CN111829189A

CN111829189A - Float device and water heater

Info

Publication number: CN111829189A
Application number: CN202010691290.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 金涛
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2020-01-10
Filing date: 2020-07-17
Publication date: 2020-10-27
Anticipated expiration: 2040-07-17
Also published as: CN111043770A; CN111829189B

Abstract

The invention discloses a floater device and a water heater.

Description

Float device and water heater

Technical Field

The invention relates to a float device and a water heater with the same.

Background

While the float device is focused on water level monitoring rather than waterless monitoring in some applications, it is generally recognized in the art as being useful as a water and/or waterless monitoring device when applied to a water heater.

It is understood that the float device usually uses the working stroke of the float in the float device to realize the on or off of the switch, and meanwhile, based on the same switch action, based on a duplex switch, a combined switch and the like, various controls can be realized, such as a float device with two pairs of contacts, wherein one pair of contacts is a normally open contact, and the other pair of contacts is a normally closed contact, so that the water and non-water monitoring can be realized. In this regard, it should be clearly understood by those skilled in the art.

As for the float, according to conventional knowledge, its density is usually equal to or less than half of that of water, so that it can float on the water surface or undergo positional variation with the variation of the water level.

Typically, as shown in chinese patent document CN204120835U, an automatic dry-heating prevention device is disclosed, which comprises a water pump and a vertically arranged heating body connected to the water pump via a three-way pipe, wherein the remaining interface of the three-way pipe is connected to a vertical pipe, the upper end of the vertical pipe is provided with a small water tank, a float switch is arranged in the small water tank, and a reed pipe driven by the float switch is arranged outside the small water tank. For the reed switch, a vertical height higher than the upper end point of the heating pipe is required, which is a typical application of a conventional float, which uses the principle of a communicating vessel, and the water level indicated by the float is the actual water level on the side of the heating pipe, and if the float is lower than the upper end point of the heating pipe, the float triggers the reed switch, thereby stopping heating. In this construction both the heating pipe and the riser pipe have to be installed vertically and the float is required to have a certain height, the installation flexibility is relatively poor. In addition, because water is usually not pure water, when scale or other filth are produced in the small water tank, the floater is easy to generate clamping stagnation due to smaller weight, and thus effective alarm can not be given.

It should be noted that once the water source is empty, the liquid is continuously pushed, in other words, even if there is no water supply pressure, the float may be in a position where water exists, or a water film exists between the float and the wall surface of the water cavity, so that the float may still maintain a floating state, and the accuracy of the float-based monitoring of the absence of water is greatly reduced.

Furthermore, for applications where work is to be done purely on the basis of the buoyancy of the float, if the electrical circuit on the float is used as a bridge, poor quality bridges are likely to result because the buoyancy is relatively small and because the flow is unstable.

Chinese patent document CN103411019A discloses a water flow sensor having a horizontal tubular housing with a bypass opening at the upper side and a cylinder mounted in abutment, and a float guided in the cylinder and carrying a magnet. A magnetic switch driven by the magnet is arranged outside the cylinder. The case is provided with a partition plate at the lower side of the cylinder, so that water flow needs to pass through the cylinder when flowing from one end of the case to the other end, which is different from the case where the float is merely displaced by buoyancy in chinese patent document CN204120835U, and the motive force for displacing the float mainly comes from the head of the water flow in chinese patent document CN 103411019A. Since the cylinder is provided with the pressure relief hole, a relatively high sealing capacity is required between the float and the cylinder, in other words, a relatively large frictional force is required between the float and the cylinder, and for this purpose, the float needs to be returned by a separate return means such as a return spring used in the patent document. Due to the existence of the partition plate 5, the thrust of water to the floater is different on two sides of the partition plate, the floater can be subjected to a turning moment, so that the abrasion of all parts of the floater is uneven, the leakage is easy to generate, and further the return spring is corroded to lose efficacy or the water directly flows out through the pressure relief hole.

Note: the head is the translation of the water head and is a unit of energy, representing the energy per unit weight of water at any cross section, equal to the specific energy (energy per unit mass of water) divided by the acceleration due to gravity. It is more easily understood that the head represents the mechanical energy per unit weight of liquid.

