Patent GB-785816-A (GB)
Title: Combination radiant and convection heating system
IPC: F24D3/12
Filed: 1955-08-29
Abstract: 785,816. Ventilating and heating vehicles. VAPOR HEATING CORPORATION. Aug. 29, 1955 [Sept. 1, 1954], No. 24758/55. Classs 137 [Also in Group XIII]  In a system for ventilating and heating road and railway vehicles, e.g. a house trailer 10 as shown having a composite floor 11, side, front, and rear walls 12 to 15 respectively, and an insulated roof 16, the floor includes a sub-floor 20 which is formed of panels which rest upon side beams 21 and are composed of metal sheets 22, 23 enclosing insulating material 24, a longitudinal trough 25 being formed in said panels in which is installed a previously assembled heating unit 60. The main floor is composed of transverse interlocking aluminium channels 28 which are supported at their ends on wooden beams 27 secured to the sidebeams 21 and have side flanges 29 supported on the sub-floor 20, intermediate shorter ribs 30 allowing for clear air ducts 35 withing each channel 28. A series of baffles 36 extend longitudinally of the trough 25 through slots in the ribs 30, the whole floor being enclosed from beneath by a plate 38 secured to the side beams 21. Each side wall 12 or 13 is formed of insulating panels 42 and inner panels 43 spaced therefrom to form a passageway 46 which communicates with the various ducts 35 and has louvred air discharge openings 51 which establish communication with the enclosure space 17. A space 54, formed in the rear wall 15, Fig. 4, has a fresh air intake opening 55 and communicates through a blower 56 with a central passage 68 in the trough 25. A damper 57 on an inner rear wall panel 52 regulates the flow of incoming fresh air and allows enclosure air to be proportionately recirculated through an opening 58 in the panel 52. The package type heating unit 60 comprises a U-shaped sheet metal member 62 which is welded to a cover plate 65, a substantially V-shaped partition 66 being nested within the member 62 to provide the central passage 68 and side passages 69 within which are accommodated the pipes 71 and radiating fins 72 of radiator units R. Rows of openings 73 are formed along the lower edges of the side walls 67 of the partition 66 and similar rows of openings 74 are provided adjacent the opposite sides of the cover plate 65. The radiator pipes 71 are connected to branch fittings 84, 85, Fig. 1, which lead, through a line 83, to a pump 82 connected by a pipe 81 to a heating coil 80, the ends of the pipes 71 being joined to the coil 80 by means of return pipes 86, 87 and a common return pipe 88. A drip and discharge fitting 89 extends through the floor 20 below the pipe 88, and a riser 90 extends upwardly from one end of the pipe 83 to an expansion tank 91 for the heating fluid used in the system. In operation the coil 80 is heated, e.g. by a burner, or by electricity, and with the system filled, e.g. with water through the tank 91, a motor M for the pump is switched on to circulate the heating fluid. Air, of the desired mixture of fresh and recirculated air, passes down the passageway 54, when the blower 56 is switched on, and into the central passageway 68 from where it flows through the openings 73 and over the pipes 71 and fins 72 in the side passages 69 and through the openings 74 into the ducts 35. The size of the openings 74 may be progressively increased as they approach the front of the vehicle to ensure equal distribution. The air passing through the ducts 35 applies heat to the main floor and passes into the passageways 46 to heat the side walls 12, 13 and then it emerges from the louvred openings 51, into the enclosure space 17. In a modified type of heating unit, Fig. 6, the heater pipes 103 have circular radiator fins 104 and the unit is divided by a U-shaped baffle 105, which, has side  flanges 106 terminating short of the trough bottom to provide elongated openings 107. In a further modification, not shown, a heating unit of rectangular section is divided into two compartments by a slotted vertical partition, one compartment being in communication with the passageway 54, and the other, accommodating the heater radiator, having openings in its roof for communicating with the ducts 35.