Heating systems – Automatic control – Heat source is a reverse cycle refrigerating system or heat...
Patent
1996-06-03
1998-05-12
Bennett, Henry A.
Heating systems
Automatic control
Heat source is a reverse cycle refrigerating system or heat...
237 123C, 237 56, G05D 2300
Patent
active
057495165
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to a vehicle heater with a burner, to which combustion air is fed by a combustion air blower equipped with a blower housing and to which fuel is fed by a fuel feed pump in order to generate a flame in a combustion chamber surrounded by a heat exchanger, and with a control device having electronic components arranged on a circuit board for controlling the operation of the vehicle heater.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Such engine-independent vehicle heaters are used as auxiliary heaters in motor vehicles, but also in motor yachts, small airplanes, recreational vehicles, construction equipment, and the like.
The currently usual embodiments of such vehicle heaters use as the heat carrier water or water with antifreeze which is circulated by means of a circulating pump through a heating circuit containing a heat exchanger. A temperature sensor at the heat exchanger detects the temperature of the heat carrier, and the operation of the vehicle heater is controlled as a function of this temperature and other parameters, e.g., the desired temperature set. The control is assumed by the electronic control device, which receives condition signals from various parts of the vehicle heater, including the above-mentioned temperature sensor, and sends control and switching signals to defined parts of the heater, e.g., to the combustion air blower motor, the fuel feed pump, the circulating pump, the ignition unit, etc.
In many of the currently common vehicle heaters, the control device is located in the installed state at a point remote from the combustion chamber, because the electronic components of the control device are susceptible to the temperature and must be protected from heating by, e.g., the heat radiated by the combustion chamber and by the heat exchanger. Arranging the control device at a point remote from the other parts of the device can be achieved with relative ease, because only electric connections are necessary between the control device and the other parts of the heater.
However, the installation of these heaters, in which at least the control device, but optionally also the fuel feed pump and other parts are arranged at a point remote from the heat exchanger, i.e., the main body of the device, is labor-intensive. It would be considerably simpler to install the vehicle heater if it contained all components and it would thus be able to be installed as a compact assembly unit without much trouble.
However, it is not easy to design the vehicle heater as a compact assembly unit, which accommodates in itself all essential components of the device. One reason that argues against the compact design of the vehicle heater is, e.g., the above-mentioned requirement that the electronic components of the control device must not be excessively heated. However, if the control device is arranged at a short distance from the heat exchanger, sufficient cooling of the electronic components of the control possibly may not be guaranteed.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle heater of the type described in the introduction in which it is always ensured that the electronic components of the control device are not excessively heated even in the case of compact design of the vehicle heater.
This object is accomplished according to the present invention with a vehicle heater of the above-described type by the control device being fastened to the blower housing and by at least one heat-conducting connection being formed between the blower housing and the control device.
Even though there is a certain proximity to the electric drive motor of the blower due to the close proximity of the control device to the combustion air blower, so that heat may reach the components of the control device from the drive motor, this effect can be practically ignored, because it is guaranteed due to the heat-conducting connection between the blower housing and the control device that the heat due to energy loss, which is generated b
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Bennett Henry A.
Boles Derek S.
J. Eberspacher GmbH & Co.
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