Disclosure of Invention

The object of the present invention is to provide a float device powered by a head, which is less prone to leakage. The invention also provides a water heater with the floater device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a float device including:

a housing having an inner cavity serving as a water chamber and a vertical guide;

pipe joints, including a water inlet pipe joint and a water outlet pipe joint, coupled to or formed on the housing for piping;

the floater is arranged in the inner cavity and vertically guided, and has a first choice that the density of the floater is greater than the density of water or a second choice that the density of the floater is less than or equal to 1.5 times of the density of water; and

a magnetic switch or bridge circuit;

wherein a magnetic switch provided on an upper portion of a top wall or a side wall of the housing is adapted to a first option, and a bridge circuit provided on the float is adapted to a second option;

in a first option, the float comprises a float body and a magnet mounted on the float body; in the second option, the shell is provided with a contact or an electrode which is matched with the bridge circuit to form a bridge switch at the position in the float actuating direction;

the water inlet pipe joint is positioned on the bottom wall or the side wall of the shell, and if the water inlet pipe joint is positioned on the side wall and the floater is positioned at the lower stop position, the axis of the pipe orifice of the water inlet pipe joint inserted into the shell is lower than the top surface of the floater.

Optionally, if the water inlet pipe joint and the water outlet pipe joint are both located on the side surface of the shell, the highest point of the pipe orifice where the water inlet pipe joint is inserted into the shell is lower than the highest point of the pipe orifice where the water outlet pipe joint is inserted into the shell.

Optionally, the axis of the pipe orifice of the water inlet pipe joint inserted into the shell is lower than or equal to 0.3-2.5D of the axis of the pipe orifice of the water outlet pipe joint inserted into the shell;

wherein D is the inner pipe diameter of the water outlet pipe.

Optionally, corresponding to the first option, the top surface of the float or the upper wall surface of the inner cavity is provided with a protrusion and/or a hydrophobic layer;

in response to the second option, the contacts or electrodes project downwardly from the upper wall surface of the chamber.

Optionally, the protrusions are columnar protrusions, rib-shaped protrusions or dot-shaped protrusions.

Alternatively, the columnar projections have 1 or more.

Optionally, the height of the stud bump is not less than 0.3 mm;

if the columnar projections are plural, the distance between the columnar projections is not less than 5mm, and is positively correlated with the volume of the columnar projections.

Optionally, a designed clearance is left between the float and the wall surface of the inner cavity, and the designed clearance is larger than or equal to 0.1 mm.

Optionally, the floating body is a quadrangular prism with a rectangular bottom surface;

the four edges of the quadrangular prism body form cutting angles.

Optionally, two edges of the housing corresponding to the long sides of the rectangle are in circular arc structures;

the water outlet pipe is horizontally connected to an arc structure;

if there are more water inlet pipes, one of them is on the other arc structure.

Optionally, if the water inlet pipe joint and the water outlet pipe joint are both located on the side wall of the shell, the lowest point of the contact or the electrode is lower than the highest point of the water outlet and higher than the lowest point of the water inlet.

Optionally, the lower end of the float has a chamfer.

Optionally, the lower end surface of the floating body is provided with a containing groove, and the magnet is correspondingly embedded into the containing groove.

In an embodiment of the invention, there is also provided a water heater provided with the aforesaid float device, the water heater being provided with an electric heating circuit, the magnetic switch or the bridge switch being included in the control circuit of the electric heating circuit;

when the electromagnetic switch is matched with a magnetic switch, if the contact of the magnetic switch connected to the control circuit is a normally closed contact, the magnetic switch is connected with an alarm device and/or a circuit breaker in series, and correspondingly, the circuit breaker is connected with a main circuit of the electric heating circuit in series;

if the contact of the magnetic switch connected to the control circuit is a normally open contact, the normally open contact is connected to the main circuit of the electric heating circuit in series;

if the magnetic switch is provided with a plurality of pairs of normally closed contacts, one pair of normally closed contacts is connected with the alarm device, and the other pair of normally closed contacts is connected with the circuit breaker, and correspondingly, the circuit breaker is connected to the main circuit of the electric heating circuit in series.

