US20110026907A1

US20110026907A1 - Electric heater

Info

Publication number: US20110026907A1
Application number: US12/533,266
Authority: US
Inventors: Hen-Yuan Lin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2009-07-31
Filing date: 2009-07-31
Publication date: 2011-02-03

Abstract

An electric heater includes primarily an S-shaped air channel which is provided in a body, at least one heating unit which is provided in the air channel, and at least one heat energy conversion unit which is close to an inner wall of the air channel and close to the heating unit. An interior of the heat energy conversion unit is defined with a passage. Hot air can be directed rapidly by a principle that hot air ascends, through the S-shaped air channel. Heat energy produced by the heating unit is absorbed by the heat energy conversion unit and is then carried away by an air power of the passage, so as to achieve effects of heat accumulation and dissipation.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric heater and more particularly to an electric heater which is provided with effects of heat accumulation and dissipation and blows out hot air by a principle that hot air ascends.
b) Description of the Prior Art
An electric heater has become a necessary appliance to many people now. Especially that in winter or when weather temperature drops abruptly, we all need an electric heater to keep body temperature from catching a cold. In addition, an elderly person, as being weak, relies more on an electric heater to maintain his or her body temperature. In an early day when weather temperature is too low that health can be threatened, we often use stoves or charcoals to set a fire to increase body temperature, prohibiting the body temperature from changing with the weather temperature. Although this method of warmth keeping can achieve the effect of warmth keeping, the effect is not perfect; as hot air only dissipates in front of the stoves or charcoals, and one must always add the charcoals to keep the stoves burning. Furthermore, one important issue is that it is highly toxic in the burning and people can be poisoned easily, which is extremely risky.
As time changes and continual progressiveness of technologies, this method of warmth keeping has been already achieved by an electric appliance and an electric heater sold on a market can be versatile, with various air blowing effects and various heating methods. On the other hand, a difference of apparatus also affects an entire effect of using the electric heater. An air channel in an interior of a conventional electric heater is mostly a straight channel and therefore, hot air is sent out merely by air pressure and there is no effect of heat accumulation. If high temperature hot air is required, then higher heat energy can be released merely by depending upon a heating power of the electric heater itself. Therefore, to achieve a user's requirement, it will often waste electricity on heating.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an electric heater, wherein an interior of a body is accommodated with an S-shaped air channel which is defined with an air inlet at a bottom of the body and an air outlet at a top of the body, the air inlet of the air channel is provided with an air guiding element which guides air into the air channel, an interior of the air channel is provided with at least a heating unit, a place close to an inner wall of the air channel and close to the heating unit is provided with at least a heat energy conversion unit which is made by a metallic material, and an interior of the heat energy conversion unit is defined with a passage allowing air to pass through. Therefore, when air enters into the air channel through the air guiding element, near infrared radiation energy produced by the heating unit can be absorbed by the heat energy conversion unit to achieve a heat accumulation effect. Next, air which carries the heat energy flows toward the air outlet through the passage to achieve a heat dissipation effect. By the aforementioned technologies, the issues existing in the conventional electric heater that the air channel is mostly a straight channel through which hot air is sent out merely by air pressure, thus bearing no heat accumulation effect and that when high temperature hot air is required, higher heat energy can be released merely relying on a heating power of the electric heater itself, thus often wasting electricity on heating to meet the user's requirement, can be solved. In addition, through the S-shaped air channel, hot air produced by the heating unit can be directed rapidly by a principle that hot air ascends. Besides, the heat energy produced by the heating unit can be absorbed by the heat energy conversion unit and then can be carried away through an air power of the passage, thereby achieving the practical progressiveness of the effects of heat accumulation and dissipation.
To enable a further understanding of the said objectives and the technological methods of the invention herein, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of the preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a three-dimensional perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a three-dimensional exploded view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic view of air energy flowing in an air channel, according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic view of an operation that a heat energy conversion unit accumulates and dissipates heat, according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic view of an implementation of a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic view of an implementation of another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, it shows a three-dimensional perspective view and a three-dimensional exploded view of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the electric heater of the present invention comprises:

- a body 10, an interior of which is defined with an air channel 11, the air channel 11 being defined with an air inlet 111 at a bottom of the body 10 and an air outlet 112 at a top of the body 10, the air inlet 111 being provided with an air guiding element 12 to guide air into the air channel 11 and the air channel 11 being in an S-shaped configuration;
- at least a heating unit 13 which is provided in the air channel 11, the heating unit 13 being a quartz heating tube; and
- at least a heat energy conversion unit 14 which is close to an inner wall of the air channel 11 and close to the heating unit 13, the heat energy conversion unit 14 being made by a metallic material and an interior of the heat energy conversion unit 14 being defined with a passage 141 allowing air to pass through.

Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 at a same time, it shows a schematic view of air energy flowing in an air channel and a schematic view of an operation that a heat energy conversion unit accumulates and dissipates heat, according to the present invention. As shown in the drawings, the electric heater includes the body 10, the interior of which is accommodated with the S-shaped air channel 11, the air channel 11 is defined with the air inlet 111 at the bottom of the body 10 and the air outlet 112 at the top of the body 10, the air inlet 111 of the air channel 11 is defined with the air guiding element 12 which can guide air 20 into he air channel 11, the interior of the air channel 11 is provided with at least one heating unit 13, and the place close to the inner wall of the air channel 11 and close to the heating unit 13 is provided with at least one heat energy conversion unit 14 which is made by a metallic material. In addition, the interior of the heat energy conversion unit 14 is defined with the passage 141 allowing the air 20 to pass through. Accordingly, when the electric heater is used, the air guiding element 12 guides the air 20 into the air channel 11, and at a same time, as the provision of the heating unit 13, the air 20 can be separated and diverted. Besides, the heating unit 13 starts to heat up to produce near infrared radiation energy 30 which can be absorbed by the heat energy conversion unit 14. At a same time when the heat energy 30 is absorbed, air energy carries away the heat energy 30 that is absorbed by the heat energy conversion unit 14, through the passage 141, thereby intensifying a thermal power effect of the electric heater. On the other hand, as the air channel 11 is in an S-shaped configuration, the air inlet 111 becomes the bottom of the body 10 and the air outlet 112 becomes the top of the body 10, such that the air 20 can effectively carry the heat energy 30 to the air outlet 112 through the principle that hot air ascends, after entering into the air inlet 111.
Referring to FIG. 5, it shows a schematic view of an implementation of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, a bottom of the body 10 a is further provided with rollers 40 allowing the body 10 a to be pushed to move freely, such that the body 10 a can be moved easily.
Referring to FIG. 6, it shows a schematic view of an implementation of another preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the interior of the body 10 b is accommodated with the air channel 11 a which is defined with the air inlet 111 a at the bottom of the body 10 b, wherein the air inlet 111 a is defined with an air guiding plate 50, such that when entering into the air channel 11 a from the air inlet 11 a, the air 20 a can be effectively guided to a side by the air guiding plate 50, allowing temperature at two sides to be equal.
Accordingly, the key technologies of the electric heater of the present invention to improve the prior art lie in that through the S-shaped air channel 11, hot air produced by the heating unit 13 can be directed rapidly by the principle that hot air ascends, and the heat energy 30, which is produced by the heating unit 13, can be absorbed by the heat energy conversion unit 14 and then can be carried away by the air 20 in the air channel 11, so as to achieve the effects of heat accumulation and dissipation; in addition, by the provision of the heating unit 13, a wind shear phenomenon can be produced to the air 20 which enters from the air inlet 111, so as to improve efficiencies of discharging and heating up the air, which is also provided with the practical progressiveness of energy saving.
It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described herein is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An electric heater comprising a body, an interior of which is defined with an air channel, the air channel being defined with an air inlet at a bottom of the body and an air outlet at a top of the body; at least one heating unit which is provided in the air channel; and at least one heat energy conversion unit which is close to an inner wall of the air channel and close to the heating unit.

2. The electric heater according to claim 1, wherein the air inlet of the air channel is provided with an air guiding element which guides air into the air channel.

3. The electric heater according to claim 1, wherein the heating unit is a quartz heating tube.

4. The electric heater according to claim 1, wherein the heat energy conversion unit is made by a metallic material and an interior of the heat energy conversion unit is defined with a passage allowing air to pass through.

5. The electric heater according to claim 1, wherein a bottom of the body is further provided with rollers for moving the body.

6. The electric heater according to claim 1, wherein the air channel is in an S-shaped configuration.

7. The electric heater according to claim 1, wherein the air inlet is further provided with an air guiding plate.