JP2014007111A - Heater and heat transfer member - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a heater and a heat transfer member which are easily adaptable to members to be heated having various shapes, capable of preventing uneven heating, and can heat efficiently.SOLUTION: A heater for heating by surrounding a member to be heated comprises: a heating element; an entirely deformable enclosure which is formed by housing, in a flexible bag body, a heat conductive material piece whose heat conductivity at 20°C is 1.0 W/(m K) or higher; and a flexible skin body. The member to be heated is covered with the enclosure, and the heating element is arranged on an outer side of the enclosure. Thereafter, the entire part is covered with the skin material. Also, a heat transfer member is formed with the same structure as that of the enclosure.

Description

  The present invention relates to a heater that surrounds and heats a member to be heated such as various pipes or joints thereof, or a valve. The present invention also relates to a heat transfer member interposed between a heated member and a heating element.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a valve is heated to prevent condensation of a gas flowing inside and hardening of a liquid. In order to heat the valve, a heater wire is wrapped around the valve body or joint and the whole is surrounded by a heat insulating material, or the valve body or joint is surrounded by a heat insulating material with a built-in heater wire. The method to do is common.

  For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a heater unit in which a direct heating unit and a radiant heating unit are provided in a housing that surrounds a main body portion and a joint portion of a valve. In this heater unit, a pair of housing halves meet to form a housing, each housing half has a built-in ceramic heater, and a stainless steel plate is attached to the inner surface of the ceramic heater to directly heat the heating part. The portion other than the portion to which the ceramic heater is attached constitutes the radiation heating unit. Further, the stainless steel plate of the direct heating part is fixed at a position where it contacts the main body part of the valve when the housing halves meet each other, and directly heats the main body part when the ceramic heater is energized. At the same time, the other parts excluding the main body part including the joint part are heated by the radiant heat from the radiant heating part.

JP 2004-316864 A

  According to the heater unit of Patent Document 1, the direct heating portion is positioned corresponding to the main body portion of the valve, and the mounting method to the valve only needs to assemble the housing halves. Uneven heating does not occur.

  However, since the main part of the valve is directly heated, the other parts including the joint part are radiant heating, so that uneven heating occurs. In addition, since most of the housing half is a radiant heating part, it is necessary to dispose a large area ceramic heater, or a small area ceramic heater at a plurality of locations in the housing half, in order to frequently use expensive ceramic heaters, Overall, it becomes expensive. In addition, since the entire housing heater is heated, power consumption increases.

  It is conceivable to process a metal block such as aluminum in accordance with the shape of the valve, but it is expensive and cannot be adapted to valves of other dimensions and shapes, and must be produced for each valve.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a heater that can be easily applied to a member to be heated in various shapes, has no heating unevenness, and can be efficiently heated. Another object of the present invention is to provide a heat transfer member that is interposed between a heated member and a heating element and efficiently transfers the heat from the heating element to the heated member.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides the following heater and heat transfer member.
(1) A heater that surrounds and heats a member to be heated,
A heating element;
An envelopment body that is formed by accommodating a heat conductive material piece having a thermal conductivity at 20 ° C. of 1.0 W / (m · K) or more in a flexible bag body,
A flexible epidermis,
A heater characterized in that a member to be heated is covered with an envelope, a heating element is disposed outside the envelope, and the whole is covered with a skin material.
(2) The heater according to (1), wherein the enclosure, the heating element, and the skin material are laminated and integrated in this order.
(3) A heat transfer member interposed between the member to be heated and the heating element,
A heat transfer member characterized in that a heat transfer material piece having a thermal conductivity at 20 ° C. of 1.0 W / (m · K) or more is accommodated in a flexible bag and is deformable as a whole.

  In the heater of the present invention, the member to be heated is surrounded by the enclosure without any gap, and heat from the heating element is transferred to the member to be heated through the enclosure, so that even if the member to be heated has various sizes and shapes, it is efficient. It can be heated well. In addition, the heat transfer member of the present invention is configured in the same manner as the enclosure, and can efficiently heat the heat from the heating element by surrounding the member to be heated without a gap.

