Patent ID: 8480006

Claim:
A heating apparatus connectable to an engine cooling system of a vehicle, the cooling system including a cooling fluid circulating within the cooling system and a heat exchanger for transferring heat from the cooling fluid to an airstream for heating a passenger compartment of the vehicle, the heating apparatus comprising: a liquid heat generator having a hydrodynamic chamber operable for selectively heating the cooling fluid present within the hydrodynamic chamber when the heating apparatus is connected to the cooling system, the hydrodynamic chamber having an inlet port and a discharge port; a first valve including an inlet port fluidly connectible to an exit port of the heat exchanger, a first discharge port fluidly connected to the inlet port of the hydrodynamic chamber and second discharge port fluidly connectable to the engine cooling system, the first valve operable for selectively adjusting a fluid path between the first valve and the inlet port of the hydrodynamic chamber; and a second valve having a first inlet port fluidly connected to the discharge port of the hydrodynamic chamber, a second inlet port fluidly connectable to the engine cooling system and a discharge port fluidly connectable to an inlet port of the heat exchanger, the second valve operably connected to the first valve, wherein the first valve adjusts the fluid path between the first valve and the inlet port of the hydrodynamic chamber in response to an input received from the second valve, and wherein the first valve is adjustable to fluidly connect the inlet port of the first valve to the second discharge port of the first valve in response to adjusting the second valve to fluidly connect the second inlet port of the second valve to the outlet port of the second valve.