In the embodiment of the invention, the float is floated by fully utilizing the water head of water through the height difference arrangement of the water inlet pipe and the water outlet pipe, and the bridge switch is fully jointed by utilizing the water head, so that the reliable conduction is realized. The floater is adaptive to the magnetic switch, the floater resets by means of self gravity, the resetting device does not need to be additionally configured, the failure problem of the resetting device does not need to be considered, the probability of overall failure is greatly reduced, particularly, the density of the floater is greater than that of water, the upward power of the floater comes from a water head, when a water source is anhydrous, even if a water cavity is formed, namely, even if water exists in the inner cavity of the shell, the water loses pressure, the floater falls down, and the driving force for the magnetic switch is lost, so that the anhydrous monitoring can be accurately realized. Furthermore, since in the embodiment of the present invention, there is no case of dynamic sealing, the float device itself is not liable to leak.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a front view schematically illustrating a float device according to an embodiment.

Fig. 2 is a schematic top view of the float device in one embodiment.

Fig. 3 is a schematic view of the a-a rotary section of fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a schematic view of the upper-left-side three-dimensional structure of the float in one embodiment.

Fig. 5 is a schematic view showing a bottom-right-side three-dimensional structure of the float in one embodiment.

In the figure: 1. the water inlet pipe comprises a first water inlet pipe, a second water inlet pipe, a water outlet pipe, a shell, a bottom cover, a second water inlet pipe, a threaded connection part, a floating body, an inner cavity, a magnet and an embedding sleeve, wherein the first water inlet pipe is 2, the water outlet pipe is 3, the shell is 4, the bottom cover is 5, the second water inlet pipe is 6, the threaded connection part is.

71. Chamfer, 72 long side, 73 cut angle, 74 short side, 75 protrusion, 76 top, 77 bottom.

Detailed Description

In the embodiment of the invention, the float device is used for the waterless monitoring of a water heater, in a more specific application, the float device is used for the waterless and/or water monitoring of a water dispenser, in the following embodiment, the float device is used for the waterless monitoring of an instant heating type water dispenser as an example, and the water monitoring or the waterless and waterless composite monitoring only needs to be simply changed.

With respect to water heaters, including but not limited to water boilers, coffee machines, tea machines, hot beverage machines. These hot water appliances have a common property that they are all supplied by pumping.

In the embodiment of the present invention, an instant heating type water dispenser is taken as a main application object, and in the embodiment of the present invention, an instant heating type water dispenser is taken as an example for description, and a float device adapted by those skilled in the art based on the same or similar technical conditions should fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

It can be understood that the water pumping equipment for water heaters such as water dispensers is mainly a direct-current water pump, and an alternating-current water pump can be matched in some applications, but no matter which water pump is selected, the main parameters of the water pump are noise, flow and lift, wherein the lift determines the size of a water head, and the lift of the water pump generally used for the water dispenser is not less than two meters, so that the water head is large enough to flush relatively heavy objects.

It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present invention, different floats are respectively adapted to the magnetic switch and the bridge circuit, and relatively speaking, since the magnetic switch needs to be adapted with the magnet 9, the overall density of the float is increased corresponding to the magnet 9, and the first option is that the float density is greater than the water density. The bridge circuit only needs to be provided with, for example, a sheet-like connecting piece adapted to, for example, a contact or an electrode sheet, without significantly affecting the overall density of the float, and has a second option in which the density of the float may be higher than the density of water, or may be equal to or lower than the density of water, because, for example, the connecting piece does not significantly increase the overall density of the float, and in general, the overall density of the float is equal to or lower than 1.5 times the density of water.

In a first alternative embodiment, the density of the float is greater than that of water, which firstly requires that in the case of water in the chamber 8 shown in fig. 3, the float 7 is able to automatically return by its own weight when the water in the chamber 8 is depressurized.

It will be appreciated that "density" as generally determined based on heave does not mean that the density throughout the float is greater than the density of water, as described most precisely, i.e. the mass of water displaced by the float is less than the mass of the float itself, or the mass of the same volume of water is less than the mass of the float.

The concept of density in the second option is the same as above.

In addition, it should be noted that the selection range of the magnet 9 is relatively wide, for example, the density of the injection-molded ferrite, the sintered ferrite, the press-bonded neodymium-iron-boron, the sintered neodymium-iron-boron, and other magnet materials is greatly different, the minimum is about 3.8 g/cc, and the maximum is about 7.5 g/cc, in the embodiment of the present invention, a light material needs to be used for balancing, so that the overall density of the float is preferably 1.2 to 2.8 g/cc.

