Patent Application
20190269294
The present invention relates to a structural unit or heating device, in particular a heating pump, having a tube section through which, during operation, liquid can flow and can heat the tube section, for a water-conducting household appliance (1), in particular a household dishwasher or indeed a washing machine, according to the preamble of claim 1 or claim 2.
In such liquid heating devices for water-conducting household appliances, in particular dishwashers or washing machines, it is problematic to operate them using water having a high lime content without taking suitable measures for softening the water. Conversely, it is of the utmost importance to avoid using an excessive dose of chemicals that reduce the water hardness.
It is further possible for scale to be formed, in particular on the inner wall of the tube section—inside which liquid is conducted—of the heater or heating device of such a water-conducting household appliance, as a result of setting the wrong hardness level, using too little detergent, incorrectly using detergent tablets that contain no softening agents, using biological detergents, operating the appliance with no salt, failing to top up the salt, failure to detect a lack of salt, seizure of the regenerating valve, or a defective regenerating valve.
Such sources of error may result in the formation of scale on the parts of the heating device that come into contact with liquid, and may also lead to a breakdown and the deployment of customer service.
It is thus desirable to provide the customer promptly, before any damage occurs, with data that is as exact as possible on the formation of scale and/or the degree of limescale in the appliance, and the measures required.
For this purpose, for a water-conducting household appliance EP 2 842 474 B1 proposes a heating device having a wall, the first side whereof is equipped with a heating resistor arrangement and a temperature measuring arrangement associated therewith, and the second side whereof, over which liquid flows for the purpose of heating it, is equipped opposite the temperature measuring arrangement with a limescale accumulation region which has a greater tendency to accumulate limescale contained in the liquid than the rest of the region of the second side. This limescale accumulation region, which is on the second side of the wall, over which liquid to be heated flows, and lies opposite the temperature measuring arrangement, can in particular be provided by a surface structure having greater roughness than the rest of the region on the second side. However, this surface structuring necessitates additional steps in the processing of this side of the wall when such a heating device is manufactured. Moreover, it may in some cases create problems for the service life of this heating device to promote limescale accumulations of this kind.
The object of the invention is to achieve an improvement on this.
The invention achieves this object by a structural unit or heating device, in particular a heating pump, having a tube section through which, during operation, liquid can flow and can heat the tube section, for a water-conducting household appliance, in particular a household dishwasher, having the features of claim 1 and/or the features of claim 2. For further advantageous embodiments and features of the invention, the reader is referred to claims 3 to 18. A water-conducting household appliance that has a structural unit or heating device according to the invention is claimed separately in claims 19 and 20.
The structural unit according to the invention, in particular a heating pump, for a water-conducting household appliance, in particular a household dishwasher, has a tube section through which, during operation, liquid can flow and can heat the tube section, and in which one or more mechanical structures are arranged that bring about locally differing flow rates in the liquid flowing through the interior of the tube section. At least two temperature measuring devices are associated with the outer side of the tube section. Because the first temperature measuring arrangement and the second temperature measuring arrangement are arranged on the outer surface of the tube section through the interior of which liquid flows, they are advantageously not acted upon by liquid there and so remain dry. This ensures that they remain functional over the long term. Because, in the structural unit according to the invention for heating liquid, that is to say the liquid heating device, a first temperature measuring device is arranged radially outside a region of lower flow rate and less incident flow (against the tube section through the interior of which liquid flows), and a second temperature measuring device is arranged radially outside a region of higher flow rate and more incident flow (against the tube section through the interior of which liquid flows), there is a different amount of incident flow on the inner wall at the points on the tube section at which the two temperature measuring devices are arranged on the outer wall, resulting in a temperature difference between the two measuring points. The temperature measuring device at which there is more incident flow is at a lower temperature, since the dissipation of heat is greater here as a result of the incident flow. The thicker a layer of limescale becomes at the measuring point at which there is less or slower (and hence hotter) incident flow, the greater the difference in temperature.
