WO2006136395A1

WO2006136395A1 - Fuel effect fire

Info

Publication number: WO2006136395A1
Application number: PCT/EP2006/005966
Authority: WO
Inventors: Noel O'neill
Original assignee: Basic Holdings
Priority date: 2005-06-21
Filing date: 2006-06-21
Publication date: 2006-12-28

Abstract

The invention relates to a fuel effect fire with a fire surround. The fuel effect fire includes a housing including means for providing a fuel and/or flame effect. The fuel/flame effect is viewable through an aperture in the fire surround. The fire surround is adapted to be mounted against a wall surface, such of a room in which the fire is located. A heat source is disposed at an upper portion of the housing, and preferably also a fan to move air over the heat source. The housing, heat source and fan are arranged such that heated air exiting the housing moves over a rear surface of the fire surround and exits through an aperture in the fire surround. The aperture may be a slot disposed under a mantelshelf so that it is not easily visible to a user. The upper portion of the fire surround is thereby made sensibly warm. Preferably a rear panel member is provided to direct air from the housing outlet to the aperture, and to prevent overheating of the wall.

Description

Fuel Effect Fire

The present invention relates to flame and/or fuel effect fires and in particular to such fires which provide the user with the physical impression of warmth on contact. That is, the fires are sensibly warm to a user's touch at at least key locations. More especially, the application relates to a complete fire and fire surround unit in which the fire surround is made sensibly warm while the fire is in use.

BACKGROUND

The prior art is replete with flame and/or fuel effect fires. Most such fires employ a convection heater such as a fan heater to provide source of heat. Usually, the output from the fan heater is through a grille mounted at the base of the fire, or, alternatively the fan heater his mounted above the fuel/flame effect within a projecting canopy and angled downwardly. In neither of these cases is the fire itself or the fire surround made sensibly warm, which limits the realism of the installation.

GB 2386680 discloses an electric fire with a flame effect in which a fan heater is mounted within a housing above the flame effect. The output from the fan heater initially flows horizontally and is directed through a grille. A frame is mounted on the front of the housing and spaced apart from the housing so that the grill is not normally visible to a user. A deflector mounted in front of the grill deflects air so that it passes between the frame and the housing. Possibly, therefore, the frame is in part made sensibly warm, although this is not indicated in GB 2386680.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present application seeks to provide an improved fuel and/or flame effect fire wherein the fire is mounted in a fire surround and wherein the fire surround is made sensibly warm when the fire is in operation. In the present application, a fire surround refers to that portion which, in a real solid fuel fire, is a decorative or ornamental structure which is normally made from wood, stone such as marble or metal such as cast iron and which surrounds the combustion space of the fire. The fire surround is conventionally mounted against a wall surface, such as the chimney which is used to take away combustion gases. Of course, the fire of the present invention does not require a connection to a chimney. According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an electric simulated fire comprising:

(i) a housing; (ii) a simulated fire apparatus mounted within the housing;

(iii) a fire surround adapted to be mounted against a wall and including an aperture through which the simulated fire apparatus may be seen; (iv) an electric heat source;

(v) optionally, means for moving air over the electric heat source to heat the air; and (vi) an air outlet spaced apart from said simulated fire apparatus, wherein an air flow path is defined from the heat source to the outlet such that the flow of heated air is in contact with the fire surround and heats the fire surround.

Preferably the heat source is mounted within the housing.

Preferably the means for moving air over the heat source comprises a fan mounted within the housing. In alternative embodiments, the means for moving the air may be absent, so that air moves over the heat source simply by convection.

Preferably the housing comprises an upper surface including an aperture through which air operatively exits the housing.

Preferably the electric fire further comprises a rear panel which, together with a portion of the rear face of the fire surround defines an air flow conduit or duct ffrom the said aperture to the air outlet of the fire. The rear panel may also be so located as to spaced apart from a wall against which the electric fire is mounted, thereby preventing overheating of the wall. Similarly, an upper part of the rear panel may be so located and/or shaped to prevent excessive heating of the mantelshelf (see below).

Preferably air outlet is located in an upper portion of the fire surround.

