The present invention relates to an electric heating apparatus, in particular to the electric heating apparatus with a waterproof mechanism.
In general, an electric heating apparatus is used for providing a heat source for equipments such as dryers, washing machines having laundry and drying functions, indoor warmers, electric heaters, automobile heaters or bathroom dryers.
A conventional electric heating apparatus generally includes a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) heating module, a pair of thermal diffusers and a waterproof glue. The PTC heating module includes a PTC heating unit and a pair of electrode plates coupled to both sides of the PTC heating unit respectively. Each thermal diffuser is coupled to a side of each electrode plate away from the PTC heating unit, and the waterproof glue is coated onto the PTC heating unit and the periphery of each electrode plate to seal the PTC heating unit and each electrode plate between the thermal diffusers in order to prevent water vapor from being contacted with each electrode plate or producing rust or current leakage of the electrode plate.
However, the conventional electric heating apparatus still has the following drawbacks. 1. Since the waterproof glue is provided for sealing the PTC heating unit and each electrode plate between the thermal diffusers, therefore the waterproof glue may produce a gap between the thermal diffusers after a long time of use of the electric heater, and water vapor in contact with each electrode plate may result in rust or current leakage of the electrode plate. 2. The glue may be scratched easily during the process of assembling the electric heating apparatus, so that water vapor in contact with each electrode plate may result in rust or current leakage of electrode plate. Obviously, the aforementioned drawbacks caused by poor water resistance require feasible solutions and improvements.
Therefore, it is a primary objective of the present invention to provide an electric heating apparatus with a waterproof mechanism, wherein each electrode plate and each PTC heating unit are passed into a hollow tube and a waterproof glue is filled to seal an open end of the hollow tube to prevent water vapor from entering into the hollow tube, so as to achieve the waterproof effect.
To achieve the aforementioned objective, the present invention provides an electric heating apparatus with a waterproof mechanism, comprising a hollow tube, a PTC heating module and a waterproof glue, wherein the hollow tube has a closed end and an open end;
the PTC heating module has a pair of electrode plates, a PTC heating unit included between the pair of electrode plates, and a conductive terminal coupled to each of the electrode plates, and the pair of electrode plates and the PTC heating unit are passed into the hollow tube from the open end; and the waterproof glue is filled to seal the open end, and each of the conductive terminals is exposed from the exterior of the waterproof glue.
The present invention further has the following advantages. 1. The hollow tube is provided for achieving the grounding effect and preventing electromagnetic interference of the electrode plates. 2. The thermal adhesive has the characteristics of an electrically conductive material to enhance the efficiency for each electrode plate to transmit electric energy to the PTC heating unit and improve the heating effect. In addition, the thermal conductivity of the thermal adhesive and the thermal insulation adhesive improves the effect of transmitting the heat generated by the PTC heating unit to the thermal diffusers. 3. Each thermal insulation plate with an electric insulation between each electrode plate and the inner surface of the hollow tube can prevent electric energy of each electrode plate from leaking to the hollow tube, so as to achieve the effect of preventing current leakage. 4. The metal plate comes with a plurality of long concave marks or a plurality of cut grooves to increase the contact area of each fin with the air, so as to improve the heat exchange effect and enhance the heating effect of the heater. In addition, the thickness of the fins can be reduced to lower the material cost. 5. A fixing frame is provided for achieving the effect of positioning the PTC heating unit. 6. The thermal insulation plate is comprised of a primary insulation unit and a plurality of secondary insulation units to reduce the thickness of the thermal insulation plate.
The technical contents of the present invention will become apparent with the detailed description of preferred embodiments accompanied with the illustration of related drawings as follows.
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The hollow tube 10 is integrally informed by an extrusion method and made of aluminum or aluminum alloy, and the hollow tube 10 has a closed end 11 and an open end 12.
The PTC heating module 20 is passed into the hollow tube 10a from the open end 12, and the PTC heating module 20 comprises at least one PTC heating unit 21, a pair of electrode plates 22, a pair of thermal insulation plates 23 and a pair of conductive terminals 24; the PTC heating unit 21 is included between the pair of electrode plates 22; an end of each conductive terminal 24 is coupled to an end of each electrode plate 22, and a side of each conductive terminal 24 away from each electrode plate 22 is exposed from the exterior of the open end 12 of the hollow tube 10a; wherein the PTC heating unit 21 is made of a ceramic material with a positive temperature coefficient, and each electrode plate 22 and each conductive terminal 24 are made of copper or copper alloy.