According to an advantageous development of the invention, it is favorable if the first temperature measuring device is mounted on the outside of the tube section at a first measuring point below which the flow rate of the liquid in the interior of the tube section through which liquid flows is at least 10%, in particular between 10% and 20%, less than the flow rate of the liquid at a second measuring point in the interior of the tube section through which liquid flows, above which the second temperature measuring device is arranged on the outside of the tube section. At each measuring point there is preferably produced a mix temperature resulting from the heating temperature prevailing at the measuring point, which is brought about there by the heater that acts on the outside of the tube section, and the temperature of the liquid as it meets the inner side of the tube section opposite the measuring point on the outside of the tube. At this point on the tube section, the tube wall is thus heated from the outside by the heater and cooled in the interior by the liquid flowing there. As a result of the different incident flow rates of the liquid or, to put it in general terms, the different liquid incident flow conditions at the two measuring points, there is already, in the scale-free initial condition of the tube section through which liquid flows, an initial temperature difference between the different prevailing temperatures at the two different measuring points of the tube section as a result of the different incident flow conditions that is sufficiently high for conventional inaccuracies in measurement, in particular of the temperature sensors such as NTCs, between the two temperature measuring devices or other disruptive factors to be negligible by comparison with this initial temperature difference. This helps to achieve a reliable, robust determination of the temperature difference between the temperature measurement values that are respectively detected by the two temperature measuring devices at the two different measuring points. This is particularly the case if the temperature difference determined in each case from the temperatures currently detected at the two measuring points by the two temperature measuring devices, and all the more so if the formation of scale on the inner wall of the tube section starts below the first measuring point and then spreads further and further.
In this way, the invention makes it possible to evaluate the temperature signals such that scale formed on the inner wall side of the tube through which liquid flows can be detected properly or reliably, and in particular also at an early stage. In that case, it is possible for example to display to the customer the fact that the operating conditions are not optimal for the household appliance; the customer can then initiate suitable counter-measures, for example changing the setting for the water hardness or descaling the appliance. These counter-measures may also be additionally or independently automated or performed automatically by a control unit associated with the heating device according to the invention. This control unit is preferably a constituent part of a water-conducting household appliance.
It will be appreciated that the term “tube section” should also be understood to include a vessel through which liquid flows, or similar.
Particularly favorably, the first temperature measuring device has better heat transfer with a heat conductor than the second one does. This increases the temperature difference between the two measuring points, and it also gives a measurable temperature difference initially, before any limescale has accumulated, lying above the tolerance of the individual temperature detecting devices, in particular sensors.
For such a pronounced measurable temperature difference even without an already existing accumulation of limescale, with heating by way of external heat conductors it is favorable if the first temperature measuring device is arranged directly on or closely adjacent to a heat conductor and the second is at a greater spacing from this and further heat conductors.
Equipping the temperature measuring devices with sensors, in particular NTC sensors, and where appropriate also PTC sensors, makes a spatially compact and flat construction possible.
In particular, the temperatures of the two measuring devices can be repeatedly detected at regular intervals in time, as a result of which the difference in the temperatures of the two measuring devices can also be detected in an automated manner, and above a predeterminable limit value an information signal or control signal can be generated in particular by a control unit associated with the structural unit. Preferably, a message can be output to the user or customer from the household appliance. The customer thus receives a clear display of when it will be time for him or her to take measures, for example to prevent continued limescale formation. This limit value is selected such that it occurs well before the risk of damage to the appliance.
Favorably, for a small size of the structural unit and highly effective heat transfer, heat conductors having a component in the peripheral direction of the tube section may be laid on the latter or printed directly or indirectly on a wall of the tube section.
For the purpose of good heat transfer, the or a wall of the tube section may be made from stainless steel. In that case, an electrical insulation layer is arranged between it and the heat conductors. In particular, the wall takes the same form throughout its extent and does not require any further machining steps. Preferably, the tube section takes the form of a circle cylinder.
In a household dishwasher according to the invention, the liquid in the tube section of the heating device according to the invention is preferably a washing liquid that is circulated multiple times and comprises water provided with detergent and/or drying agent, such as rinse aid. Here, the temperature of the liquid may vary over the course of the washing program, as may the chemical composition. This is not critical, since the relevant criterion is not the absolute temperature but the difference between the two measuring points.
