126, which is itself in intimate thermal contact with the bottom of the sump 212. During normal operation of the vessel 300, liquid in the vessel will heat, and the heater.stay relatively cool due to heat transfer to the liquid. The temperature a the small volume of liquid trapped in the sump 212 will lag behind the temperature of the rest of the liquid in the vessel, being relatively isolated from the heating means. However once liquid in the vessel 300 begins to boil, the cooler liquid in the sump is displaced due to the vigorous convection occurring and the temperature of the liquid rises rapidly to that of the surrounding liquid. This temperature is transmitted through the sump into the plate 126 and in turn to the boiling sensitive bimetallic actuator 42. When the actuator 44 reaches its design operating temperature (say 95°C) , it will reverse its curvature with a snap action. The actual operating temperature of the actuator 44 may be determined empirically depending for example on the desired boiling time, the thermal capacity of the plate 126 and so on. One part of the periphery of the actuator 44 reacts against the plate 126, causing the other end to move into contact with an overhanging nose of the pillar 66, thereby lifting the pillar 66. As the pillar 66 is lifted, the trip lever 6 pivots to the point where the C-spring 12 goes over centre, causing the trip lever to move to open the contacts 116, 118, 206, 208 with a snap action. Both sets of contacts are opened by more than 3 mm, so that the control provides a true "off" condition for the heater. The trip lever 6 ends up in the position shown in Figure 6 from which it will be seen that not only have the contacts opened, but also the actuator 44 has moved out of thermal contact with the plate 126. This allows the actuator 44 to cool and assume its original curvature relatively quickly, thereby facilitating rapid resetting of the control which can be achieved through moving the knob 26 upwardly. Rapid resetting of the control after boiling is also facilitated by the copper plate 126 which acts as a radiator drawing heat out of the sump 212. This allows the sump temperature to drop relatively quickly so that when the reset actuator 42 is brought back into contact with the plate 126, it does not operate once again. In the event that the boiling sensitive bimetallic actuator 44 fails to operate, so that the vessel 300 boils dry, or if the vessel 300 is switched on without any liquid in it, the temperature of the heater 200 will rise rapidly. Heat will be transmitted to the overheat actuator 42 from the heater region 216 and at a predetermined temperature (higher than that of the boiling sensitive actuator 42) the actuator 42 will reverse its curvature with a snap action. A peripheral part of the actuator will react against the heater plate 202 causing another part of the actuator to engage a part of the mounting pillar 44, to lift the trip lever 6 past the over centre position of the C-spring 12, to open the contacts, as described above. The control may be reset once the actuator 40 and heater 200 have cooled sufficiently. As will be seen from Figure 6, the actuator 42 is lifted out of contact with the heater 200 thereby accelerating its resetting. As will be seen particularly from Figure 5, the apertures 160, 162 in the cover plate 8 surround the contact pairs so that when the contacts make and break, the surrounding parts of the heater and control are shielded to some degree from any arcing which may occur. Furthermore, the cylindrical wall on the cover plate 8 will prevent arcing to the sump 212. The preferred embodiment of the invention has been described primarily with reference to thick film heaters. A third level of protection, or back up protection, operable in the event that the overheat protection described above fails to operate may be provided in the heater itself. This may be achieved, for example, by providing sections of the track which will rupture preferentially in a serve overheat condition. Alternatively, glass bridges or a glass covering may be provided between respective terminal sections of the track, these bridges becoming conductive at higher temperatures thereby acting to short out the track. Also, it will be appreciated that the control and mounting arrangement described can also be used or adapted for use with other heaters such as those comprising a sheathed heating element bonded onto the underside of a plate. It will be appreciated that the invention in its various aspects will allow significant cost reductions compared to existing controls. In particular, the use of a contact on a thick film heater as one of a set of switch contacts represents a significant cost saving.