Each thermal insulation plate 23 is included between each electrode plate 22 and an inner surface of the hollow tube 10a and formed by arranging and connecting a plurality of insulation units 231 with one another, wherein each insulation unit 231 is in the form of a rectangular, parallelogram or T-shaped body, and each insulation unit 231 is a unit made of aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, silicon nitride or silicon carbide.
The waterproof glue 30 is made of a material including but not limited to silicone or rubber, and the waterproof glue 30 is filled to seal the open end 12 of the hollow tube 10a, and each conductive terminal 24 is exposed from the exterior of the waterproof glue 30 to achieve the effect of preventing water vapor outside the hollow tube 10a from entering into the hollow tube 10a, and the water vapor may cause rust or damage each electrode plate 22 or damage the PTC heating unit 21 that may result in a short circuit and short service life of the electric heating apparatus 1, and thus the waterproof glue 30 filled to seal the open end 12 of the hollow tube 10a can improve the waterproof effect and enhance the service life of the electric heating apparatus 1.
Each thermal diffuser 40 has a plurality of fins 41 and a pair of fixed plates 42, and each fin 41 is formed by a wavy metal plate 411, and a plurality of long concave marks 412 is formed on a side of each metal plate 411, but the invention is not limited to such arrangement only. Each fixed plate 42 is coupled separately to both sides of each fin 41, wherein each metal plate 411 and each fixed plate 42 are made of aluminum or aluminum alloy.
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The thermal adhesive 50 is made of silicone, epoxy resin or plastic, and an electrically conductive material including but not limited to copper and silver can be added to the thermal adhesive 50, and each electrode plate 22 is attached separately onto both sides of the PTC heating unit 21 by the thermal adhesive 50. To increase the adhesion of the thermal adhesive 50 with the PTC heating unit 21, a metal layer 211 is coated onto both surfaces of the PTC heating unit 21 to increase the surface roughness of both sides of the PTC heating unit 21, such that the thermal adhesive 50 can be attached securely onto the surfaces on both sides of the PTC heating unit 21, wherein the metal layer 211 is made of aluminum or aluminum alloy.
The thermal insulation adhesive 50 is a substrate material added with a ceramic power, wherein the substrate material is silicone, epoxy resin or plastic, and the ceramic powder is aluminum oxide, silicon nitride, aluminum nitride or silicon carbide, and each thermal insulation plate 23 has a side attached onto each electrode plate 22 by the thermal insulation adhesive 50 through an insulating method and the other side attached onto an inner surface of the hollow tube 10a by the thermal insulation adhesive 50 through the insulating method.
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However, the thermal adhesive 60 has the thermal and electrical conduction effects, so that the efficiency of each electrode plate 22 transmitting electric power to each PTC heating unit 21 can be improved to enhance the efficiency of each PTC heating unit 21 converting electric energy into heat energy and improve the effect of transmitting the heat generated by each PTC heating unit 21 to each electrode plate 22.
In addition, each thermal insulation plate 23 with the electric insulation property and installed between each electrode plate 22 and the inner surface of the hollow tube 10a can prevent the electric energy of each electrode plate 22 from leaking to the hollow tube 10a, so as to achieve the effect of preventing electric leakage. Wherein, the thermal insulation plate 23 has the thermal conduction effect, so that the performance of each electrode plate 22 transmitting heat energy to the hollow tube 10a can be enhanced. In addition, the thermal insulation adhesive 50 has a high thermal conductivity to improve the effect of each electrode plate 22 transmitting heat energy at the each thermal insulation plate 23, each thermal insulation plate 23 transmitting heat energy to the hollow tube 10a, and the hollow tube 10a transmitting heat energy to each thermal diffuser 40.
In addition, the hollow tube 10a further has the grounding effect and resists electromagnetic interference.
In addition, each long concave mark 412 formed on a side of the fin 41 increases the contact area of each fin 41 with air to improve the effect for each thermal diffuser 40 performing a heat exchange with air, so that the heat of the thermal diffuser 40 can be conducted to the air more quickly to improve the effect of heating the air. In addition, the thickness of the fin 412 can be reduced to 0.2 cm. Compared with the thickness of the conventional fin equal to 0.28 cm, the invention can lower the material cost effectively.
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In summation of the description above, the present invention achieves the expected objectives and overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art as well as complying with the patent application requirements, and thus is duly filed for patent application. While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.