US1927959A - Air heater - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 26, 1933.

Filed May 15, 1931 A. SOLOOS AIR HEATER 2 Sheets-Sheet l Fi gl. e0

Fig.2 J I E W1 4 WI I4 "I M L l N I J V 3 i r 32 mm Sept. 26, 1933.

A. soLoos 1,927,959

AIR'HEATER Filed May 15, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet gmmk w FYI Sc/cos "7338' g-9 as? Patented Sept. 26 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 8 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for heating air for the purpose of heating dwelling and other buildings, and vehicles, and has special reference to-heating by means of an electric current.

The objects of my invention are, first, to provide an air heater of high efficiency whereby the heat developed by the electricity is very rapidly conducted away. from the heated wire and is spread over a large area of metal in contact with the air to be heated; second, to provide a device which will carry the heat away from the heated wire so rapidly as to prevent the heated wire from reaching a temperature at which it will glow; third, to form the structure in such a manner that the several air heating surfaces will coact to form free air ducts surrounding the heating wire, to heat the air therein and cause it to circulate therefrom; fourth, to form the structure by bending a series of plates and by confining the heating wire in the points of contact of said plates; fifth, to form the structure by clamping the series of bent plates within a frame; sixth, to form the structure in such manner that it may be tilted to direct the flow of air therefrom; seventh, to form the heating element of one or -more continuous wires, threaded through suitable cylindrical insulators, and supporting said heating elements in zig-zag rectangular manner between the contacting bends of the heat con= ducting plates; and eighth, to provide air heater which is cheap to make, highly efficient, well insulated, and safe.

I attain these and other objects by the devices,

36 and arrangements illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-- Fig. 1 is a plan view of the top of my improved electric air heater; Fig. 2 is a side elevation there of; Fig. 3 is an end elevation thereof; e is a m horizontal section of a portion of the electric air heater; Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the portion shown in Fig. 4, and broken apart at the center to reduce its length in the drawings; Figs. 6 and l are and and side views, respectively, of the metal as sheath and hood of the heating element at the 5 standards 1, by means of a pair of trunnions 2,

mounted in the bearings 3 ,on the upper ends of the said standards 1.

The frame of my improved air heater comprises two end frames 4, carrying the trunnions 2, and the four horizontal corner members 5 suitably secured to the said end frames 4. The end frames 4 may be made from a single plate, and may have flanges extending around their edges by which the said corner members 5 may be attached thereto. The frame thus formed, forms a rectangular open body within which the air heating plates are supported and clamped.

The heating element shown in the drawings comprises a pair of parallel resistance wires 6 and "7, threaded through the two, holes in the cylindrical insulators 8. It is, of course, undenstood that the number of such wires is not confined to two, as illustrated, but maybe a single wire or any number of such wires "as may he desired or convenient. These insulators 8 are made of porcelain or other suitable material and are of uniform diameter, being in practice about one-quarter inch in diameter, and of uniform lengths, about three inches is found to be a con venient length. The insulators are strung loosely on the two wires 6 and l and the whole length is then strung continuously through the heater, as below described. The resistance wires illustrated are made oi nichrome, preferably oi number twenty-two guage.

The course which this length of heating eleznent follows may he described as follows; starting at one end, first it passes horizontally from the terminals Q and ill at one end, on the under side of the heater, a distance oi one insulator length (3 inches) to the first point where the heremaiter described plates contact; then it turns upward, at right angles within the tube formed of such plates, as hereinafter described, and forms a vertical heating length for a distance of three such insulator lengths (9 inches) then it turns horizontally on top of the heater, a distance of one insulator length to the second such tube; then it turns downward at right angles within the second tube a distance of three such insulator lengths to the under side or the heater; then it again turns horizontally to run on the underside of the heater 9. distance of one insulator length to the third such tube; and so on, up and down for a series of four such vertical lengths; then it also turns through a. horizontal angle of about forty-five degrees and passes along the under side of one ofthe dlag onals to the second row of such tubes and passes similar y up and down for a series of live such vertical heating lengths; then it again passes along the upper edge of one of the diagonals to the third row of tubes and passes similarly down and up for a series of four such vertical heating lengths; and it passes along the upper edge of a diagonal to the fourth row of vertical heating lengths and passes down and up the tubes five times; and thence it passes'by a short horizontal length along the under side of the heater to the end. Both the wires'fi and '1 are secured separately to the terminals 9 and 10, respectively, at each end.

As shown in Fig. 8, when the voltage of the energizing circuit is relatively high, the two wires 6 and 7 are arranged in series by securing the terminals 9 and 10, at one end, together (Fig. 4) by a connecting wire 11, and by connecting them separately at the other end to the two wires of the energizing circuit. In Fig. 9, I have shown the connections for a lower voltage circuit, in which the wires 6 and 7 are connected together in parallel, in the usual manner. Thus it will be seen that the heating wires 6 and 7 travel together in parallel lines back and forth, up and down, throughout the heater and that they, therefore, uniformly distribute their heat throughout the entire area of the heater, and that they uniformly heat all the air volume con tained in the spaces of the heater and thus unliormly affect a very large volume of air and cause a strong circulation of the air from the heater.

The heat developed by the said heating circuit is conducted away therefrom by the following described air-heating plates. Two sets of such plates are used in the construction 01' my improved heater. First, a set of four central plates 12 are provided. Each of these plates 12 extend from end to end of the heater frame and each is provided with straight semicircular grooves or troughs 13 extending from top to bottom and adapted to receive the vertical heating lengths of the heating element, as above described. Two of these plates 12 have four such troughs 13 and two have five such troughs 13.

