Patent Publication Number: US-2007102415-A1

Title: Heating apparatus structure

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention relates to a heating apparatus structure and more particularly to a heating apparatus structure to transmit heat rapidly to liquid flowing inside a body of the heating apparatus with improved characteristics.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      The inventor filed a heat transfer apparatus on Jul. 7, 2004, in Taiwan and granted with a patent certificate of number M272955 on Aug. 11, 2005. The characteristics disclosed in this patent is to resolve problems of a conventional heat transfer apparatus structure with a copper pipe winding around a surface of a hollow sink thereof. Since the contact area between the copper pipe and the hollow sink is small, refrigerant in the copper pipe needs to circulate many times to reduce the temperature of the sink to an expected temperature. By this way, it will spend much time and waste electric power of a compressor connected with the copper pipe. With respect to the above-mentioned problems, this patent of number M272955 was thus invented.  
      Besides, since products of the heat transfer apparatus manufactured according to the patent of number M272955 are able to resolve defects of traditional heat transfer apparatus effectively, they were then very popular in the market. However, under circumstances with more and more competitions, distinguished features and new developments of the products should be continuously designed by the manufacturers to improve functions and efficiencies thereof for achieving remarkable success in the market. That is the reason why the inventor keeps on designing a new heating apparatus structure to increase the heating effect thereof and looks forward to adding selling points on the structure of the heating apparatus and thus presenting a flawless heating product to the users.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      In view of the foregoing introduction to the prior art, based on requirements to the heating apparatus from the market and the inventor&#39;s manufacturing experiences and technology skills accumulated in the field of heat transfer apparatus, the inventor designs and develops this invention, after continuously researching, experimenting and improving the structure of a heating apparatus, to increase the heating efficiency of the heating apparatus.  
      An object of the present invention is to provide a structure to transmit heat generated by an electric bar rapidly to liquid flowing in a body of the heating apparatus, which includes a heat conduction body made of a heat conduction material, two liquid tunnels parallelly disposed in the body under each of the four adjacent surfaces around the body, a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet disposed respectively at one surface and connected with one of the liquid tunnels respectively, a plurality of passageways disposed at one end and another end of the body each with two ends connected to one end of two adjacent liquid tunnels respectively to form an in-and-out liquid circuit, a center tunnel parallel to other liquid tunnels disposed in the body and penetrating the body axially from one end to another end of the body, and a cover and another cover provided to tightly cover said one end of the body and another end of the body respectively, wherein an aperture corresponding to the center tunnel is disposed on the cover, an electric bar is installed in the center tunnel through the aperture, and a inlet pipe and a outlet pipe are respectively connected to the liquid inlet and the liquid outlet to let the liquid enter from the inlet pipe to flow in order through the liquid tunnels and passageways and flow out from the outlet pipe.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide a overheating protection element disposed at one surface of the body with one end connected with the electric bar through an electric wire in order to prevent the electric bar from causing the superheating danger, and to provide a warm kept bubble sponge to wrap the surfaces around the body to avoid heat from dissipating to the outside.  
      The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken with the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a body of a heating apparatus structure of the present invention;  
       FIG. 2  is a partially sectional view of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 3  is another perspective view of the body of the heating apparatus structure of the present invention;  
       FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the heating apparatus. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      The present invention relates to a heating apparatus structure as shown in  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 . The structure includes a body  10  made of a heat conduction material and having a first liquid tunnel  111 , a second liquid tunnel  121 , a third liquid tunnel  122 , a fourth liquid tunnel  131 , a fifth liquid tunnel  132 , a sixth liquid tunnel  141 , a seventh liquid tunnel  142  and a eighth liquid tunnel  112  parallelly disposed inside the body  10  under a first surfaces  11 , a second surface  12 , a third surface  13  and a fourth surface  14  thereof, where a liquid inlet  15  and a liquid outlet  16  are disposed on the first surface  11  adjacent to one end thereof, the liquid inlet  15  connects with the first liquid tunnel  111  and the liquid outlet  112  connects with the eighth liquid tunnel  112 .  
