Patent Application
20210207845
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The disclosure relates to water heating devices and more particularly pertains to a new water heating device for reducing heating costs and wasted water.
The prior art relates to water heating device. Prior art devices for heating water within a segment of pipe generally comprise a heat source that is external to the segment of pipe.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a pipe and a heating element. The pipe has opposed ends that are configured to be coupled singly to a water inlet and a water outlet. The pipe is configured for water to flow through an interior space that is defined by the pipe. The heating element is disposed longitudinally within the interior space and is electrically insulated from both the pipe and the water that flows through the interior space. The heating element is powered to heat the water that flows through the interior space from the water inlet to the water outlet.
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
One of the opposed ends 16 may internally threaded while the other of the opposed ends 16 may be externally threaded. The present invention also anticipates other coupling means for connecting the pipe 12 to the water inlet and the water outlet, such as, but not limited to, sweating, quick connects, and the like.
The pipe 12 comprises an inner tube 20 and an outer tube 22 that define an internal space 24, as shown in
The heating element 14 is disposed longitudinally within the interior space 18, as shown in
The heating element 14 has opposed termini 28. Each opposed terminus 28 has a connector 30 coupled thereto and extending through a wall 32 of the pipe 12 proximate to an associated opposed end 16 of the pipe 12. The connectors 30 are configured to operationally couple the heating element 14 to at least one of a battery (not shown) and an electrical circuit (not shown) to power the heating element 14. The present invention also anticipates a controller (not shown) operationally coupled to the heating element 14 and the at least one of the battery and the electrical circuit to selectively control heat output of the heating element 14.
The heating element 14 extends spirally through the interior space 18 to efficiently heat the water. The heating element 14 is one of a pair of heating elements 14 so that the pair of heating elements 14 has a helical configuration, as shown in
In use, the pipe 12 is threadedly coupled to the water inlet and the water outlet. The connectors 30 are coupled to at least one of the battery and the electrical circuit to power the heating element 14 to heat the water in the interior space 18.
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 elements is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