Therefore, in the embodiments of the present invention, the density does not refer to the material density, but refers to the density of the entire float, i.e., the float has a larger mass than the same volume of water.

The light materials are mainly food grade plastics, such as food grade PET (polyethylene terephthalate), HDPE (high density polyethylene), LDPE (low density polyethylene), PP (polypropylene), PS (polystyrene), PC based on GB 4806-.

Likewise, the housing 3 is preferably made of the aforementioned lightweight material.

It should be noted that some of the aforementioned plastics may themselves be denser than water, such as PET, which may be fitted with internal cavities to balance the density of the float.

Fig. 1-3 show a float device, which is taken as a basic reference and has upper and lower structural characteristics for describing the lifting characteristics of a float based on a water head. But does not show, for example, that the bottom cover 4 is necessarily positioned downward as a characteristic of the cover, and it is understood that the cover may be configured as an upper cover as well as a lower cover, i.e., the bottom cover 4.

It should be appreciated that as two structures are mated, the top surface 76 and the lower surface of the cavity in fig. 4, may both serve as attachment bases for, for example, the protrusions 75.

It should be noted that, for example, contacts, which in the switching element, are provided with a certain volume, so that, in some embodiments of the invention, for example with certain mentioned contacts or electrode pads, the function of the projection 75 is provided without the projection 75 having to be provided repeatedly.

When the cover is configured as an upper cover as a characteristic of the cover, the cover may be fastened or fixed by, for example, a one-side buckle, or may be used for auxiliary fixation of, for example, a reed switch. It is apparent that the cover, whether constituting the upper cover or the lower cover, generally does not have a frequently detachable property, and thus, generally has no influence on the mounting structure of the magnetic switch such as the reed switch.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 1, the housing 3 is substantially a barrel with an upper barrel bottom, and the bottom cover 4 is coupled to seal the lower end of the housing 3 to form a closed cavity, i.e., an inner cavity 8 shown in fig. 3.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the housing 3 is intended to be made as one body, which may include the bottom cover 4 as shown in fig. 1, and unless otherwise specified, the housing 3 is intended to be made as one body structure including the bottom cover 4 in fig. 3.

As for the bottom cover 4, which is liquid-tightly engaged with the housing 3, the bottom cover 4 is not limited to the below arrangement, and the bottom cover 4 or the lid portion is provided for the purpose of insertion or attachment of the components inside the cavity 8, and obviously, the position of the bottom cover 4 and the attachment of the components inside the cavity 8 are not greatly related.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the bottom cover 4 is under to facilitate the assembly of, for example, a magnetic switch, which is mounted on the top wall of the housing 3 to facilitate wiring, and if the bottom cover 4 is under, for example, no assembly interference occurs between the magnetic switch and the bottom cover 4.

The bottom cover 4 is assembled with the housing 3 by means of a pipe screw connection, forming a screw connection 6 as shown in fig. 3. In some embodiments, the assembly may also be performed using, for example, screws to engage the seal or sealant. In some alternatives, the cover may be assembled by gluing, or by welding, for example by ultrasonic welding or by fusion.

As for the magnetic Switch, a Reed Switch (Reed Switch), which is an electric Switch operated by an applied magnetic field and has a shape similar to a diode, a resistor, or the like, and a tubular structure having two legs, which can be directly connected into a circuit, is preferable.

It should be noted that, in regard to the float device, it is a component in the water heater, and it is not required that it necessarily has an integral body for achieving control, such as the arrangement of a magnetic switch, which is located on the float device, but it is not necessary to form a separate circuit unit on the float device.

The magnetic switch has more types, can replace a reed switch and comprises a Hall sensor, and the Hall sensor is relatively expensive. As well as magnetrons, proximity sensors, etc., those skilled in the art can select and match parameters based on cost control, reliability, etc.

Based on the lift of float, make magnet 9 be close to or keep away from magnetic switch, make magnetic switch realize opening and close, consequently, based on the lift, magnetic switch installs the roof or the lateral wall upper portion at casing 3.

