The present invention relates to a heating apparatus, and more particularly to a room temperature raising apparatus.
Conventional room temperature raising apparatus may be generally divided into two types. The first type uses a high resistance material, such as a quartz tube or a ceramic tube, to convert electric energy into heat energy and thereby heat ambient air. This type of heating apparatus does not include any device to force the convective air, and the produced hot air tends to stagnate in a small area without flowing to different corners in the room. This type of heating apparatus also vaporizes moisture while it heats the air, resulted in low humidity and dryness in the room.
The second type is similar to the first type but further includes a fan to blow the produced hot air toward different directions. However, the second type of heating apparatus provides a relatively short hot air flow path. That is, the heat producing area is in the vicinity of the fan, and the produced hot air is blown outward before it has evenly mixed with cold air. As a result, the hot air delivered from the heating apparatus has uneven temperature. Moreover, the second type of heating apparatus would still result in low humidity and dryness in the room.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a room temperature raising apparatus that is able to send out hot air having uniform temperature.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a room temperature raising apparatus that is able to produce hot air without vaporizing moisture in the air.
To achieve the above and other objects, the room temperature raising apparatus according to the present invention includes a housing assembly consisting of an inner and an outer case, a heating unit, an airflow guiding device, and a forced convection unit. The outer case defines a receiving space having an air inlet and an air outlet. The inner case is located in the outer case to divide the receiving space into an air intake chamber and a convection chamber communicable with each other via a through hole on the inner case. The heating unit is mounted on a bottom of the convection chamber to heat cold air into hot air in the convection chamber. The airflow guiding device is mounted to a top of the convection chamber and includes a plurality of spaced airflow-guiding manifolds to communicate with the convection chamber and the air outlet. The forced convection unit is mounted in the air intake chamber adjacent to the through hole for forcing external cold air into the air intake chamber via the air inlet and into the convection chamber via the through hole. The forced convection unit also drives the hot air produced in the convection chamber and flowing upward due to a convection effect to flow from the convection chamber through the manifolds and be discharged via the air outlet.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein
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The housing assembly 1 includes an outer case 11 and an inner case 12. The outer case 11 consists of a bottom frame 111 having an open front end and an open top, an outer frame 112 having an open front end and adapted for assembling to an outer side of the bottom frame 111, and a front cover 113 adapted to close the open front ends of the bottom frame 111 and the outer frame 112, so as to define a receiving space 114 in the outer case 11. An air inlet 115 is formed on the front cover 113; and two air outlets 116 and 117 are correspondingly formed on rear walls of the bottom frame 111 and the outer frame 112, respectively. In the illustrated embodiment, the air inlet 115 and the air outlets 116, 117 are communicable with the receiving space 114, and each have a screen 118 mounted thereto to prevent a user from carelessly extending fingers into the receiving space 114 via the air inlet 115 and the air outlets 116, 117, and to stop dust and insects from invading the receiving space 114.
The inner case 12 is received in the receiving space 114, and consists of an open-topped box 121, a top plate 122 screwed to the open top of the box 121 to close the same, and an intermediate plate 123 located between the box 121 and the top plate 122. The box 121 is externally formed at a lower front portion with a rearward recess 124, within which a through hole 125 is provided. When the box 121 having the lower front recess 124 is positioned in the outer case 11, the receiving space 114 defined in the outer case 11 is divided by the box 121 into an air intake chamber 126 located in the recess 124 and communicating with the air inlet 115, and a convection chamber 127 located behind the air intake chamber 126 and communicating with the air outlets 116, 117. The intermediate plate 123 has two upward extended spacers 128 arranged thereon to laterally space from each other by a predetermined distance, so that a buffering space exists between the top plate 122 and the intermediate plate 123 to prevent high temperature heat from being transferred to an outer side of the housing assembly 1 via the top plate 122 to undesirably scald a user.
In the illustrated embodiment, the heating unit 2 includes four heat-producing bulbs 21 and other related elements, including bulb seats 22, to which the bulbs 21 are fixedly held, a power supply unit (not shown) electrically connected to the bulbs 21 for supply power thereto, washers 23, and fuses (not shown). The heating unit 2 is mounted on a bottom of the convection chamber 127 in the box 121, so that the bulbs 21 heat cold air in the convection chamber 127 into hot air. In the illustrated embodiment, four bulbs 21 are provided. However, it is understood the number of the bulbs 21 is not specifically limited but may be changed according to actual need in design.
The airflow guiding device 3 is mounted below the intermediate plate 123 to locate above the convection chamber 127. The airflow guiding device 32 includes a plurality of spaced airflow-guiding manifolds 31 communicating with the convection chamber 126 and the air outlets 116, 117 (see
In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the forced convection device 4 includes a fan 41, a motor 42 for driving the fan 41 to rotate, a power supply unit (not shown) electrically connected to the motor 42 for supplying power to the motor 42, and a control switch 43 electrically connected to the motor 42 for controlling the on/off of the motor 42. The forced convection device 4 is mounted in the air intake chamber 126 adjacent to the through hole 125 for forcing external cold air into the air intake chamber 126 via the air inlet 115 and then into the convection chamber 127 via the through hole 125 to be heated. The heated air flows upward in the convection chamber 127 due to a convection effect, and is further driven by the forced convection unit to flow through the airflow-guiding manifolds 31 and finally be discharged via the air outlets 116, 117.
When it is desired to raise room temperature, a user may turn on the forced convection device 4 via the control switch 43, so that the motor 42 is driven to rotate the fan 41. At this point, cold air outside the housing assembly 1 is induced by the forced convection device 4 into the convection chamber 127 via the air inlet 115 and the air intake chamber 126. The cold air in the convection chamber 127 is heated by the bulbs 21 into hot air. Due to the convection effect and a driving force from the fan 41, the hot air in the convection chamber 127 is forced to flow upward into and through the airflow-guiding manifolds 31 to flow out of the air outlets 116, 117 to raise the room temperature.
With the fan 41, the convection chamber 127, and the airflow-guiding manifolds 31 provided in the apparatus of the present invention, an extended air flow path in the apparatus may be obtained to enable fully mixed hot air with uniform temperature, and the discharged hot air may be forced toward different corners in the room. Therefore, the room temperature raising apparatus of the present invention has good applicability. Meanwhile, while the bulbs 21 heat air, they do not cause vaporization of moisture in the air. Therefore, the room temperature raising apparatus of the present invention produces hot air with suitable humidity to create a warm and comfortable environment.
What is to be noted is the present invention may further include a temperature controller 5 electrically connected to the heating unit 2 for controlling heat output by the bulbs 21 of the heating unit 2, so that a user may regulate the heating temperature. Alternatively, casters (not shown) may be mounted to a bottom of the outer case 11, so that the whole room temperature raising apparatus may be conveniently moved around in the room.
The present invention has been described with a preferred embodiment thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiment can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.