Patent Application
20160215990
The disclosure relates to heating devices and more particularly pertains to a new heating device for utilizing heat from a combustible material in a forced air furnace.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a furnace positioned within a building. The furnace includes an outlet duct and a thermostat electrically coupled to the furnace. The thermostat establishes a trigger temperature. A housing is provided to contain a combustible material. A discharge is coupled to the housing and discharges smoke produced from combustion of the combustible material. A conduit is in thermal communication between the housing and the outlet duct to direct heat produced from combustion of the combustible material into the outlet duct. A damper is positioned within the conduit to restrict a flow of the heat into the outlet duct. A control circuit is coupled to the housing and electrically coupled to the thermostat. The control circuit is electrically coupled to a power source. A fan is positioned within the conduit and electrically coupled to the control circuit. The fan is actuated when a temperature in the building falls below the trigger temperature to urge the heat into the outlet duct.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A housing 20 is provided that has a top wall 22, a bottom wall 24 and a peripheral wall 26 extending therebetween. The peripheral wall 26 has a front side 28 and the front side 28 has an opening 30 extending therethrough to access an interior of the housing 20. The front side 28 has a vent 32 extending therethrough and the vent 32 is in fluid communication with the interior of the housing 20. The vent 32 provides air to support combustion within the interior of the housing. The housing 20 contains a combustible material 34. The combustible material 34 may be wood or other combustible material typically used to produce heat. The housing 20 may be comprised of a thermally conductive material such as iron.
The housing 20 may be structured to define an inner box 21 contained within the housing 20. The inner box 21 is discrete from the interior of the housing 20 and contains the combustible material 34. The vent 32 may be in fluid communication with the inner box 21. An intake 23 may extend through the front side 28. The intake 23 is in fluid communication with the interior of the housing 20. Heat from combustion of the combustible material 34 may be transferred from the inner box 21 to the interior of the housing 20. Smoke from the combustion of the combustible material 34 may be contained within the inner box.
A door 36 is hingedly coupled to the housing 12. The door 36 is positioned on the front side 28 to expose the opening 30 or to cover the opening 30. The door 36 may be comprised of a heat resistant and translucent material. The door 36 may be one of a pair of doors 38.
A discharge 40 is coupled to the housing 20 and extends through the top wall 22 to be in fluid communication with the interior of the housing 20. The discharge 40 may alternatively be in fluid communication with the inner box 21 and not in fluid communication with the interior of the housing 20. The discharge 40 discharges smoke produced from combustion of the combustible material 34. The discharge 40 may be fluidly coupled to a chimney 42 or the like. A conduit 44 is provided that has a first end 46 and a second end 48. The first end 46 is coupled to the top wall 22 and the conduit 44 is in thermal communication with the interior of the housing 12. The second end 48 is coupled to the outlet duct 16 to direct heat produced from combustion of the combustible material 34 into the outlet duct 16.
A damper 50 is positioned within the conduit 44. The damper 50 is positioned adjacent to the second end 48 and selectively restricts a flow of the heat into the outlet duct 16. A control circuit 52 is coupled to the housing and is electrically coupled to the thermostat 18. The control circuit 52 is electrically coupled to a power source 54. The power source 54 may be the building 14 or the furnace 12. A fan 56 is positioned within the conduit 44. The fan may be positioned adjacent to the first end 46. The fan 56 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 52 and is actuated when a temperature in the building 14 falls below the trigger temperature. The fan 56 urges the heat into the outlet duct 16.
In use, the combustible material 34 is combusted within the housing 12. The heat from the combustible material 34 reduces an amount of energy consumed by the furnace 12 to heat the building 14.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
