Patent ID: 7806346

Claim:
A cascade unit for a heating system, comprising: at least two heating boilers, and a hydraulic shunt which is connected on the one hand with the inlet flows and return flows of all heating boilers and on the other hand with at least one heating circuit inlet flow and heating circuit return flow, the cascade unit comprising one each of an essentially horizontally extending boiler inlet flow header and boiler return flow manifold, the header and the manifold being connected with the hydraulic shunt, and the header and the manifold each having prepared connecting nozzles, placed for a group of two or more heating boilers for the connection of the heating boiler inlet flows and the heating boiler return flows, wherein the cascade unit itself forms a self-supporting support frame on which the at least two heating boilers are mounted; wherein the header and the manifold are bearing elements of the self-supporting support frame and carry at least a portion of the weight of the at least two heating boilers, the self-supporting support frame enabling the at least two heating boilers to be structurally supported without separately supporting the at least two heating boilers from a floor, a wall, or a ceiling of a room in which the at least two heating boilers are disposed; wherein the header and the manifold are spaced apart from one another in a common plane; and wherein branch piping sections acting as bearing elements are arranged between, and structurally connected to, the header and the manifold, the branch piping sections also being fluidly connected to either the header or the manifold and carrying water at least over partial sections of their length.