As mentioned above, the housing 3 has an inner cavity 8 therein, which is firstly a water cavity for communication between the first water inlet pipe 1 and the water outlet pipe 2 as shown in fig. 1, and is further a guide part for lifting and lowering the float, and the guide is a vertical guide, so that the guide part formed by the inner cavity 8 is a vertical guide part.

It will be appreciated that, in addition, the float has a lifting stroke, and it is obvious that the inner chamber 8 has a sufficiently large space, so that, even if the float covers the cross-section of the inner chamber 8, the inner chamber 8 still has sufficient space for water conduction.

The shell 3 needs to be provided with pipe joints, the structure shown in figure 1 is provided with three pipe joints, namely a first water inlet pipe 1, a water outlet pipe 2 and a second water inlet pipe 5, the three pipe joints are adopted for a multi-water-source structure, and only one water inlet pipe needs to be arranged in a single-water-source structure. When two water sources are provided, one water inlet pipe is in a standby state.

In the structure shown in fig. 1-3, the pipe joint is manufactured by integral injection molding, so that the pipe joint and the housing 3 belong to an integral injection molding structure. In some embodiments, the pipe joint and the housing 3 may be assembled by using an assembling structure, such as a plug structure or a screw structure.

The float is mounted in the structure shown in fig. 3 and is guided vertically in said chamber 8, in which the float comprises a float body 7 and a magnet 9 mounted on the float body 7.

Correspondingly, the water inlet pipe joint is positioned on the bottom wall or the side wall of the shell 3, if the water inlet pipe joint is positioned on the side wall, when the floater is at the lower stop position of the working stroke, namely when the floater is in the reset state, the bottom surface 77 of the floater is attached to the inner surface of the bottom wall of the shell, and the technical condition required at the moment is that the axis of the pipe orifice of the water inlet pipe joint inserted into the shell 3 is lower than the top surface of the floater, in some embodiments, the top surface of the floater is higher than the upper edge of the pipe orifice of the water inlet pipe joint inserted into the shell 3, and under the condition, water flow can be generated to be inserted into an interface formed by the attachment.

It is obvious that if the water inlet connection is located on the bottom wall of the housing 3, the water head acts directly on the lower surface of the float, which can be pushed up more easily.

Further, if the water inlet pipe joint and the water outlet pipe joint are both located on the side surface of the shell 3, as can be seen from the attached drawing 3 in the specification, the highest point of the pipe orifice where the water inlet pipe joint is inserted into the shell 3 is lower than the highest point of the pipe orifice where the water outlet pipe joint is inserted into the shell 3, therefore, after water flows enter the inner cavity 8 through the water inlet pipe joint, the overall flow state is an ascending flow, even if the height of the float is relatively low, the float can generate a large ascending force due to boundary friction generated by buoyancy composite water flow, in other words, under the condition, the density of the float can be relatively large, so that the float is favorable for resetting.

Correspondingly, if the outlet connection is relatively low, the upward flow is relatively weak, it being understood that the position of the outlet pipe 2 on the housing 3 is relatively flexible if, for example, the first inlet pipe 1 is directly coupled to the bottom cover 4 as shown in fig. 1.

Similarly, if the influence of the water head on the lifting of the float is small due to the positional relationship of the pipe joints, the float should have a smaller density relatively. Conversely, if the head has a greater effect on the float elevation, the float may have a greater density.

It is further noted that in the second option, the density of the float is in most cases less than that of water, in which case the influence of buoyancy may be greater than that of the head of the water in the initial stages of buoyancy of the float. After the float has risen, the action of the head of water enables the bridge circuit carried on the float to be brought into sufficient contact with, for example, contacts.

In a second option, the overall density of the float is less than that of water, typically below 0.8 times the density of water. In a more preferred embodiment, the overall density of the float can be controlled to be 0.3 to 0.6 times the density of water.

In more applications, the bridge circuit is embodied as a metal sheet, preferably a copper sheet.

A dimple may be provided on the copper sheet at a location such as a contact to increase the contact area of the joint.

The socket part can be a conical socket or a ball socket, and correspondingly, the contact can be a conical body or a ball head, and both the contact and the socket part have guiding structures, so that even if the contact and the socket part are not aligned accurately, better joint action reliability can be obtained by utilizing the guiding of a conical surface, for example.

