Electric heating – Heating devices – Combined with diverse-type art device
Reexamination Certificate
2000-03-03
2001-03-06
Hoang, Tu Ba (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Heating devices
Combined with diverse-type art device
Reexamination Certificate
active
06198073
ABSTRACT:
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates to a device which prevents a bathroom mirror from fogging as a result of excess steam produced mainly from hot water from the shower, or which allows de-fogging of the mirror surface when it is already fogged.
The object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive device which allows to de-fog the surface of a mirror quickly and fully, although the main objective is to prevent it from fogging in the first place. Naturally, the device is particularly applicable in bathrooms or such places where steam is produced due to heating, such as in showering or bathing of persons.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As is well known, when a person showers or bathes with hot water in a bathroom steam is naturally produced, which results in glass surfaces becoming fogged and specifically the surface of a mirror located in such bathroom.
A number of invention Patents and Utility Models are known related to devices for de-fogging bathroom mirrors, which mainly comprise electrical resistors which, duly placed in contact with the rear or silvered surface of the mirror, heat it and thus de-fog the mirrored surface.
Such devices which rely on heating by means of electrical resistors present two fundamental disadvantages: on one hand a high electrical power consumption; and on the other, problems inherent to the installation, as there are safety regulations concerning electrical devices in bathrooms which must be observed, so that providing means of operation involving electrical resistors for heating mirrors or of any other nature in a bathroom involves a certain risk and danger, unless the installation is perfectly carried out with all required safety measures.
Utility Model n° 282.980 describes an improved device for preventing fogging of bathroom mirrors, here employing hot water from the heating radiators, consisting of placing next to the rear face of the mirror a layer of electrically insulating material inside which is included an insulated heat source consisting of low-power electrical resistors, with the property that said Utility Model also claims that the heat source may consist of a coil derived from the heating radiator.
When the device of this Utility Model employs electrical resistors as a heat source to prevent fogging of the mirror it will present the aforementioned disadvantages, that is, a high electrical power consumption and the risk inherent to any electrical devices operating in a bathroom.
However, when the heat source consists of a coil by-passed from the heating radiator, the energy consumption is minimal and, more relevantly, the risk is inexistent, although a basic problem exists, which is that the device will only work when the heating is on, to which must be added that heat transmission between the coil and the mirror is exclusively by radiation, which implies both great heat losses to the air between the coil tubes and de-fogging only in the areas of contact between the coil and the mirror, with a long time required to de-fog the entire surface of the mirror.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The device disclosed has been designed to solve the aforementioned problems in a fully satisfactory manner, with a simple and efficient solution based on providing a fully flat, practically laminar device, in which is contained and/or circulates a volume of heat-transmitting liquid, which is naturally hot or heated by any suitable means, so that such deposit containing the heat-transmitting liquid is attached to the rear surface of the mirror, so that it touches it directly and energy losses are minimal, obtaining de-fogging of the entire mirror surface quickly, when the mirror is already fogged, as a further basic objective of the device is to prevent the mirror from fogging.
In a preferred embodiment the heat-transmission device can be an oil, alcohol or simply water which fills the deposit and is heated by the hot water of a coil communicating to the hot water from the water installation of the household or site where the device is installed, with the coil naturally mounted inside the deposit in order to heat the volume of heat-transmitting liquid.
In a further alternative embodiment the heat-transmitting liquid may be the hot water of the household water installation, which enters the deposit on one end and exits it from the other, after following a labyrinthical path within it in order to heat the entire surface of said deposit efficiently and uniformly, specifically the surface which is meant to be attached to the rear face of the mirror.
The advantages of this device may be summarised as follows:
A faster and more complete de-fogging of the mirror, as the heat transmission between the outer walls of the coil and the liquid in the deposit is greater than between the coil and air, as the latter acts as a thermal insulator and thus heat losses in the present case are lower, that is, heat is transmitted to the mirror more quickly and more efficiently.
A more complete de-fogging of the mirror, since the heat transmission is between the liquid contained in the deposit and the surface of the mirror, causing the simultaneous de-fogging of the entire surface of said mirror.
The de-fogging will take place automatically when the hot water tap of the shower is opened, as the coil water inlet is preferably immediately before the shower outlet, so that as a person is showering hot water is circulating through the coil which heats the water contained in it and thus the surface of the mirror, preventing it from fogging, with the additional property that if the mirror is already fogged it is enough to open the hot water tap of the shower or sink in order to de-fog it.
There are many possible forms for the deposit, but one of the fundamental and invariable characteristics is that it shall be thin or flat and be provided with a cover which will be in contact with the rear surface of the mirror, cover which will preferably be made of a good heat conductor such as copper.
As an option said cover may be embodied in a physically independent element from the deposit itself, specifically as a plate which is attached to said deposit by any conventional mechanical means, which in turn allows said deposit to consist of a conventional radiator so that the cover acts only as a thermal transmission device, by conduction, from the radiator to the mirror, and more specifically as a diffuser which distributes the heat evenly throughout the entire surface of the mirror and as a damper to prevent the high temperature reached in a conventional radiator from being fully and directly transmitted to the mirror.
As can be inferred from the description and advantages related, on e of the properties of the device of the invention is that heat is transmitted to the entire surface of the mirror by heating of a liquid contained in a deposit attached to said mirror so that, when there is no coil and the heating liquid is directly the hot water from the water installation, the device is even simpler and thus more inexpensive.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5731569 (1998-03-01), Crescenzo
patent: 282980 (1984-11-01), None
Hoang Tu Ba
Ladas & Parry
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