The horizontal members of the heating circuit insulators 8 are secured to the said plates 12, between each trough 13, by means of fastening plates 14 which are riveted or otherwise secured to the upper or lower edges of the plates 12, and. which loop over and aroimd the said horizontal. insulators t. The ends of these fastening plates l-i are extended laterally to form hoods it": which I extend over and protect the portion of thcswires 6 and 7 as they pass from the vertical to the horizontal portions of the heating circuit.

The other set of heating plates is composed of five plates 16. These plates 16 also extend from end to end of the heater and each is bent to provide a series of semicircular bends or troughs 17, extending from top to bottom, similarly to the troughs 13 in the plates 12. The first said plate has four such bends 17, all made in the same side of the plate; the second, third and fourth plates each have nine such bends 11', made aitemately in opposite sides of said-plates; and the fifth plate has five such bends made in the same side of said plate. As seen in Fig. 4, these semicircular bends 17 to oneplate 16 are complementary to the troughs 13 of the plate 12 to complete the cylindrical casing or tube for the vertical heating circuit insulators, while the bends 1'! of the next plate 16 lie outside of the said troughs 13 of the plate 12, and are supplementary to the said troughs.

The plates 16 are also bent on a sharp angle at each side of the above-described semicircular bends 17, to form diagonals so that each said plate 16 zigzags back and forth from one row of vertical heating elements to the adjacent row of heating elements and back again from end to end of the heater.

The structure thus formed is held together by means of the horizontal corner members 5 of the supporting frame. The resulting form of the heater comprises, therefore, six radiating fins extending from each vertical tube in which a heating unit is positioned and these six fins, cooperating with fins from the surrounding vertical tubes, enclose six columns of air. Each small column of air is therefore surrounded by three heated plates with the result that the area of exposed heated surface of the fins or plates is quite large in comparison with the volume of air enclosed thereby and that the air is instantly and continuously heated and the fins are correspondingly cooled. The fins or plates are heated primarily by the portions of the heating circuit in the vertical tubes, but the plates 12 are heated, in addition, by the horizontal members contained in the fastening plates 14.

Thus it will be seen that I have produced an electric heater which is of extreme simplicity to manufacture and which will be of very high emciency.

Having, therefore described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent. is:--

1. An air heater comprising a tube composed oi two plates, each bent complementary to each other to together form said tube, and each extending from said tube in diverging planes; a third plate bent to supplement the outside of one of said complementary parts and extending therefrom in planes diverging from the adjacent portions of the plates: and a heating element contained in said tube.

2. An air heater comprising two parallel noncoaxial tubes composed of two plates bent complementary to each other at spaced intervals to together form both said tubes, each plate extending from each tube in diverging planes to form heat distributing fins; and a heating element contained in each said tube.

3. An air heater comprising two parallel tubes composed of two plates bent complementary to each other, at spaced intervals, to together form said two tubes, the spaced interval of one such plate being shorter than the spaced interval of the other such plate, the first said plate extending directly from one tube to the other, the secend said plate diverging from and converging towards the first plate in the interval between said tubes, thereby forming separated heat distributing fins; and a heating element contained in each such tube.

4. An air heater comprising three parallel tubes positioned at the angles of a triangle and composed of three plates, one of said plates bent to form one-half of two of said tubes, 9. second said plate bent to form one-half of the third tube, and the third said plate bent to form the complementary halves of all three tubes, the first and second plates being parallel and the third plate lying between the first and second plates and being bent at the tubes to pass consecutively from one tube to the other, said third plate lying in divorcin planes with respect to the first and secend plates, thereby forming a heat distributing triangle having a tube at each angle; and a heating element contained ineach such tube.

5; An air heater comprising a plurality of parallel tubes arranged in staggered rows and formed of a plurality of plates, each plate having spaced semicircular bends, one such plate extending in straight course from tube to tube in each row, the other such plates lying between each pair of said straight plates and passing in zigzag manner from the first tube in one row to the staggered first tube in the next row and returningto the second tube in the first row, and so forth, the semicircular bends on any straight plate lying in the same side, and the semicircular bends in the diagonal plates lying in alternate sides and being alternately complementary and supplementary to the bends in the straight plates; and a heating element contained in each said tube.

6. An air-heater comprising a pair of end rectangular frames; corner bars jointing corresponding corners of said end frames; a series of bent plates each extending in zigzag manner from end to end of the heater and contacting at their bends to form a honeycomb compressed between said corner bars; and a heating element at each point of contact 01' said plates whereby all said separated diverging plates are heated.

7. An air heater comprising a pair of standards; a pair of end frames; corner bars'joining corresponding comers of said endframes; trunnions joining said end frames to said standards, whereby the air heater may be tipped to any desired angle; a series of bent plates each extending in zigzag manner from end to end of the heater and contacting at their bends to form a honeycomb compressed between said comer bars; and a heating element at each point of contact of said'plates, whereby all said separated diverging plates are heated.

8. An air heater comprising a pair of end rectangular frames; corner bars joining corresponding corners of said end frames; a series of bent plates each extending in zigzag manner from end to end of the heater; a series of straight plates interposed between said zigzag plates; tubes formed at the points oi contact of said zigzag plates with said straight plates; and a heating element contained in each said tube.

- ALF SOLOOS.

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