It is a split perspective view which shows an example of the heater of this invention. It is a partial notch figure which shows an example of an enclosure (heat-transfer member). It is a figure for demonstrating the state which mounted | wore the valve | bulb with the heater of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the other example of the heater of this invention.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the heater 1 of the present invention includes an enclosure 10, a heating element 20, and a skin 30.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the envelope body 10 is a flexible bag body 11 in which a thermally conductive material piece having a thermal conductivity at 20 ° C. of 1.0 W / (m · K) or more is accommodated. The enclosure 10 can be deformed as a whole. The heat conductive material is not particularly limited as long as the thermal conductivity at 20 ° C. is 1.0 W / (m · K) or more, and is preferably less expensive, and preferably iron, copper, aluminum, or an alloy thereof.

  The shape of the heat conductive material piece is not particularly limited. For example, the fibrous material 12 (FIG. 2A) or the granular material 13 (FIG. 2B), or the mixture of the fibrous material 12 and the granular material 13. Etc.

The fibrous material 12 is not limited in fiber length and fiber diameter as long as it can follow the deformation while ensuring heat transfer properties, but the longer the fibers are, the more likely the fibers are entangled with each other and heat transfer is preferable. Moreover, the bulk density of the fibrous material 12 accommodated in the enclosure 10 is preferably 0.01 to 10 g / cm ³ . As the amount of fibers increases, the envelope 10 becomes thicker and it becomes difficult to follow the fine shape of the member to be heated. On the other hand, the envelope 10 becomes thinner and more easily deformed as the amount of fibers decreases, but the heating element 20 and the skin 30 have flexibility, but the deformation is less than that of the envelope 10, and therefore the envelope 10 It is easy to make a gap between. Therefore, the bulk density of the fibrous material 12 accommodated in the enclosure 10 is suitably 0.1 to 1.0 g / cm ³ .

  The shape of the granular material 13 is not particularly limited, and is not necessarily spherical, and may be a polyhedron, an amorphous shape, a flat body, or a cylindrical shape. Moreover, the granular material 13 does not need to be solid, and can be reduced in weight by making it hollow. Then, the number and particle diameter are adjusted so that the grains can come into contact with each other inside the bag 11 when deformed. For example, the particle size may be 1 to 10 mm. In that case, you may mix the granular material 13 of a different shape and a dimension.

  The bag body 11 is made of a material having heat resistance, and has flexibility because it is deformable. Examples of the bag 11 include a metal foil, sheet, film, mesh, glass fiber, ceramic fiber, silica fiber, and other inorganic fiber cloth. Further, in order to suppress damage and deterioration due to deformation, a heat resistant resin may be coated and reinforced. In addition, when accommodating the fibrous material 12, since it is thought that it may protrude from a mesh | network or detach | leave from a mesh, it is preferable to use metal foil, a metal sheet, and a metal film. Also, when the granular material 13 is accommodated, it is necessary to adjust the opening in consideration of the particle size so as not to fall off from the mesh mesh. The thickness of the bag 11 is not particularly limited, but may be 0.01 to 3 mm.

  Further, the enclosure 10 has a certain thickness when mounted on the heated member so as to be deformed to fill the gap when mounted on the heated member. The specific thickness can be set according to the application, but in the case of pipes, fittings, valves, etc. of general dimensions and shapes, the gap can be filled by setting the thickness to 0.5 to 3.0 cm. .

  The heating element 20 is preferably flexible so that it can be deformed, and the heating surface 21 is preferably planar so that a large area can be heated at once. Specifically, a planar heater, a ribbon heater, or the like in which a heater wire is stitched and integrated with a heat-resistant cloth or ribbon can be used. A ceramic heater can also be used. Reference numeral 22 denotes a plug connected to an external power source (not shown).

  The skin 30 is not particularly limited as long as it is a flexible material. For example, a sheet made of a silicone resin, a fluororesin, a polyolefin resin, a polyester resin, a vinyl chloride resin, a polyimide resin, a glass fiber, or a ceramic fiber. Any cloth made of inorganic fiber such as silica fiber may be used. The thickness of the epidermis 30 is not particularly limited, but may be 0.1 to 5 mm. Moreover, as shown in the figure, surface fasteners 31, 32, etc. may be provided at both end edges so that the mounted state can be maintained when mounted on the heated member. Moreover, although illustration is abbreviate | omitted, a belt can also be wound and fixed, without using a hook-and-loop fastener. The epidermis 30 is wider than the envelope 10 and the heating element 20 so as to be able to surround the whole.

