TITLE DOUBLE TANK AND FORCED CIRCULATION TYPE SOLAR HOT-WATER HEATER
TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a hot-water heater using a solar heat as a heat source, and more particularly to a double tank and forced circulation type solar hot-water heater applied to a separated system in which a solar collector is installed outdoors and a heat storage tank is installed indoors.
BACKGROUND ART Solar energy is a clean energy that is a substitute of fossil fuels, which are limited natural resources. The solar energy is in the spotlight as an energy source among various substitutive energies since it is obtained in the easiest way and shows high efficiency. The solar hot-water heater includes a heat collector for collecting solar heat to heat a heating medium, a heat exchanger for heating water by means of heat exchange between the heating medium and the water, and a heat storage tank for storing hot water. The heat exchanger is classified into an integrated heat exchanger and a separated heat exchanger depending on installation position of the heat storage tank, and also into a natural circulation type and a forced circulation type depending on circulation manner of the heating medium and the water. However, the natural circulation type heat exchanger has low heat exchange efficiency and needs the heat storage tank to be installed above the heat collector, so the heat storage tank should be kept warm not to be frozen to fracture. Thus, it requires a lot of maintenance costs.
The conventional forced circulation and separated-type solar heat exchange system includes a heat collector 9 installed outdoors, a heat storage tank 1 for storing hot water, a heat exchanger 12 for heating water by means of heat exchange between a heating medium and water, a secondary conduit 16 for connecting the heat storage tank 1 and the heat exchanger 12, a primary conduit 17 for connecting the heat collector 9 and the heat exchanger 12, a secondary pump 10 for circulating cold or hot water, a primary pump 8 for circulating the heating medium, an air separator 15 for separating air from the heating medium in the primary conduit 17, an expansion tank 13 for receiving an expansion of the heating medium, a heating medium storage tank 14 for storing the heating medium, and a heating medium automatic injection pump 11 for automatically injecting the heating medium, as shown in FIG. 1. Here, the integrated-type heat exchange system is configured so that a heat exchanger 18 is mounted in the heat storage tank 1 , as shown in FIG. 1. In addition, it is operated based on a principle that a heating medium is naturally circulated according to difference of its densities before and after heating so as to exchange heat in the heat exchanger 18 of the heat storage tank 1 for heating hot water. The conventional forced circulation type solar system is configured so that a temperature difference between hot and cold points in the system is sensed by a separate differential temperature controller to automatically circulate a heating medium and hot water, thereby heating water by means of heat exchange of the heating medium and the water in the heat exchanger 12. However, the conventional forced circulation type solar system needs a lot of installation costs and spaces since the heat exchanger 12, the expansion tank 13, the air separator 15 and the secondary pump 10 are separately installed out of
the heat storage tank 1. Thus, this system cannot be used in the case that the heat storage tank 1 should be installed on a veranda.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention is designed to solve such problems of the prior art, and therefore an object of the invention is to provide a double-tank and forced circulation type solar hot-water heater in which a heat exchanger is configured with a double-jacket structure on an outer circumference of a heat storage tank, components conventionally separately installed are integrally mounted in the heat storage tank to play roles of an expansion tank and an air separator together, a spiral flow guide is formed in a double tank from an inlet hole to an outlet ole of a heating medium so that the heating medium may be contacted with the entire heat transfer area uniformly in order to compensate shortage of a stay time of the heating medium in the double tank by means of the force circulation force of a circulation pump (as the stay time of the heating medium is short, the heat transfer performance is deteriorated). In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a double-tank and forced circulation solar hot-water heater including a heat collector installed outdoors to collect solar heat, a heat exchanger connected to the heat collector through conduits for heat exchange, a heat storage tank for storing heat exchanged by the heat exchanger, and a circulation pump for forcibly circu lating a heating medium through the conduits, wherein the heat exchanger and the heat storage tank has an integrated structure, and wherein the integrated structure includes: an inner tank installed inside and used as a hot water storage tank; an outer tank installed to surround the inner tank with being spaced apart from the inner tank as much as a predetermined distance and playing a role of a heat
exchanger; a spiral flow guide formed along an outer circumference of the inner tank as one successive spiral shape in a space between the inner tank and the outer tank so that a heating medium introduced into the outer tank is spirally flowed with exchanging heat; a heating medium inlet hole formed at an approximately upper end of the outer tank so that a heating medium circulated through the heat collector is introduced therethrough and having a membrane at one end thereof for blocking one-directional flow of fluid; a heating medium outlet hole formed at an approximately lower end of the outer tank for discharging the heating medium that has experienced heat exchange; a level valve installed to a predetermined position of a top portion of the outer tank above an uppermost position of the spiral flow guide so as to check a level of the heating medium and discharge air outward; and a heating medium expansion space prepared above the level valve as a sealed space.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other features, aspects, and advantages of preferred embodiments of the present invention will be more fully described in the following detailed description, taken accompanying drawings. In the drawings: FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a conventional forced circulation and separated type solar heat exchange system; FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing a conventional natural circulation and integrated type solar heat exchange system; FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a double-tank and forced circulation solar hot-water heater according to the present invention; FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a double-tank and forced circulation solar hot-water heater according to the present invention in which a heat storage
tank and a heat exchanger are integrally configured; and FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing inner configuration of a double tank structure of FIG. 4.