In some embodiments, if the pipe joints are all disposed on the side of the housing 3, the positional relationship between the pipe joints is more specifically configured as follows: the axis of the pipe orifice of the water inlet pipe joint inserted into the shell 3 is lower than or equal to 0.3D-2.5D of the axis of the pipe orifice of the water outlet pipe joint inserted into the shell 3; wherein D is the inner pipe diameter of the water outlet pipe.

As can be seen from the foregoing description, when the pipe joints are all disposed on the side of the housing 3, the more the water outlet pipe joint is higher than the water inlet pipe joint, the more the influence of the water head on the lifting of the float is obvious, but the greater the height of the housing 3 is; conversely, the weaker the head has on the rise and fall of the float, the smaller the height of the housing 3.

The inlet and outlet pipes 2 are of substantially the same diameter and in the arrangement shown in figure 3 the axis of the outlet pipe 2 is substantially just above the axis 1D of the first inlet pipe 1.

Further, in a preferred embodiment, as shown in fig. 4 and 5, it can be seen that the lower end of the float body 7 of the float has a chamfer 71, the presence of the chamfer 71 creating a bearing surface that enhances the push-up effect of the head.

It is to be understood that the chamfers 71 may be provided only on the water inlet pipe side, on both sides, or on both sides of the lower portion of the floating body 7.

In some embodiments, however, to mitigate motion interference, the cross-section of the float is relatively small, as viewed from above, between the float and the lumen 8, as shown by geometrically similar patterns in cross-section. In this condition, a flange is formed with the upper end edge of the float 7, a smaller gap is left between the flange and the inner cavity 8, and the existence of the flange is beneficial to reducing the specific gravity of the liquid flow ascending through the float, so that more liquid flow passes through the bottom of the float, and larger ascending power can be generated.

As mentioned in the background section, in practical applications, the inner cavity 8 is filled with water, even though the water pump is in a state of continuously pumping water, because the water pumping principle is to throw water by centrifugal action, when the flow of the liquid is discontinuous, the water pipe before or after the pump will always store a certain amount of water, although in some applications, the water stored before the pump is less. In practice, in water heater applications, the float may be mounted either before or after the pump, in which case it is impossible to completely drain the water through the pump.

Although most of the water can be removed from the pipeline under pressure loss, the presence of the film of water can still cause adhesion between the components, for example, the float adhering to the wall of the water chamber 8.

The residual water may in some embodiments completely fill the interior chamber 8 and cannot be reset if it is a conventional float that relies purely on buoyancy as a motive force. In some embodiments of the invention, even if the water fills the chamber 8, if the head loses pressure, the buoyancy is insufficient to cause the float to float upward and fall back.

In some applications, because the top surface 76 of the float 7 abuts the inner surface of the top wall of the housing 3, the water film interposed between the abutting surfaces of the two adheres due to the wetting effect, and although the weight of the float is slightly larger, the surface area is larger, which may also result in the float not falling back.

Further, in some embodiments, to overcome the water film sticking effect at the interface, protrusions 75 are provided on the top surface of the float, specifically the top surface 76 of the float 7, to interrupt the water film. In some embodiments a hydrophobic layer is prepared directly on the top surface 76. In some embodiments, the top surface 76 is provided with a hydrophobic layer and the protrusions 75 are also provided, so that the water film adhesion effect can be more effectively eliminated.

For hydrophobic, food grade plastics are mostly hydrophobic in nature, except that their water contact angle is relatively large and the hydrophobic effect is relatively weak. In a preferred application, a layer of superhydrophobic material can be spray-formed on the top surface 76.

The super-hydrophobic material refers to a hydrophobic material with a contact angle (water contact angle for short) with water of more than or equal to 150 degrees and a rolling angle of less than 10 degrees, most commonly polytetrafluoroethylene, and is widely applied to a non-stick pan and used as a surface coating of the non-stick pan. Other food grade superhydrophobic materials are also contemplated, such as polystyrene.

In some embodiments, the protrusions 75 are cylindrical protrusions, such as the configuration shown in FIG. 4, and in some embodiments, the protrusions 75 are ribbed or a ridge configuration.