In particular if the structural unit according to the invention is a circulating pump, in particular a heating pump, the one or more structures affecting the flow rates may be formed by at least one guide element that directs the liquid in the interior of the tube section. During this, the washing liquid is for example drawn in centrally and axially by suction in the draw-in direction, through a draw-in connection piece and into the impeller wheel chamber or pump chamber, and is then distributed radially outward there by an impeller wheel that is driven in rotation, and is thereafter guided, in opposition to the direction in which it was drawn in, through a diffusor/pressure chamber that is downstream of the impeller wheel chamber, as seen in the direction of flow, and is in particular annular (as seen in cross section) and whereof the inner delimiting wall is at least partly formed by the guide element and whereof the outer delimiting wall is at least partly formed by the heating tube section, and is finally guided to an outlet. In the pump diffusor chamber/pressure chamber of the heating pump, the guide element in particular ensures optimization of flow in that some of the circular speed component of the liquid flow is converted to an axial speed component, such that the liquid from the impeller wheel chamber passes in the form of a spiral progressing in the axial outward flow direction through the diffusor/pressure chamber, which is in the shape of an annular gap, to the pressure connection piece of the heating pump on the output side. As a result, good thermal interaction is ensured between the liquid passing through the tube section and the heater on the outside of the wall of the tube section, for the purpose of efficiently heating the liquid to a desired temperature.
If it is possible to produce incident flow against the guide element by way of the impeller wheel, which is rotatable about the central axis of the tube, it is useful for deflection of the liquid if the thus incident liquid can be directed by way of a plurality of guide blades, which extend from the preferably circle-cylindrical base element of the guide element in a component that extends both axially and radially outward, in a substantially spiral direction of flow. This also makes the interaction with the heater on the outside of the wall particularly effective.
As a result of this arrangement of the guide blades, with their oblique profiles to the outside on the preferably circle-cylindrical base element of the guide element, it is moreover possible to bring about the locally varying flow rates of the liquid in the tube section, which can then be used to measure the temperatures and to calculate the difference.
In particular, it is favorable if the first temperature measuring device is mounted on the outside of the tube section at a first point below which there extends, in the interior of the tube section, the portion of a guide blade of the guide element that projects radially from the in particular circle-cylindrical base element of the guide element, and the second temperature measuring device is mounted on the outside of the tube section at a second point which is different from the first point and closer to the ejection region of the impeller wheel, in particular below which the ejection region of the impeller wheel lies. This advantageous arrangement has been successfully tested with a liquid heating pump of a household dishwasher. This liquid heating pump has as its constituent parts a circulating pump and a heating device that takes a form according to the invention, preferably in a common housing. Its two temperature measuring devices are preferably at a spacing from one another of at least 2 mm, in particular between 5 mm and 12 mm.
Further advantages and features will be apparent from the exemplary embodiments of the subject matter of the invention, which are illustrated in the drawing and described below.
In the drawing:
The dishwasher 1 that is illustrated schematically in
The washing vessel 2 is in particular closable at this front side V by a door 3. In
On its outer and front side V, which in the closed position is vertical and faces the user, the door 3 may be provided with a decorative panel 6 in order to enhance it visually and/or to the touch, and/or to match it to kitchen furniture around it.
Here, the dishwasher 1 takes the form of a free-standing or so-called partly fitted or indeed fully fitted appliance. In this last case, the carcass 5 may also terminate substantially with the outer walls of the washing vessel 2. A housing surrounding this on the outside may in that case be unnecessary. In the lower region of the dishwasher 1, there may be a base 12 for receiving in particular functional elements.
In the exemplary embodiment according to the drawing, there is associated with the movable door 3 in its upper region an operating panel 8 that extends in the transverse direction Q of the dishwasher 1 and can include a recessed handle 7, accessible from the front side V, for opening and/or closing the door 3 manually. In the transverse direction Q, the dishwasher frequently has an extent of 45, 50 or 60 centimeters. In the direction of depth, from the front side V to the rear, the extent is frequently likewise around 60 centimeters. These values are not mandatory.
The washing vessel 2 is delimited peripherally when the door 3 is closed by a total of four vertical walls 13 and two horizontal walls 13, of which one forms a top and a further one forms a floor of the washing vessel 2. In this arrangement, the closed door 3 itself forms one of the vertical walls 13 by its inner door, which in the closed position faces the washing vessel 2. Instead of the dishwasher shown here, other water-conducting household appliances such as a washing machine may also take a form according to the invention.