Claims: Claims 1. A heater assembly in or for a liquid heating apparatus comprising a thick film heater and a control for the heater, said heater having a resistive heating track having an electrical contact through which electrical energy may be supplied to the track, and said control having a movable electrical contact which engages with the track contact, and which, upon operation of the control, moves out of engagement with the track contact to interrupt the electrical supply to the track. 2. A heater assembly as claimed in claim 1 wherein the track contact is formed by a discrete contact bonded or otherwise mounted to the heater. 3. A thermally sensitive control unit for a thick film heater having a fixed electrical contact, said control unit having a movable electrical contact mounted for movement into and out of engagement with the heater contact . 4. An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the movable contact is resiliently mounted. 5. An assembly or control unit as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the movable contact is arranged in or extends through a window in a face of the control unit. 6. An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 5 wherein the movable contact engages an inner periphery of the window. 7. /An assembly or control unit as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the contact or control unit comprises a thermally sensitive actuator arranged in or for thermal contact with a part of said heater. 8. An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 7 wherein said actuator is resiliently mounted. 9. An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 8 wherein said actuator is mounted via spring means. 10. A thermally sensitive control unit for an electric heater comprising a thermally sensitive actuator mounted to the control unit via spring means which, in use, will act resiliently to bias the actuator against a portion of the heater. 11. An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 10 wherein the spring means comprises a leaf spring. 12. An assembly or control unit as claimed in any of claims 7 to 11 wherein the actuator is mounted such that the actuator engages with the heater substantially around the whole periphery of the actuator. 13. An assembly or control unit as claimed in any of claims 7 to 12 wherein the actuator is mounted on a spring loaded trip lever. 14. A control for an electric heater, comprising a control body, a spring-loaded trip lever mounted to the body portion for movement to open a set of contacts, and a thermally sensitive actuator mounted to the trip lever for engagement with a portion of an electrical heater, such that upon operation of the actuator, the trip lever is moved to open the set of contacts. 15. An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 13 or 14 wherein the actuator is resiliently mounted on the trip lever . 16. An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 14 or 15 wherein the actuator is mounted on a face of the trip lever which in use faces the heater for engagement with a portion of the heater. 17. /An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 16 further comprising a second thermally sensitive actuator mounted for thermal engagement with a second portion of the heater. 18. An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 17 wherein said second portion of the heater is a sump region which in use contains a relatively small volume of liquid to be heated. 19. An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 18 wherein said trip lever is provided with an aperture into or through which, in use, said sump may extend. 20. An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 18 or 19 wherein a thermally conductive mounting plate is mounted on said sump for receiving said second thermally sensitive actuator. 21. An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 16 and any of claims 17 to 20 wherein said second thermally sensitive actuator is mounted on the opposite face of said trip lever to said thermally sensitive actuator. 22. An assembly or control unit as claimed in any of claims 13 to 21 wherein said trip lever acts upon a leaf spring provided at one end with a movable contact for engagement with a heater terminal, and connected at its other end directly to an electrical terminal of the control . 23. A thermally sensitive control for an electric heater having terminal means for connection to an external power supply, a movable contact for making electrical connection with a contact provided on the heater, said contact being provided on a leaf spring joined directly to the terminal means of the control unit. 24. An assembly or control unit as claimed in any preceding claim wherein means are provided on the control to shield other parts of the heater and control from arcs generated during opening and closing of contacts . 25. An assembly or control unit as claimed in claim 24 wherein the control is provided with an aperture in a face thereof which in use defines an enclosure around the contacts so as to contain any arc produced. 26. A control for a thick film heater and having a movable electrical contact arrangement with a fixed contact on the heater, said control having an aperture in a face thereof which, upon assembly of the control to the heater defines an enclosure around the contacts. 27. A control for a thick film heater as claimed in claim 26 wherein the control is provided with an upstanding rim around the aperture for engaging the heater. 28. A control for a thick film heater as claimed in any of claims 24 to 27 wherein said shielding means are provided or a plate which at least partially covers one side of the contact. 29. A control unit for a liquid heating vessel comprising a tray-like control body, a trip lever mounted in said tray-like body, and a cover plate closing at least a part of said tray-like body, said cover plate having one or more apertures to allow an electrical connection to be made to a heater through said aperture . 30. A liquid heating vessel comprising a plastics vessel body, a plate heater arranged in the base of the vessel body and a control unit mounted below the heater and clamping the heater to the vessel body, said vessel body having a plurality of mounting bosses over which locate a plurality of bores provided on the control unit . 31. A thermally sensitive control for an electric heater comprising a control body and a thermally sensitive actuator movably mounted with respect to the control body for engagement with a portion of the heater such that upon operation of the actuator, the actuator is moved out of thermal contact with that portion of the heater.

Inventors: ELLA JOHN, MEEKS ALAN MICHAEL GEORGE, TAYLOR JOHN CRAWSHAW, ELLA, JOHN, MEEKS, ALAN, MICHAEL, GEORGE, TAYLOR, JOHN, CRAWSHAW
Applicants: ELLA JOHN, MEEKS ALAN MICHAEL GEORGE, STRIX LTD, TAYLOR JOHN C, ELLA, JOHN, MEEKS, ALAN, MICHAEL, GEORGE, STRIX LIMITED, TAYLOR, JOHN, CRAWSHAW
Application year: 1998
Main classification: H05B1
IPC codes: A47J27, H05B1, H05B3