Electric heating – Heating devices – With heating unit structure
Patent
1999-06-17
2000-06-27
Walberg, Teresa
Electric heating
Heating devices
With heating unit structure
219528, 219543, 392416, H05B 350
Patent
active
060809744
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a clothes- and linen-warming or dehumidification apparatus and, in particular, to an apparatus according to the preamble to the first claim.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Apparatus which can warm and even dry clothes of various types, for example, shirts, jackets, jumpers, and/or various items of linen, for example, towels, bathrobes, dish-cloths, sheets, are known in the art. Hot-water warming apparatus constituted by tube structures connected to the heating system of a dwelling have a fixed structure, are expensive, require complex installation, and cannot be used when the heating system is inactive. Hot-air warming apparatus are very bulky, require a large amount of electrical energy and are quite noisy.
A particular kind of known heating apparatus which is quiet and easy to install produces heat by the Joule effect by means of a resistive wire in a serpentine arrangement. However, this apparatus is quite complex and expensive to produce; it is also prone to malfunction or damage. Finally, this known apparatus has a fairly high electrical power consumption of the order of about one hundred W.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks. To achieve this object, clothes- and linen-warming or dehumidification apparatus as described in the first claim is proposed.
The apparatus according to the present invention is very easy and inexpensive to produce; it can be made in any shape and size with minimal bulk and is therefore very practical and versatile.
A construction of this type produces extremely efficient apparatus with good uniformity of distribution of the heat produced; it has a very low electrical energy consumption and is therefore particularly suitable for domestic use and for continuous service.
Moreover, the apparatus according to the present invention is very safe and reliable.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Further characteristics and advantages of the clothes- and linen-warming or dehumidification apparatus according to the present invention will become clear from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, given by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the appended drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 shows the warming apparatus in a partially-sectioned view,
FIG. 2 is a view showing the device for connecting the apparatus of FIG. 1 to the electrical mains, with parts separated.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
With reference to FIG. 1 in particular, this shows clothes- and linen-warming apparatus 5 hanging on a towel rail 10 by means of a pair of support straps 15; preferably, the support straps 15 are adjustable in height and can easily be unfastened in order to transfer the warming apparatus 5 to a different support element.
The warming apparatus 5 comprises an electrically-insulating and heat-conducting (rigid or flexible), typically rectangular, container 20. The container 20 is preferably constituted by two half-shells joined together (for example, glued or heat sealed) along a peripheral edge thereof and made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which withstands a working temperature of the order of 60.degree.. The warming apparatus according to the present invention may, however, be made of any other equivalent material and in a manner such as to fit the shape of any garment or item of linen.
Inside the container 20 there is a layer 25 of resistive material arranged in the form of a track. In a particularly economically advantageous embodiment of the present invention, the layer 25 of resistive material is made of a conductive, for example, graphite-based paste commonly used in electronic printed circuits; alternatively, other equivalent materials such as paints based on carbon, metallic pigments, and the like may be used. The layer 25 of resistive material is connected by means of a suitable device 30 (described in detail below) to a flexible supply cable 35 terminating in a plug 40. The flexible cable 35 preferably has a coil s
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All 4 House S.P.
Fastovsky Leonid
Walberg Teresa
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