Preferably the air outlet is substantially not visible to a user in normal use of the fire.

Preferably the fire surround comprises a mantelshelf or simulated mantelshelf and the air outlet comprises a slot in the fire surround disposed immediately below said mantelshelf. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the following drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a front view of an electric fire according to the invention;

Figure 2 is a section along the line X-X of Figure 1 ; and

Figure 3 is an exploded view of major components of the electric fire of the invention

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawings, the electric fire of the invention comprises a fire surround 10 defining an aperture 12. The aperture 12 defines the space which in a real solid fuel fire would contain the fire grate and the fuel to be burnt. In the electric fire of the invention, the aperture 12 contains the portions of the fire which simulate real burning fuel and/or flames. The latter portion is contained within a housing 14 and in the illustrated example comprises a front screen 16 which includes a partially reflective surface 16a. The screen 16 is mounted on the housing 14 by suitable fixtures. A simulated fuel bed 18 is mounted below the screen 16. The fuel bed 18 comprises a translucent plastic moulding which may advantageously be coloured to represent glowing coals or logs, for example a red or orange colour may be used. Simulated or real coal and logs may be disposed on top of the fuel bed 18. Because of the partially reflective front surface 16a of the front screen 16 an image of the fuel bed is visible to a user in the screen 16. This gives the impression of added depth to the fuel bed. The fuel bed 18 is illuminated from below by a light source 20.

Behind the screen 16 is a chamber 22 in which a flame effect element may be disposed. The flame effect element may take a number of different forms and may comprise a combination of different elements. For example, the flame effect element may comprise a number of reflective ribbons suspended in a generally vertical orientation and caused to move in and airflow generated by a fan 24. Light from the light source 20 is reflected by the ribbons and passes through the screen 16. The screen 16 is preferably partially diffusing of light. An image of flames thereby results. Additionally or alternatively, the fuel effect element may include a reflective component mounted on the rear surface of the chamber 22. The reflective component may, for example, be a sheet of polished metal cut or coloured to resemble the shapes of flames.

In a possible variation of the flame effect element, the flame effect element may take the form of a generally horizontally arranged rod carrying a plurality of approximately radially disposed reflective elements. The rod is rotated about its axis by a motor so that light falling on the radially disposed reflective elements is reflected onto the screen 16 in a non-uniform manner, giving the user the impression of flames visible in the screen. A flame-shaped rear reflector may also be provided.

As can be seen in particular from Figure 1 and Figure 3, the fire surround 10 comprises a front surface 10a and two respective side surfaces 10b and 10c. The front and side surfaces 10a, 10b, 10c include decoration and/or ornamentation at the designer's discretion. Traditional fire surrounds for a real solid fuel fire may be made of cast iron and this possible also in the present invention. However, cast iron is relatively heavy and so cast aluminium, aluminium alloy or other relatively lightweight metals or alloys are preferred.

In the particular embodiment illustrated the housing 14 has a front to back dimension which is not more than the corresponding depth of the fire surround 10 (that is, the depth of the wall 10b or 10c) and the screen 16 is disposed in use adjacent to the wall portions 30 defining the aperture 12. The fuel bed 18 projects through the aperture 12 and an ornamental grate 26 is disposed in front of the fuel bed 18. The fire surround 10 is attached to a wall surface by fixtures 28 or other suitable means.

In one variation of the invention, at an upper portion of the housing 12 there is disposed of a fan 32 which has an upwardly directed output of air. Immediately above the output of the fan 32 is an electric heating element 34. Thus, when the heating element 34 is in use, air passing over the heating element 34, having been expelled by the fan 32, is heated. In alternative variations, the fan is absent. In this case air moves over the heating element 34 by convection.

An upper wall surface 14a of housing 14 is provided with a grille or other aperture 36 through which the air passes out of the housing 14 after having been heated by the heater 34. Thus, the heated air passes over the rear face 101 of the fire surround 10 and so warms the fire surround 10. The heated air and then exits through an aperture in the fire surround 10. In preferred embodiment as illustrated, the aperture is in the form of a slot 38 in the fire surround 10. The slot 38 is located in a position which is not easily visible to a user. In the illustrated example the fire surround 10 is provided with a mantelshelf 40 and the slot 38 is disposed immediately below the mantelshelf 40.

