Electric resistance heating devices – Heating devices – Radiant heater
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-26
2003-02-25
Jeffery, John A. (Department: 3742)
Electric resistance heating devices
Heating devices
Radiant heater
C392S376000, C392S373000, C219S541000, C219S548000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06526227
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric heater, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a radiant electric heater in which terminals of a halogen lamp are clamped with respect to a ceramic base secured to a reflector, and an auxiliary reflector is arranged in front of the halogen lamp, so that a heat reflection efficiency and durability of the radiant electric heater are improved.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the improvement of living standards, as a room heating arrangement, electric heaters have widely been used throughout the world, in place of oil heaters. In order to meet diverse market demand, various kinds of electric heaters have been developed.
As is well known in the art, a basic principle of an electric heater is to warm surrounding air with heat generated by applying a current to a heating wire which is disposed in a space delimited by a safety guard or grill. The electric heater is provided with appurtenances or its associated elements for efficiently radiating heat generated from the heating wire. As a typical example, an electric heater, in which a reflection plate prepared by bending a quadrangular thin metal sheet is placed behind the heating wire, has been pervaded, but a satisfactory effect is not obtained. This type of electric heater has a problem in that heat cannot be transferred to a desired far distance. In the case that a large current is applied to the electric heater to transfer heat to the desired far distance, dangers of overheating and electrical fire may be accompanied. On the contrary, in the case that a small current is applied to the electric heater to avoid any possible accident, it is difficult to generate a sufficient amount of heat.
In order to cope with the problem involved in the above-mentioned conventional electric heater, in Korean Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. 98-61527, there is disclosed a radiant electric heater capable of transferring an appropriate amount of heat to a desired far distance to warm room air to a sufficient degree. In such a radiant electric heater, a semi-spherical or parabolic reflector is arranged behind a heating wire, and a diameter of a heating wire mounting member on which the heating wire is wound is gradually decreased toward a rear end of the heater, so that heat is not diffused toward all directions but concentrated in a narrow range, and thereby, can be transferred to the desired far distance.
Concretely speaking with reference to
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a radiant electric heater
1
largely comprises a heating part
10
including a heating wire
12
, and a support part
20
. The support part
20
has a support base
21
in which main circuits for controlling operation of the radiant electric heater
1
are built in. A power control knob
22
for power supply or power cut-off, a temperature adjustment knob
23
for adjusting a temperature of the heating wire
12
, a power connection indicator lamp
24
, a safety switch
29
for cutting off power supply to the heating wire
12
when the heater
1
is tilted, and an alarm lamp
25
for calling attention to dangerous tilting of the heater
1
, and so forth, are installed on rear and front portions of the support base
21
.
The heating part
10
is connected to a support column
26
of the support base
21
via a retractable rod
27
. By pressing a height adjustment button
28
, the retractable rod
27
can be retracted into or extended from the support column
26
. That is, an overall height of the radiant electric heater
1
can be adjusted as desired.
Referring to
FIG. 2
which is a partial side cross-sectional view illustrating the heating part
10
of the heater
1
, the heating part
10
includes the heating wire
12
which is wound around a heating wire mounting member
11
having a predetermined configuration, a reflector
13
which is arranged behind the heating wire
12
, a safety grill
14
which is coupled to the reflector
13
and defines a front contour of the entire heating part
10
, and a support case
15
which is connected to a rear end of the reflector
13
. The heating wire
12
is connected to the reflector
13
by the medium of a bracket
16
, and a heat sensor
17
is fixed to a front surface of the reflector
13
at a predetermined location.
In the construction of the radiant electric heater
1
, as stated above, unlike the first-mentioned conventional electric heater in which heat is diffused toward all directions, heat rays emitted from the heating wire
12
and designated by the reference character a are concentrated in a predetermined range C due to the presence of the reflector
13
. As a consequence, heat can be transferred to a desired far distance. At this time, due to the fact that the heat rays a do not remain around the heating part
10
including the heating wire
12
but are emitted through a reflecting function of the reflector
13
, the safety grill
14
is prevented from being overheated.
A maximum heat ray convergence can be accomplished in the case where the reflector
13
has a semi-spherical surface outline such as seen in a conventional concave mirror, or a parabolic surface outline having substantially a concave center portion.
The heating wire mounting member
11
, around which the heating wire
12
is wound and which is made of a heat-resistant material such as a ceramic, and the like, has a configuration of a truncated cone which is gradually decreased in its diameter toward a rear end thereof. Due to this fact, all heat rays a from the heating wire
12
are directed toward the reflector
13
, and therefore, it is possible to prevent any of the heat rays a from diffusing out of the predetermined range C. The heating wire mounting member
11
may have a configuration of a polygonal pyramid such as a trigonal pyramid, etc. Hence, it is sufficient that the heating wire mounting member
11
has a diameter which is gradually decreased in a rearward direction.
While this type of radiant electric heater
1
exhibits an increased heat efficiency, it still suffers from defects in that, since the heating wire
12
for generating heat is shaped in the form of a coil, the heating wire
12
is likely to be corroded when it is used for a lengthy period of time, and thereby, durability of the heater
1
can be deteriorated and fire can be caused. Further, because the heating wire
12
is directly wound around the heating wire mounting member
11
made of a ceramic, as the ceramic which directly receives heat is overheated, a far infrared ray irradiation efficiency can be lowered.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in an effort to solve the problems occurring in the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a radiant electric heater which utilizes as its heat source (that is, heat generation means) a halogen lamp, and in which an auxiliary reflector is arranged in front of the halogen lamp in a safety grill, so that a heat reflection efficiency is improved due to additional heat reflection by the auxiliary reflector and a far infrared ray irradiation efficiency is improved because a ceramic base receives radiant heat from the halogen lamp in such a way as not to be overheated.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a radiant electric heater in which terminals of a halogen lamp are clamped in clamping grooves defined in a ceramic base to simplify a clamping work, a front surface of an auxiliary reflector is coated with a ceramic to improve a far infrared ray irradiation efficiency, and each terminal and a clamper therefor are commonly accommodated in each clamping groove to improve a shock-absorbing characteristic.
To these ends, in the present invention, a halogen lamp is utilized as heat generation means, and an auxiliary reflector is spacedly arranged in front of the halogen lamp to allow transfer of an increased amount of radiant heat. The auxiliary reflector is fastened with respect to a safety grill to ease an assembling work. A front surface of the auxi
IC Tech Co., Ltd.
Jeffery John A.
Smith Patent Office
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