BEST MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIGs. 3 to 5 show a double-tank and forced circulation type solar hot-water heater according to the present invention, in which FIG. 3 shows the whole configuration of the system, FIG. 4 shows a double tank structure in which a heat storage tank and a heat exchanger are integrally configured, and FIG. 5 shows inner configuration of the double tank structure of FIG. 4. Referring to FIGs. 3 to 5, the double-tank and forced circulation solar hot-water heater according to the present invention includes a heat collector 9 installed outdoors to collect solar heat, a heat exchanger connected to the heat collector 9 through conduits 16 and 17 for heat exchange, a heat storage tank for storing heat exchanged by the heat exchanger, and a circulation pump 8 for forcibly circulating a heating medium through the conduits 16 and 17. The heat exchanger and the heat storage tank has an integrated structure, and this integrated structure includes an inner tank 1 installed inside and used as a hot water storage tank; an outer tank 2 installed to surround the inner tank 1 with being spaced apart from the inner tank 1 as much as a predetermined distance and playing a role of a heat exchanger; a spiral flow guide 4 formed along an outer circumference of the inner tank 1 as one successive spiral shape in the space between the inner tank 1 and the outer tank 2 so that a heating medium introduced into the outer tank 2 is spirally flowed together with heat exchange; a
heating medium inlet hole 5 formed at an approximately upper end of the outer tank 2 so that a heating medium circulated through the heat collector 9 is introduced therethrough and having a membrane 5a at one end thereof for blocking one-directional flow of fluid; a heating medium outlet hole 6 formed at an approximately lower end of the outer tank 2 for discharging a heating medium that has experienced heat exchange; a level valve 7 installed to a predetermined position of the top portion of the outer tank 2 above the uppermost position of the spiral flow guide 4 so as to check a level of the heating medium and discharge air outward; and a heating medium expansion space 2s prepared above the level valve 7 as a sealed space. Reference numeral 3 in FIG. 4 denotes an outer tank support. In the hot-water heater configured as mentioned above according to the present invention, a circulation path of the heating medium is now described below in brief. A hot heating medium passing down from the heat collector 9 by means of the circulation pump 8 is introduced to the upper portion of the outer tank 2 through the heating medium inlet hole 5. The introduced heating medium is not flowed upward due to the membrane 5a installed at the end of the inlet hole 5 but may be flowed downward. The flowing-down heating medium exchanges heat in contact with the inner tank 1 over the whole heat transfer area with moving along the spiral flow guide 4 formed in the space between the inner tank 1 and the outer tank 2. After the heat transfer is completed, the heating medium is returned again to the heat collector 9 through the heating medium outlet hole 6 prepared at the lower end of the outer tank 2. In a series of procedures mentioned above, the heating medium is expanded freely into the expansion space 2s prepared above the level valve 7 as a temperature of the heating medium is raised.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY As described above, the double-tank and forced circulation type solar hot-water heater according to the present invention has the spiral flow guide in the double-tank from the heating medium inlet hole to the heating medium outlet hole, so the heating medium is uniformly contacted with the entire heat transfer area, thereby remarkably improving heat transfer efficiency. In addition, since there is no need to separately install a heat exchanger and an expansion tank out of the heat storage tank like a conventional solar heat transfer system, the double-tank and forced circulation type solar hot-water heater requires a reduced installation cost and a reduced installation space. Thus, the solar hot-water heater of the present invention may be easily installed in a narrow space such as a veranda, so it may be usefully utilized as a hot-water heating system.