Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F24—HEATING; RANGES; VENTILATING
  • F24H—FLUID HEATERS, e.g. WATER OR AIR HEATERS, HAVING HEAT-GENERATING MEANS, e.g. HEAT PUMPS, IN GENERAL
  • F24H3/00—Air heaters
  • F24H3/02—Air heaters with forced circulation

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a convector heater for convection heating of closed spaces, particularly, though not exclusively, industrial and livestock farming buildings.
• a convector heater comprising a casing, an intake tube having a vertical axis and connected to the casing, a heating device received in the casing to transmit heat to the air that is drawn into the casing through the intake tube, and a centrifugal blower arranged beneath the casing, with its axis of rotation oriented vertically, to blow in the surrounding environment, in a substantially radial direction, the air that has been drawn through the intake tube and heated by the heating device.
• the casing is preferably made of sheet metal and has a substantially parallelepiped shape, with a flat top wall having a first opening for allowing the air drawn through the intake tube to enter the casing and with a flat bottom wall having a second opening, coaxial to the first opening, for allowing the air to leave the casing.
• the air drawn by means of the blower enters therefore the casing through the intake tube and the first opening, is heated by the heating device (that is made for example as an air/water heat exchanger, but might also be a gas heater) and then leaves the casing through the second opening and is blown by the blower towards the surrounding environment.
• the heating device that is made for example as an air/water heat exchanger, but might also be a gas heater
• the blower comprises, in per-se-known manner, a bladed impeller configured to produce an air flow directed radially from an incoming air flow directed axially, and an electric motor arranged to drive the impeller into rotation, if necessary via a motion transmission device.
• the impeller of the blower is supported at its bottom by a support plate which is arranged beneath the flat bottom wall of the casing, parallel thereto.
• the support plate is connected to the casing by a plurality of struts (for example four struts arranged at the vertices of the flat bottom wall of the casing).
• the impeller of the blower is surrounded by a protection grid which allows the radial air flow generated by the impeller to pass through the grid, without substantially being obstructed by the latter.
• a convector heater of the above-mentioned type is typically installed so as to be suspended from the ceiling of the space to be heated, so that it is able to draw the air from the highest zones of this space and blow it, once it has been heated by the heating device placed inside the casing, at a lower height from the ground. It is an object of the present invention to provide a convector heater which is able to offer similar performances to those of the known convector heater cited above, in terms of pressure increase that is produced by the blower and/or in terms of air volume that is heated per time unit, but which is less expensive than the prior art.
• the invention is based on the idea of providing a convector heater having an axial blower which is located upstream of the heating device and is arranged to draw the air through the intake tube and blow it towards the heating device substantially along the direction of the axis of the intake tube, the convector heater further comprising a bladed, non-motorized impeller which is located downstream of the heating device and is arranged to receive the axial air flow produced by the axial blower and coming out of the casing and generate a substantially radial air flow.
• the convector heater according to the present invention also comprises a bladed impeller arranged to generate a radial air flow from the axial air flow coming out of the casing.
• the bladed impeller of the invention is not a motorized one but is driven into rotation by virtue of the axial air flow which is generated by the axial blower and, coming out of the casing, hits the blades of the impeller.
• the use of an axial blower in combination with a non-motorized bladed impeller allows to obtain a convector heater that has similar performances to those of the above-discussed prior art, but is less expensive.
• a convector heater according to the present invention comprises an outer casing 10, preferably made of sheet metal, with a top horizontal wall 12 having a 5 first opening 14 formed therein and with a bottom horizontal wall 16 having a second opening 18 formed therein, the second opening 18 being vertically aligned with the first opening 14.
• An intake tube 20 having a vertical axis (indicated z) is connected to the casing 10 near the first opening 14. The air is drawn through the intake tube 20 from the highest zones of the closed space where the convector heater is installed.
• the casing 10 contains a heating device 22 arranged to heat the air that is drawn into the casing through the intake tube 20.
• the heating device 22 may be made for example as an air/water heat exchanger or as a gas heater.
• the casing 10 further includes, upstream of the heating device 22, an axial blower arranged to draw the air in the axial direction (i.e. along
• the axial blower comprises, in per-se-known manner, a bladed impeller 24 rotatable about an axis of rotation coinciding with the aforesaid vertical axis z and an electric motor 26 ar-
• a further bladed impeller 28 is placed downstream of the heating device 20, more specifically beneath the bottom horizontal wall 16 of the casing 10, and is configured to receive the axial air flow generated by the axial blower and to produce a radial air flow (as indi-
• the bladed impeller 28 is not a motorized one, but is driven into rotation about its own axis of rotation (coinciding with the vertical axis z, and therefore coinciding with the axis of rotation of the bladed impeller 24) by virtue of the thrust received by the incoming axial air flow. Therefore, the bladed impeller 28 works substantially as a deflector or diverter that changes the direction of the air flow passing through the same
• the bladed impeller 28 is supported at its bottom by a support plate 30 which is arranged beneath the bottom horizontal wall 16 of the casing 10, parallel thereto.
• the support plate 30 is connected to the casing by struts (not shown) so as to be carried by the casing itself.
• the bladed impeller 28 is surrounded by a protection grid 32 which allows the radial air flow generated by the same impeller to pass through the grid without substantially being obstructed by the latter.
• the convector heater may also comprise, in per-se-known manner, additional components (not shown in Figure 1), such as for example an air filter.
• the convector heater described above operates as follows. As the bladed impeller 24 of the axial blower is driven into rotation about its own axis of rotation (vertical axis z) by the electric motor 26, it draws air through the intake tube 20, preferably from the top region of the closed space where the convector heater is installed. The air drawn from that region of the space, which usually has a higher temperature than the air in the lowest region of the space, enters the casing 10 through the first opening 14 in the top horizontal wall 12, is filtered by the filter (if any) and then passes through the heating device 22, where it is heated (for example by forced convection, in case the heating device is made as an air/water heat exchanger).
• the air heated by the heating device 22 leaves then the casing 10 through the second opening 18 in the bottom horizontal wall 16, still in the axial direction, and hits the bladed impeller 28, thereby causing the latter to rotate and to change the direction of the air flow from axial to radial. Since the bladed impeller 28 generates an air flow directed ra- dially, the air is blown by the convector heater in a diffused manner and substantially in the radial direction (or, in any case, in a direction perpendicular to the axial one), thereby ensuring very high comfort.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Thermal Sciences (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Structures Of Non-Positive Displacement Pumps (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

Family

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Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Citations (2)

• 2014
  • 2014-12-31 IT ITTO2014U000169U patent/ITTO20140169U1/it unknown
• 2015
  • 2015-12-28 WO PCT/IB2015/059998 patent/WO2016108167A1/en not_active Ceased

Patent Citations (2)

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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