This water-conducting household appliance 1, here the illustrated household dishwasher, is provided with at least one structural unit 14, which includes a tube section 15 through which, during operation, liquid can flow and can heat the tube section. This liquid may be formed by the washing liquor mentioned above. The structural unit 14 may be arranged for example at the bottom in the base 12 of the dishwasher 1, and in its entirety forms in particular a heating pump 16—that is to say a pump that circulates liquid—that at the same time is heatable by way of a heater 17, for the purpose of heating the liquid conveyed in the interior of the tube section 15, and hence performs a dual function. It is also possible for these two functions to be structurally separate.
The liquid in the tube section 15 may be a washing liquid that is circulated multiple times and comprises water provided with detergent and/or drying agent. Liquid of this kind is frequently also designated washing liquor.
The peripheral wall 18 of the tube section 15 may for example be made from stainless steel, which has good heat conductivity and is chemically stable. Ceramic or other materials are also possible. Here, at least the wall surface of the tube section 15 that points toward the interior through which there is flow takes the same form throughout in the axial direction, and so needs no further machining steps, which simplifies manufacture. Here, the tube section may—but need not—have circular symmetry in cross section.
Arranged in the tube section 15 are mechanical structures 19, 20 that, together with an impeller wheel 21 of the pump, direct the liquid there on an approximately spiral path along the wall 18 and bring about the locally differing flow rates of the liquid. These structures 19, 20 are described in more detail below.
Associated with the outer side 24 of the tube section 15 are at least two temperature measuring devices 22, 23 that are at a spacing from one another. The spacing between them may be in the region of a few centimeters. The temperature measuring devices may be directly or indirectly connected to the outer side 24 of the wall 18.
Here, a first temperature measuring device 22 lies radially outside a region of lower flow rate or less incident flow a, and a second temperature measuring device 23 lies radially outside a region of higher flow rate or more incident flow A. Favorably, the first temperature measuring device 22 is mounted on the outside of the tube section 15 at a first measuring point below which the flow rate of the liquid in the interior of the tube section 15 through which liquid flows is at least 10%, in particular between 10% and 20%, less than the flow rate of the liquid at a second measuring point in the interior of the tube section 15 through which liquid flows, above which the second temperature measuring device 23 is arranged on the outside of the tube section. At each measuring point there is preferably produced a mix temperature resulting from the heating temperature prevailing at the measuring point, which is brought about there by the heater mounted on the outside of the tube section, and the temperature of the liquid as it meets the inner side of the tube section opposite the measuring point on the outside of the tube. At this point on the tube section, the tube wall is thus heated from the outside by the heater and cooled in the interior by the liquid flowing there. As a result of the differing incident flow rates of the liquid or, to put it in general terms, differing liquid incident flow conditions at the two measuring points, there is already, in the scale-free initial condition of the tube section through which liquid flows, an initial temperature difference between the different prevailing temperatures at the two different measuring points on the tube section because of the different incident flow conditions that is sufficiently large for conventional inaccuracies in measurement, in particular of the temperature sensors such as NTCs, between the two temperature measuring devices or other disruptive factors to be negligible by comparison with this initial temperature difference. This helps to achieve a reliable, robust determination of the temperature difference between the temperature measurement values that are respectively detected by the two temperature measuring devices at the two different measuring points. This is particularly the case if the temperature difference ΔT determined in each case from the temperatures T1, T2 currently detected at the two measuring points by the two temperature measuring devices 22, 23, and is all the greater if the formation of scale on the inner wall of the tube section starts below the first measuring point and then spreads further and further.
It is significant for the arrangement of the two temperature measuring devices that the tube section 15 may be heated from the outside by way of heat conductors 25 arranged on the outer side 24 of the tube section 15. These heat conductors 25 may extend on the outer side 24 in a serpentine fashion, for example as a thick-film or a thin-film heater. Thus, the heat conductors 25 having a component in the peripheral direction of the tube section 15 may be laid on the latter or printed directly or indirectly onto a wall 18 of the tube section 15. If the wall 18 of the tube section 15 is made of metal, there is also an insulation layer between it and the heat conductors 25.
Where such heat conductors 25 are present, it is favorable if the first temperature measuring device 22 has better heat transfer with a heat conductor 25 than the second one 23 does. For this purpose, the first temperature measuring device 22 is directly arranged on or closely adjacent to a heat conductor 25, while the second 23 is at a greater spacing from this and further heat conductors 25. For this reason, even without flow over the interior of the tube section 15 and even without the formation of a layer of scale B, a small difference in temperature is already measurable when the heat conductors 25 are switched on, as illustrated in
For an inexpensive and compact arrangement, the temperature measuring devices 22, 23 may each include sensors. In particular, these sensors may take the form of semiconductor sensors and form for example NTC or PTC sensors in which the respective electrical resistance is a measure of the current temperature.
