WO2013085373A1

WO2013085373A1 - Warm sand arrangement

Info

Publication number: WO2013085373A1
Application number: PCT/LV2012/000018
Authority: WO
Inventors: Diāna TIMOFEJEVA
Original assignee: Timofejeva Diana
Priority date: 2011-12-06
Filing date: 2012-11-15
Publication date: 2013-06-13
Also published as: LV14477B; LV14477A

Abstract

The object of the invention is the warm sand equipment, which is designed as a sand area placed indoors or outdoors at a set height above the base, the floor of the room or other surface, is confined from the surrounding environment and equipped with a heated floor type heating system. It can be used individually (in a courtyard, house, apartment, etc.) and in public facilities (kindergartens, schools, medical facilities, studios, children playgrounds, etc.) as a specialized environment for playing, for example in the form of a warm sand box, with effect of general developing, educational, recreational exposure, or as a specialized equipment for physiotherapeutic and other procedures.

Description

WARM SAND ARRANGEMENT

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates primarily to indoors in Latvian and Nordic climatic conditions, wherein children stay for educational, recreational or rehabilitation purposes, as well as to outdoor playground equipment that can be arranged in a public or private environment. The proposed equipment can also be used as specialized, warmth maintaining professional environment. It is designed for long term use.

From ancient times in warm months of the year children in Latvia have played in sand - at the sea, rivers, lakes, quarries and in household plot. Children and adults have always liked warm sand. In continents, where warm sand and water is available due to geothermal characteristics of the location (Iceland, Japan, Kuril Islands, and New Zealand), people use the earthen warmth also for therapeutic purposes. During Latvia's first republic and the Soviet era, people were recommended warm sand bath as a curative procedure.

The idea of warm floors was known also in ancient Greece and Rome, where steam or hot gases was used for these purposes. The warm floors are widely used in the world practice, technical solutions of which continue to be developed and effectively used in a wide range of building and construction heating. Warm floors have been installed both in wood and stone houses, private buildings and large public facilities. Warm floor heating systems can be installed during construction process as well as in the finished object. Floor heating can be performed by an electrical current and, for instance, by water as a heat carrier being heated in heating units, connected to heating plants sub-stations or fully in autonomous heating systems, for example, local boilers or heating units, equipped with heat pumps and/or solar energy collectors.

The aim of the invention is to develop a sand area provided with heating system, specially confined and insulated for use indoors or outdoors, generally named as the warm sand equipment or in special embodiment named as the warm sandbox, designed for children of different age and adults' creative activities and physiotherapeutic and other specialized procedures. The proposed warm sand equipment combines two technical features known in the world: one is sand, natural ingredient available all around the planet, and the other is a well-known living conditions thermo-regulating system, generally characterized as heated floor system, that is a product of the human creative mind. The novelty of the invention is right in the fact that previously it was not known such a combination of the two elements and use of such complex solution.

The essence of the offered warm sand equipment's design is defined in claim 1 and its section is shown in Fig.1 , but the top view of embodiment is shown in Fig.2, where the equipment's side wall 1A, bottom IB, and the covering from the top or the cover 2 are marked only conditionally. In general case, the equipment can be designed in the form of freely shaped box or area, not specially confined from the sides, top and/or bottom, and the shape of which is determined by the type and configuration of the heat supply system (i.e. the heat exchanger used, for example coil heat exchanger, also called coil serpentine), determined by the position of the heat input and output pipes 7 and 8 in the floor heating system. The thermometer 5 and the thermostat 6 shown in Fig.2 are designed for the monitoring and control of the equipment's operation according to the desired temperature of the sand, for setting predefined warmth conditions and adapting it to the specific need.

The embodiments of the offered equipment are defined in the claims from 2 to 9, but its use is outlined in the claim 10. It should be noted that all embodiments of the equipment (also those, which are not included in the description, and in claims 2 to 9), but basically contain all the technical features of the invention, specified in claim 1, are protected by this invention.