      With reference to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 , a first passageway  21 , a third passageway  23 , a fifth passageway  25  and a seventh passageway  27  are disposed at one end of the body  10  away from the liquid inlet  15  and the liquid outlet  16 , while a second passageway  22 , a fourth passageway  24  and a sixth passageway  26  are disposed at another end of the body  10 , wherein two ends of the first passageway  21  connect with one end of the first liquid tunnel  111  and one end of the second liquid tunnel  121  respectively, two ends of the second passageway  22  connect with another end of the second liquid tunnel  121  and one end of the third liquid tunnel  122  respectively, two ends of the third passageway  23  connect with another end of the third liquid tunnel  122  and one end of the fourth liquid tunnel  131  respectively, two ends of the fourth passageway  24  connect with another end of the fourth liquid tunnel  131  and one end of the fifth liquid tunnel  132  respectively, two ends of the fifth passageway  25  connect with another end of the fifth liquid tunnel  132  and one end of the sixth liquid tunnel  141  respectively, two ends of the sixth passageway  26  connect with another end of the sixth liquid tunnel  141  and one end of the seventh liquid tunnel  142  respectively, and two ends of the seventh passageway  27  connect with another end of the seventh liquid tunnel  142  and one end of the eighth liquid tunnel  112  respectively. By utilizing all the passageways to connect all the liquid tunnels, an in-and-out liquid circuit is thus formed inside the body  10 .  
      With reference to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 3 , a center tunnel  17  parallel to other liquid tunnels is disposed in the body  10 , which penetrates the body  10  axially from one end to another end thereof. One cover  30  and another cover  31  are provided and fixed at said one end and another end of the body  10  to tightly cover both ends of the body  10  as shown in  FIG. 3 , wherein an aperture  301  corresponding to the center tunnel  17  is disposed on the cover  30 , an electric bar  40  is installed inside the center tunnel  17  through the aperture  301 . As referring to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 4 , a inlet pipe  151  and a outlet pipe  161  are connected respectively to the liquid inlet  15  and the liquid outlet  16 , enabling liquid (such as water) to enter the inlet pipe  151  and flow in order through the first liquid tunnel  111 , the first passageway  21 , the second liquid tunnel  121 , the second passageway  22 , the third liquid tunnel  122 , the third passageway  23 , the fourth liquid tunnel  131 , the fourth passageway  24 , the fifth liquid tunnel  132 , the fifth passageway  25 , the sixth liquid tunnel  141 , the sixth passageway  26 , the seventh liquid tunnel  142 , the seventh passageway  27 , the eighth liquid tunnel  112 , and finally flow out from the outlet pipe as shown in  FIGS. 1, 2 ,  3  and  4 . During the process of the liquid flowing through the in-and-out liquid circuit formed inside the body  10  and beneath the first surface  11 , the second surface  12 , the third surface  13  and the fourth surface  14 , the liquid is capable of absorbing heat generated by the electric bar  40  inside the center tunnel  17  through the characteristic of thermal conductivity of the body  10  and rapidly raising its temperature to an expected temperature.  
      In the present invention, in order to rapidly and uniformly transmit the heat generated by the electric bar  40  to the body  10 , the center tunnel  17  and the corresponding aperture  301  should be disposed at the center of the body  10  along the axis between the two ends thereof.  
      With reference to  FIG. 3 , at least a perforation  32  is disposed on each side of said one cover  30  and another cover  31 , an equal number of tap holes  33  are disposed at the body  10  corresponding to the perforations  32 , and at least one screw  34  is used for threading through the perforations  32  to screw the tap holes  33  and making said one cover  30  and another cover  31  to respectively and tightly cover said one end and another end of the body  10  and seal the ends of the liquid tunnels.  
      With reference to  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 , in order to prevent the liquid in the liquid tunnels from leaking out, silica gel washers  35  are respectively disposed at between said one cover  31  and said one end of the body  10 , and between said another cover  31  and said another end of the body  10 , to tightly seal the ends of the liquid tunnels. And, in order to prevent a superheating danger caused by the electric bar  40 , an overheating protection element  42  such as a superheat spring slice is disposed at one surface of the body  10  with one end connected with the electric bar  40  through an electric wire  41 . In addition, a warm kept bubble sponge  43  is provided to wrap around the surfaces of the body  10 , as shown in  FIG. 4 , to keep the temperature of the body  10  from dissipating to the outside.  
      Furthermore, since the body  10  is made of aluminum by extrusion to form the structure thereof in one unity, it is therefore easily achieving the advantages of lowering the manufacturing cost, reducing volume of the body  10  and effectively improving heat transmission rate of the heating apparatus.  
      Summing up the above, it is apparent that the structure of the heating apparatus according to this invention is very simple and, through the liquid flowing in the in-and-out liquid circuit and the temperature generated by the electric bar  40  inside the body  10 , the heat absorbed by the body  10  can then be rapidly transmitted to the liquid, making the heating apparatus to have a superior heat transmitting efficiency.  
      While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.