As described above, the protrusions 75 function to eliminate or make more easily broken the water film, and thus, as for the shape of the protrusions 75, they may be regular, for example, cylindrical protrusions, regular prism protrusions, truncated protrusions, or irregular structures, for example.

The presence of the protrusion 75 allows the top surface 75 to be separated from the inner surface of the top wall of the housing 3 by a distance such that a water film cannot be formed or is easily broken. In general, considering that the water used in the water dispenser is pure water, the surface tension is small, and the height of the protrusion 75 is 0.3mm, the surface tension of the water is larger as the content of the organic matters in the water is higher, but in general, the water used in the water dispenser is mineral water or pure water, and the water tension is generally small.

In a preferred embodiment, the height of the protrusions 75 should be controlled, i.e. should not be made too large, resulting in a large flow-through of the upper surface of the floating body 7. The height of the protrusion 75 should be controlled to be less than 3 mm.

Regarding the number of the protrusions 75, there may be only one protrusion 75 since there is only a small amount of clearance between the float and the housing 3.

If there are a plurality of the projections 75, it is not easy to have more than 4 projections, and the distance between the columnar projections is not less than 5mm and is positively correlated with the volume of the columnar projections, i.e., the larger the volume is, the larger the distance between the columnar projections is.

Although the design clearance left between the float and the wall surface of the inner chamber 8 is 0.1mm or more, the float is prevented from turning over while ensuring less interference of movement.

The maximum value of the clearance is preferably designed so that the float will not be upset and clamped between the walls of the lumen 8.

In the structure shown in fig. 4 and 5, the floating body is a quadrangular prism whose bottom surface is rectangular; the four edges of the quadrangular prism are provided with cut angles 73, so that the flow resistance is reduced, and under the condition that the cut angles 73 exist, the flange is arranged at the upper end of the floating body 7, so that the impulsive force provided by a water head is utilized more favorably.

The chamfer 73 is a common concept in the field of blanking, for example, based on blanking a corner of a rectangle is punched out, forming two corners.

In the structure shown in fig. 2, the housing 3 corresponds to the long side of the rectangle, i.e. the long side 72 shown in fig. 4, and the two edges of the housing 3 are circular arc structures, and the pipe is arranged at the circular arc structures, such as the first water inlet pipe 1 and the water outlet pipe 2 shown in fig. 1, which is beneficial to generating vortex to push up the float.

In some embodiments, to reduce the side attachment effect, vertical arrays of ribs or protrusions are provided on the short sides 74 and long sides 72 as shown in FIG. 4 to eliminate or facilitate the breaking of the established water film.

The shape of the magnet 9 used in the configuration shown in fig. 5 is a circular magnet, and the common magnet shapes are circular, rectangular (bar magnet), ring-shaped or U-shaped, and in the embodiment of the present invention, ring-shaped is preferred, and next to ring-shaped, rectangular may be used.

The magnets 9 are of the post-installation type and therefore require pre-slotting of the float 7 and then the magnets 9 can be embedded with an interference fit.

In a preferred embodiment, the sidewall of the receiving groove has an insert 10, and the insert 10 is an elastic material, preferably a silicone sleeve.

The insert 10 is not the most preferred construction and may be omitted.

Furthermore, in the configuration shown in fig. 3, the magnet 9 is located on the underside of the floating body 7, adapted to adapt the magnetic flux at, for example, a reed pipe.

Thus, the magnet 9 can also be arranged on the upper side of the floating body 7, influenced for example by the mounting position of the reed switch, which can be arranged at a distance from the housing 3, or the top wall of the housing 3 can be provided with additional mounting structure for the mounting of the reed switch, for example, and for determining the minimum distance between the reed switch and the magnet 9.

As mentioned before, the magnetic switch functions as a switch mainly based on the magnet 9, and based on the opening or closing of the magnetic switch, for example, to actuate a buzzer alarm. In some embodiments, for the water heater to which the float device is applied, it is necessarily provided with an electric heating circuit, the magnetic switch being included in the control circuit of the electric heating circuit.

Correspondingly, if the contact of the magnetic switch connected to the control circuit is a normally closed contact, namely the acting force of the magnet 9 on the normally closed contact is not large enough, the normally closed contact is in a closed state, when the magnet 9 moves upwards with the floating body 7, the normally closed contact is turned over and becomes a disconnected state, and after the magnet 9 falls down, the provided magnetic force is insufficient, the normally closed contact is closed again, so that the related circuit, such as an alarm, is driven.