  If necessary, a heat insulating material (not shown) may be interposed between the heating element 20 and the skin 30. As such a heat insulating material, an inorganic fiber sheet, an organic fiber sheet, and a resin foam can be used, and the inorganic fiber sheet is subjected to needle processing on an inorganic fiber material such as glass fiber, ceramic fiber, silica fiber, What was formed in the sheet form with inorganic binders, such as colloidal silica, alumina sol, and a sodium silicate as needed, is preferable. Also, organic fiber sheets such as aramid, polyamide, polyimide, etc. can be used. Furthermore, a resin foam such as a silicone resin or a fluororesin foam can be used. The thickness of such a heat insulating material is not particularly limited, but may be 1 to 30 mm or 3 to 15 mm.

  The heater 1 configured as described above can be mounted on a member to be heated having various shapes. At that time, the envelope body 10 is the bag body 11 containing the fibrous material 12 or the granular material 13 and has a certain thickness, so that the gap between the heated member and the heating element 20 can be filled efficiently. It becomes possible.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, the valve 100 has a pipe 103 connected to both ends of the main body portion 101 via nuts 102, and the main body portion 101 has an actuator that controls opening and closing of an internal valve member. 104 is connected and exhibits a complicated shape. For this reason, when the valve 100 is mounted so as to surround the valve 100 with a general heater such as Patent Document 1, a space between the main body portion 101 and the nut 102 (a portion indicated by 110 in the figure), or the main body portion 101 and the actuator 104. And a space (a portion indicated by 112 in the figure) between the nut 102 and the actuator 104 (a portion indicated by 111 in the figure). However, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the heater 1 of the present invention is used, the enclosure 10 is deformed and enters the gaps 110, 111, 112, and heat from the heating element 20 is transferred to the fibrous material 12. And the granular material 13 transfers heat and raises heating efficiency.

  The enclosure 10 can also be used by being attached to a thin pipe having a diameter of 1 inch (25.4 mm) or less, for example. Specifically, it can be used by being attached to a thin pipe having a diameter of 6.0 to 13.0 mm, 6.35 to 12.7 mm, or 6.35 to 9.525 mm. When trying to heat such relatively thin pipes, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-185086, in order to heat the pipes uniformly, the pipes are made of metal such as aluminum and inserted into the center. Using a pipe heating sheath (also referred to as an aluminum block) having a structure in which a pair of half cylinders obtained by dividing a cylindrical body in which the through holes are formed in half along the axis of the through holes are attached to the pipe, Pipes are heated by transferring heat from a heater surrounding a pipe heating covering. However, such an aluminum block must be designed and processed according to the piping, resulting in high costs. According to the heater 1 of the present invention, the space between the pipe and the heater can be filled by the flexibility and elasticity of the enclosure 10 by winding the enclosure 10 around the pipe. Since it can be used, it is not necessary to design and process each pipe and it can be used universally. In addition, the material cost is reduced and the weight can be reduced.

  In the above description, the enclosure 10, the heating element 20, and the skin 30 are individually provided. However, as shown in FIG. 4, the enclosure 10, the heating element 20, and the skin 30 are laminated and integrated to form the heater 1. You can also. By integrating, it only needs to be attached to the heated member once and workability is improved.

  Although not shown, the heating element 20 and the skin 30 may be integrated, or the heating element 20 can be embedded in the skin 30. Further, a heat insulating material may be interposed between the heating element 20 and the skin 30.

  The enclosure 10 corresponds to the heat transfer member in the present invention.

1 Heater 10 Enclosure (Heat Transfer Member)
11 Bag 12 Fiber 13 Granule 20 Heating Element 30 Epidermis

Claims (3)

A heater that surrounds and heats a heated member,
A heating element;
An envelopment body that is formed by accommodating a heat conductive material piece having a thermal conductivity at 20 ° C. of 1.0 W / (m · K) or more in a flexible bag body,
A flexible epidermis,
A heater characterized in that a member to be heated is covered with an envelope, a heating element is disposed outside the envelope, and the whole is covered with a skin material.   The heater according to claim 1, wherein the enclosure, the heating element, and the skin material are laminated and integrated in this order. A heat transfer member interposed between the heated member and the heating element,
A heat transfer member characterized in that a heat transfer material piece having a thermal conductivity at 20 ° C. of 1.0 W / (m · K) or more is accommodated in a flexible bag and is deformable as a whole.

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