The first temperature measuring device 22 is connected to a control unit SE by way of a signal line SL1—indicated in dot-and-dash lines in
The temperatures of the two temperature measuring devices can be repeatedly detected at regular intervals in time during operation of the household appliance 1, wherein the difference between the temperatures of the two temperature measuring devices 22, 23 may be detected in automated manner in the household appliance 1 by way of an electronic evaluation, and above a limit value for this difference a message may be output by the household appliance 1.
Here, by way of example the structural unit 14 forms a heating pump in which the liquid is drawn in axially by suction in the direction 26 and is then deflected by way of the impeller wheel 21 onto a spiral path having one component along the periphery of the wall 18 and one component in opposition to the direction 26. Also contributing to this deflection of the liquid is a central guide element 27 directing the liquid, in the interior of the tube section 15. Radially, this guide element 27 has an approximately cylindrical base element 29 that leaves a sleeve-like spacing gap 28 from the wall 18. Also projecting into this spacing gap 28, which is annular in cross section, are the directing structures 19, 20 that affect the flow rates, which in this case protrude outward of the periphery of the base element 29. These web-like structures 19, 20 thus form guide blades for the incident liquid, and these guide blades extend from the guide element with both an axial and a radially outward component, and hence direct the liquid in a substantially spiral direction of flow. In addition to the deflection, the arrangement of the guide blades 19, 20 may bring about locally varying flow rates of the liquid in the tube section 15. As can be seen for example in
The guide element 27, with its guide structures 19, 20, is thus arranged in a pump diffusor chamber of the heating pump 14.
In particular, it is favorable if the first temperature measuring device 22 is mounted on the outside of the tube section 15 at a first measuring point below which there extends, in the interior of the tube section, the portion of a guide blade 19, 20 of the guide element that projects radially from the in particular circle-cylindrical base element of the guide element 27, and the second temperature measuring device 23 is mounted on the outside of the tube section 15 at a second measuring point which is different from the first measuring point and closer to the ejection region of the impeller wheel 21, in particular below which the ejection region of the impeller wheel lies. In this case, the flow of liquid flows against the inner wall of the tube section at this first measuring point at a slower flow rate than it does at the second measuring point.
A heating pump 14 for a household appliance of the type described is claimed separately.
With the invention provided here, the flow of liquid through the guiding structures 19, 20 is deliberately made such that incident flow against the second temperature sensor 23, which is connected poorly to the heater 17 in respect of the transverse conduction of heat (being further away from the heat source), is very good or better than against the first temperature sensor 22, which logically must then have a better thermal connection with the heater 17, again in respect of the transverse conduction of heat (see diagram in
In this way, an evaluable delta value is produced between the two temperature measuring devices 22, 23, which is very small when there is no layer of scale on the heating surface (inner side of the wall 18) but increases as the thickness of the layer of scale grows. Moreover, the different incident flow also affects the production of scale and the build-up of scale such that in the region of the temperature sensor 22, where there is better incident flow, no scale is formed at all, or a thinner layer of scale is formed than in the region of the temperature sensor 23, where there is less incident flow.
These effects make possible a more robust and more reliable evaluation, and by way of an appropriate threshold detection the household appliance 1 can respond to this signal at a preferably defined program point. Possible responses might be displaying a fault or a warning, or indeed making the subsequent washing run longer, with longer re-wash times during washing, a reduced temperature in the rinsing cycle, or similar measures.
Formation of the different flow rates may be achieved in different ways. For this there serves the guide element 27 with its blade-like structures 19, 20, as a result of which different regions with different incident flow against the wall 18 are produced. Further possibilities for implementation might be an appropriate shaping of the pump diffusor chamber, or the positioning of the temperature sensors at different, suitable places.
In all cases, quality-related costs are reduced, and there is a reduction in the TCR (technical call rate) and higher levels of customer satisfaction; preventive measures for any changes in the detergent composition are possible and form an additional feature.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2016 215 266.1 | Aug 2016 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2017/068116 | 7/18/2017 | WO | 00 |