In some embodiments, a circuit breaker is connected in series with the normally closed contact of the magnetic switch, and accordingly, the circuit breaker is connected in series with the main circuit of the electric heating circuit, and the closed contact drives the circuit breaker to act, so that the main circuit is disconnected.

The alarm device and the circuit breaker can be used simultaneously, and the main circuit for heating is disconnected while alarming.

In some embodiments, if the contact of the magnetic switch connected to the control circuit is a normally open contact, the normally open contact is connected in series to the main circuit of the electric heating circuit, in other words, if the magnetic force is large enough, or the floating body 7 moves up to the right position, the main circuit is closed, otherwise, the main circuit is open.

In some embodiments, if the magnetic switch has a plurality of pairs of normally closed contacts, one pair of normally closed contacts is connected with the alarm device, and the other pair of normally closed contacts is connected with the circuit breaker, and accordingly, the circuit breaker is connected in series with the main circuit of the electric heating circuit.

In the foregoing, the first option is described with emphasis on the magnetic switch, and most of the structures adapted to the first option are also applicable to the second option, except for the mutually conflicting portions.

The contacts may be fixed to the upper cover of the housing 3 by plastic molding, and similarly, in some cities and counties, the contacts may not be fixed to the upper cover of the housing 3 by plastic molding, but electrode pads may be fixed to the upper cover of the housing 3 by plastic molding.

The plastic package not only has reliable connection, but also can realize tight sealing. For example, the exposed portion of the electrode sheet outside the housing 3 may be externally connected to a circuit.

For the bridge circuit on the float, a sheet-like structure of conductive strips, such as the aforementioned copper sheet, is preferred. It can also be configured to have a pair of movable contacts and a wire structure for connection between the movable contacts, the movable contacts are arranged in alignment with the aforementioned contacts, and the aforementioned contacts are referred to as stationary contacts.

Claims

1. A float device, comprising:

a magnetic switch or bridge circuit;

2. The float assembly of claim 1, wherein if the inlet fitting and the outlet fitting are both located on the side of the housing, the highest point of the port at which the inlet fitting is inserted into the housing is lower than the highest point of the port at which the outlet fitting is inserted into the housing.

3. The float device according to claim 2, wherein the axis of the pipe orifice of the water inlet pipe joint inserted into the shell is lower than or equal to 0.3D-2.5D of the axis of the pipe orifice of the water outlet pipe joint inserted into the shell;

wherein D is the inner pipe diameter of the water outlet pipe.

4. The float device according to claim 1, wherein, in response to the first option, the top surface of the float or the upper wall surface of the inner chamber is provided with a protrusion and/or has a hydrophobic layer;

5. The float device of claim 4, wherein the protrusion is a cylindrical protrusion, a ribbed protrusion, or a pointed protrusion.

6. The float device according to claim 5, wherein the columnar projection has 1 or more.

7. The float device of claim 6, wherein the height of the columnar projections is not less than 0.3 mm;

8. The float device of claim 1, wherein a design clearance is provided between the float and the wall of the interior chamber, the design clearance being greater than or equal to 0.1 mm.

9. The float device of claim 8, wherein the float is a quadrangular prism having a rectangular bottom surface;

the four edges of the quadrangular prism body form cutting angles.

10. The float device according to claim 9, wherein two edges of the housing corresponding to the long sides of the rectangle are circular arc structures;

the water outlet pipe is horizontally connected to an arc structure;

if there are more water inlet pipes, one of them is on the other arc structure.

11. The float device of claim 1, wherein if the inlet and outlet fittings are located on the side wall of the housing, the lowest point of the contact or electrode is lower than the highest point of the outlet and higher than the lowest point of the inlet.

12. A float device according to claim 1, wherein the lower end of the float has a chamfer.

13. The float assembly of claim 1, wherein the float has a receiving channel formed in a lower end surface thereof, and the magnet is correspondingly received in the receiving channel.

14. A water heater provided with a float arrangement according to any one of claims 1 to 13, the water heater being provided with an electrical heating circuit, the magnetic switch or the bridge switch being included in a control circuit of the electrical heating circuit;