Electric heating – Inductive heating – With heat exchange
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-10
2001-01-23
Walberg, Teresa (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Inductive heating
With heat exchange
C219S618000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06177660
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnet type heater which is used for promoting starting performance of an engine mainly for various kinds of vehicles such as an automobile with a power source of a diesel engine or a gasoline engine particularly in cold time or extremely cold time and as auxiliary heating means of a fluid in a pipe such as cooling water of an engine used for various kinds of vehicles including an electric automobile or for heating a cabin in a ship, which is used for preheating or rapid temperature elevation (shortening of warming up time) of cooling water for a generator driven by an engine and an engine of a welder, a compressor or a construction machine and which can be utilized for temperature elevation of a catalyst apparatus of emission gas of an engine or fuel gas for a fuel cell.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
There has been known a viscous type heater as a heat source of auxiliary heating for a vehicle such as an automobile which is utilized in heating cooling water of an engine in starting operation in a cold district (refer to JP-A-2-246823, JP-A-4-11716U, JP-A-9-254637, JP-A-9-66729, JP-A-9-323530 or the like).
A viscous type heater is of a type in which viscous fluid such as silicone oil is made to generate heat by shearing, the generated heat is exchanged by circulating water circulating in a water jacket and used as a heat source for heating. As a structure thereof, for example, a heat generating chamber is formed in a housing, a water jacket is formed at an outer region of the heat generating chamber, a drive shaft is rotatably supported by the housing via a bearing apparatus, a rotor rotatable in the heat generating chamber is fixed to the drive shaft, a viscous fluid such as silicone oil is enclosed in a gap between a wall face of the heat generating chamber and the rotor, circulating water is taken into the water jacket from a water intake port and is circulated to deliver from a water delivery port to an outside heating circuit.
According to the viscous type heater integrated to a heating apparatus of a vehicle, when the drive shaft is driven by an engine, the rotor is rotated in the heat generating chamber and accordingly, the viscous fluid generates heat at the gap between the wall face of the heat generating chamber and an outer face of the rotor by shearing, the generated heat is exchanged by the circulating water in the water jacket and the heated circulating water is used for heating the vehicle as cooling water of the engine.
Further, as a method of purifying to reduce NOx in emission gas of an engine, there is a method of heating the emission gas by heating a catalyst installed in a pipe by an electric heater (EHC) arranged to be proximate to the catalyst.
The viscous type heater is featured in that downsizing and cost reduction can be realized by a simple structure, high reliability and safety can be ensured by a noncontact type mechanism having no wear and when water temperature is elevated and an auxiliary heater is dispensed with, the operation is automatically stopped by temperature control and accordingly, wasteful energy is not used. However, according to silicone oil used as a viscous fluid, the viscosity is gradually reduced and the shear resistance is reduced with an increase in the rotational number of the rotor and accordingly, temperature attained by heat generation of silicone oil is limited to about 240° C. and accordingly, there is a difficulty in which temperature of the circulating water cannot be elevated so high, some time period is required until the silicone oil is agitated in starting operation and accordingly, rapid heating effect cannot be achieved when the engine is cold. Accordingly, in the case of a cold district specified vehicle mounted with a diesel engine, such a viscous type heater cannot be regarded as sufficient in view of the effectiveness and there has been desired an auxiliary heater capable of heating a fluid in a pipe to high temperature in a shorter period of time and more efficiently.
Further, according to the method in which the catalyst is heated and activated by the electric heater (EHC), there is a difficulty in which some time is required in elevating the catalyst to a catalyst activation temperature, for example, in the case of a diesel engine, emission gas temperature is lowered by high function formation, and particularly, in idling, the catalyst temperature becomes as low as 100° C. and the purification capability of the NOx catalyst cannot sufficiently be achieved.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been carried out in view of the problem of the above-described viscous type heater and the conventional problem in which the purifying function of the NOx catalyst of emission gas of an engine is low. It is an object of the invention to provide a magnet type heater capable of elevating temperature of a fluid in a pipe to higher temperature and in a shorter period of time than the viscous type heater, excellent in heat resistance performance and effective in reducing NOx, HC (hydrocarbon) or the like included in emission gas of a gasoline engine or a diesel engine and which can be used for elevating temperature of fuel gas of hydrogen or the like for a fuel cell.
A magnet type heater according to the invention is of a type in which magnetic paths formed between a magnet and a conductor are sheared by which slip heat generation generated on the side of the conductor is thermally exchanged by a fluid in a pipe and according to the gist of a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a magnet type heater which is of a system in which a magnet and a conductor are arranged to be opposed to each other with a very small gap therebetween and a fluid in a pipe is heated by slip heat generation generated in the conductor by relatively rotating the magnet and the conductor, the magnet type heater comprising a structure in which a permanent magnet arranged to be opposed to the conductor with a very small gap therebetween is installed to fix at an inner portion of a cylinder type housing supported rotatably by the pipe of the fluid via a bearing device to surround the conductor fitted to an outer periphery of the pipe of the fluid and the fluid in the pipe is heated by the slip heat generation generated in the conductor by rotating the cylinder type housing.
According to a second aspect of the invention, the conductor is constituted by a pipe having an inner diameter the same as an inner diameter of the pipe of the fluid, a permanent magnet arranged to be opposed to the conductor with a very small gap therebetween is installed to fix at an inner portion of a cylinder type housing supported rotatably by an outer periphery of the conductor via a bearing device and the fluid in the pipe is heated by the slip heat generation generated in the conductor by rotating the cylinder type housing. Further, the conductor according to the second aspect of the invention is connected to portions of the pipe of the fluid by joints or installed with heat radiating fins on an inner peripheral face of the conductor.
According to a third aspect of the invention, the pipe of the fluid is made of a conductor, a pair of permanent magnets in a circular disk shape rotatably supported on planes in parallel with a pipe shaft direction on a center line in a radius direction of the pipe on external sides of the pipe of the fluid made of the conductor, are arranged opposedly thereto with very small gaps therebetween and the fluid in the pipe is heated by the slip heat generation generated in the pipe of the fluid made of the conductor by rotating the permanent magnets in the circular disk shape. Further, the section of the pipe arranged opposedly to the permanent magnets in the circular disk shape of the pipe of the fluid made of the conductor according to the third aspect of the invention, is formed in a flattened shape such as an oval shape or an elliptic shape, further, the pipe portion arranged opposedly to the permanent magnets in the circular di
Inoue Hiroshi
Takikawa Kazunori
Usui Masayoshi
Casella Anthony J.
Hespos Gerald E.
Porco Michael J.
Pwu Jeffrey
Usui Kokusai Sangyo Kaisha Limited
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