Example of implementation of the invention, given in the form of warm sandbox

The proposed equipment is designed as a wooden box with internal dimensions, for example, 1200x1200 mm, the sides of it are coated with plywood veneer 1 A (see Fig.3 and Fig.4). From the bottom of the box frame 1A can be covered by a base IB, but it is not obligatory in cases when the box frame 1A is positioned on a specially prepared previously, for example, concrete base, made instead of a floor IB. The box is filled by purified sea sand 3 (see Fig.1 ), in which layer a coil heat exchanger - coil serpentine is arranged (see Fig.2) which is widely used in floor heating systems, consisting of pipes 7 and 8 to and from the heat source, through which (pipes 7 and 8) hot water or steam flow is guided. In this case the box has a rectangular parallelepiped shape and is equipped with a cover 2, a thermometer 5 and a thermostat 6 for the monitoring and control of the heating system. The cover 2 in this case is foldable and not insulated, but it also can be made removable, and be insulated.

In practice the model of the warm sand equipment, located indoors and being connected to the gas heating system, as well as the model of the portable module of the warm sand equipment with autonomous heating system was tested. Calculations and experience of warm sand equipment operation proves the efficiency and expedience of the technical solution proposed in this invention.

Claims

1. A warm sand equipment, designed in the form of a sand area, arranged indoors at a set height above the floor surface or outdoors - above the sand layer, confined from the environment and equipped with a heating system.

2. The equipment according to claim 1, designed in the form of warm sand box, confined from the environment by side walls and a bottom or base of the box which are not necessarily the structural elements of the box, characterized in that it is equipped by at least one heating element, such as coil heat exchanger, plate-type heat exchanger, ribbed exchanger, sectional heat exchanger, tube-type heat exchanger, snail-type heat exchanger, surface heat exchanger, cell-type heat exchanger or in the form of combination thereof, built in the bottom part of the box in the layer of sand, concrete or other material with a large heat capacity.

3. The equipment according to claim 2, wherein the box body is made of a material selected fro a group consisting of: wooden boards, hardboards, plastics, sheet metal or any other material or combinations of these materials, which meet hygiene, moisture conductivity, thermal conductivity, durability and visual requirements.

4. The equipment according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the box body is insulated from the sides and bottom, for example, with eco-wool, ecological foam material or some other environmentally-friendly heat insulation material, although the equipment construction is allowable also without insulation, in the case of construction with insulation, the possibility is provided to heat the sand to the desired temperature in less time, and this temperature can be maintained without additional energy consumption.

5. The equipment according to any of preceding claims, wherein the body of the box, which can be of any shape and size, is designed without bottom and is supported on the base, for example, on the concrete floor, on or under which the necessary waterproofing and insulation have been built.

6. The equipment according to any of preceding claims, wherein the body of the box is provided with a foldable or removable cover or other easily removable ceiling, to reduce heat loss during the non-use of equipment and to reduce the energy consumption required for maintenance of the necessary temperature in the sand.

7. The equipment according to any of preceding claims, wherein the heating system is arranged as in generally known floor heating system or a variant of it, using any type of suitable heat exchangers, at least one of those specified in the claim 2, and is heated with electricity, water, steam, or any other heat carrier, supplying energy from an external heat source.

8. A set of warm sand equipment containing at least two warm sand equipments according to any of preceding claims, wherein the individual modules are connected to a single system, for example, in series or in parallel, and are connected to the same external heat source.

9. The equipment according to any of claims from 1 to 7, which is designed being portable and is equipped with an independent heat source.

10. The use of the equipment according to any of the preceding claims from 1 to 9 individually (in a house, apartment, etc.) and in public facilities (kindergartens, schools, medical facilities, studios, etc.), where it is used as a specialized environment for playing with effect of general developing, educational, recreational exposure, and the use of it as a specialized equipment for physiotherapeutic procedures.