This invention relates to a heating device for heating a medium or an occupant in an interior space.
A known generic heating device for heating a medium and/or a human occupant located in a room (WO 00/25552) comprises an emission unit and a frequency generator. The emission unit consists of a planar radiator with a planar carrier and a radiation coating of the type which emits at least a specific frequency of an electromagnetic infrared radiation and/or of frequency-selective electromagnetic oscillation bands in the range of molecular natural frequencies. The planar radiator is connected with a frequency generator such as a harmonic generator through which excitation and activation of the radiation coating generate infrared radiation. The composition of a suitable coating material, as well as the activation of the radiation coating to the frequency generator and its structure are indicated in this state of the art.
The heating effect of this heating device is achieved by exciting the radiation coating so that frequency-selective electromagnetic radiation is emitted. Radiation is produced which is suitable, by means of resonance excitations, to effectively excite corresponding molecular natural frequencies, in particular natural frequency bands of the medium or the occupant being heating. Thus, essentially only such radiation is generated and emitted by the emission unit which is directly utilizable for resonance heating so that very effective heating with little primary energy is possible. The frequency-continuous radiation generated with the common radiation heating installations, especially with electrical resistance heating installations, is essentially equivalent to the radiation spectrum of a black radiator. In accordance to the present invention, a continuous radiation spectrum is generated with the application of relatively high primary energy containing a plurality of frequencies which are not directly utilizable for the resonance heating of a medium or a occupant, if the medium or the occupant is lacking the corresponding molecular natural frequencies.
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to further develop such a heating device in terms of its practical utilization and its possibilities for application in the interior finishing of construction and in recreation areas.
According to the present invention, a heating apparatus including an emission unit in the form of a construction board for an interior finishing component, such as for cabinet making, and/or ceiling, wall, or floor construction is provided wherein a planar radiator having a radiation coating is integrated into the construction board.
One or even several combinable emission units are available as independent construction boards which can be conveniently handled and mounted. In particular, it has been shown that it is largely uncritical and does not, or only negligibly, influence the efficiency of the frequency-selective infrared radiation if the radiation coating area is covered by a solid planar carrier toward the visible front side and the room's interior side. For such a cover, wood and laminate materials are, inter alia, excellently suited so that solid construction boards with attractive visible surfaces can be manufactured.
Such construction boards which can be manufactured as wall boards, ceiling boards or floor boards utilizable for the corresponding manufacture of a wall heating, a ceiling heating or a floor heating system. The construction boards cannot only be distributed and mounted by craft businesses, but also can be offered via home builders' markets for do-it-yourself users. Moreover, such construction boards can be manufactured in the type of door leaves or panels so that otherwise unused door areas can be utilized for heating purposes.
To this end, the planar radiator can be mounted on the rear surface of the construction board or within the board thickness of the construction board. In this case, depending on the case of application and the carrier material, the radiation coating can be directly applied on the planar carrier. The radiation coating is applied, if necessary, on a film layer, which will then be connected with the planar carrier for the manufacture of the planar radiator.
An efficiency increase of the heating device can be achieved, if necessary, by a multi-layer design of the planar radiator, wherein this is formed by at least two radiation coatings which are insulated from each other, if necessary, in connection with film layers.
Conventional electrically insulating construction board materials can be used as planar carriers. Particularly preferred as planar carrier fixing boards is the use of MDF boards (mean density fiber boards) and solid wooden boards, as well as glass plates. Moreover, composite boards can be used.
The frequency generator may be coupled with a control unit so that the frequency-selective emitted radiation frequency or radiation band is adjustable to at least one molecular natural frequency or natural frequency band of the medium or the occupant to be heated.
If a suitable detection unit is available for the detection of the natural frequencies or natural frequency bands emitted by the medium or the occupant to be heated, the detector signal can be used as the actual value for an adjustment of one or several corresponding emission frequencies.
The construction designed to carry out the invention will hereinafter be described, together with other features thereof.
The invention will be more readily understood from a reading of the following specification and by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof, wherein an example of the invention is shown and wherein:
A heating device, designated generally as 1, is illustrated according to the invention which includes a signal processing unit 3 connected to a voltage source 2, and a emission unit, designated generally as 4, electrically connected with the processing unit. Signal processing unit 3 includes a detection unit 5 for detecting the natural frequency bands suitable for the resonance heating of the medium or occupant, a control unit 6 for controlling the unit, a frequency generator 7, and an amplifier 8.
Emission unit 4 may advantageously be a construction board 9 such as a board-shaped furniture part 9 which can form, for example, a wall or a door of a cabinet. The furniture part 9 is designed as a multi-layer MDF board. As can best be seen from
Preferably, planar radiators 14 include film layers coated with the radiation coating in electrical connection with signal processing unit 3. Planar radiators 14 are each structured such that by means of an activation by the frequency generator 7 and a frequency transformation in the radiation coating, the aforementioned selected frequency emission in the infrared range is generated. The radiation frequency is adjustable to the natural frequencies within the frequency bands for resonant heating of occupant 15, illustrated here a human occupant. These natural frequencies and frequency bands of occupant 15 are detected by the detection unit 5 and transmitted to the control unit 6. The control unit 6 controls frequency generator 7 such that by means of its excitation, a frequency and frequency band suitable for resonance heating is emitted from the emission unit. Moreover, the amplitude and thus the caloric output is adjustable via an amplifier 8.
For this purpose, control unit 6 can be connected with an input and display unit (not shown) by means of which a user from the outside can adjust the degree of heating.
Since the natural frequency of the medium or, respectively, the occupant to be heated lies in a range from 750 nm to 20 μm, the emitted frequency range has no adverse health effects.
While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described using specific terms, such description is for illustrative purposes only, and it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202 18 886.8 | Dec 2002 | DE | national |
| PCT/EP03/13190 | Nov 2003 | WO | international |