In a preferred arrangement, the fire further comprises a rear panel member 42 which is approximately the same width as the fire surround 10 on its internal face (that is, approximately the distance between the wall 10b and the wall 10c). The panel member 42 comprises a back panel 42a, side panels 42b and 42c and top panel 42d. The side panels 42b and 42c are mounted against the rear face 101 of the fire surround 10 so that the back panel 42a it is spaced apart from the said rear face 101. Preferably the width of the side panels 42b and 42c is less than the width of the walls 10b and 10c of the fire surround 10. In this way, the back panel 42a remains spaced apart from the wall (e.g. the wall of a room) against which the fire of the invention is mounted. This prevents overheating of the said wall. The upper free edge 42e of the top panel 42d is arranged to substantially in contact with the rear face 101 , above the slot 38. Thus, the rear face 101 and the panel in the 42 together define a conduit or duct which directs air from the grill 36 to the slot 38. The top panel 42d is inclined and serves to prevent contact of the hot air with the underside of the mantelshelf 40. In this way, the mantelshelf 40 is prevented from becoming too hot. Preferably the conduit extends across the whole width of the fire surround 10 and so the heated air can circulate in the whole of the conduit area. In this way, the whole of the upper front surface of the fire surround 10 becomes sensibly warm. The mantelshelf 40 may also become warm. Typically, the fire surround 10 is heated by the air from the blower 32 and heating element 34 to a temperature of not more than about 60⁰C.

By heating the fire surround 10 as described above not only does the fire surround 10 become sensibly warm to the touch, as would be the case in a real solid fuel fire installation, but also the heated fire surround 10 provides a radiant heat into the environment surrounding the fire surround 10. Of course, the output of heated air from the slot 38 also provides convection heating. The heat output of the electric fire of the invention may, or may not, be sufficient to heat a room on its own. In many cases, the electric fire is required only to provide supplementary heating since the main heat source in a home is often a central heating system. Throughout the description and claims of this specification, the words "comprise" and "contain" and variations of the words, for example "comprising" and "comprises", means "including but not limited to", and is not intended to (and does not) exclude other moieties, additives, components, integers or steps.

Throughout the description and claims of this specification, the singular encompasses the plural unless the context otherwise requires. In particular, where the indefinite article is used, the specification is to be understood as contemplating plurality as well as singularity, unless the context requires otherwise.

Features, integers, characteristics, compounds, chemical moieties or groups described in conjunction with a particular aspect, embodiment or example of the invention are to be understood to be applicable to any other aspect, embodiment or example described herein unless incompatible therewith.

Claims

1. An electric simulated fire comprising:

(i) a housing; (ii) a simulated fire apparatus mounted within the housing;

(iii) a fire surround adapted to be mounted against a wall and including an aperture through which the simulated fire apparatus may be seen; (iv) an electric heat source; and (v) an air outlet spaced apart from said housing, wherein an air flow path is defined from the heat source to the outlet such that the flow of heated air is in contact with the fire surround and heats the fire surround.

2. An electric fire as claimed in claim 1 further comprising means for moving air over the electric heat source to heat the air.

3. An electric fire as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the heat source is mounted within the housing.

4. An electric fire as claimed in claim 1 , 2 or 3 wherein the means for moving air over the heat source comprises a fan mounted within the housing.

5. An electric fire as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4 wherein the housing comprises an upper surface including an aperture through which air operatively exits the housing.

6. An electric fire as claimed in claim 5 further comprising a rear panel which, together with a portion of the rear face of the fire surround defines an air flow conduit from the said aperture to the air outlet of the fire.

7. An electric fire as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the air outlet is located in an upper portion of the fire surround.

8. An electric fire as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the air outlet is substantially not visible to a user in normal use of the fire.

9. An electric fire as claimed in any preceding claim wherein the fire surround comprises a mantelshelf or simulated mantelshelf and wherein the air outlet comprises a slot in the fire surround disposed immediately below said mantelshelf.

10. An electric fire substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any of Figures 1 to 3.