Patent Application
20100101510
This disclosure relates to water heaters, particularly to water heaters that have door assemblies, such as those for water heater combustion chambers.
Gas fired water heaters traditionally have a water container placed above or adjacent to a combustion chamber and burner assembly. The burner assembly is controlled by a gas control valve which may be responsive to user input, such as a temperature setting. The burner assembly may have a main gas line extending from the gas control valve, through the combustion chamber wall or door, and to the burner. Gas lines have been constructed using various configurations and materials. By way of example, rigid tubing has been used where possible and in some cases threaded fittings are used to connect the rigid tubing to flexible tubing.
It could be beneficial to provide a sealed door assembly that is simple, compact, durable, tamper-resistant and economical to construct.
We provide a water heater door assembly comprising a base plate sized and shaped to substantially sealingly cover an access opening in a water heater combustion chamber and having at least one opening through which a fuel supply line extends at least partly between a burner in the combustion chamber and a fuel control valve, and a seal positioned at least partly within the opening and having a through hole that is sized and shaped to receive the fuel supply line, the seal comprising a plurality of complementary deformed seal pieces sealed together, to the opening and to the fuel supply line by a deforming force.
We also provide a water heater comprising a water container, a combustion chamber adjacent the water and having an access opening, a burner associated with the combustion chamber and arranged to combust fuel to heat water in the water container, a fuel control valve that regulates fuel flow from an external fuel source, and a door assembly comprising: 1) a base plate sized and shaped to substantially sealingly cover the access opening and having at least one opening through which a fuel supply line extends at least partly between a burner in the combustion chamber and the control valve; and 2) a seal positioned at least partly within the opening and having a through hole that is sized and shaped to receive the fuel supply line, the seal comprising a plurality of complementary deformed seal pieces sealed together, to the opening and to the fuel supply line by a deforming force.
We further provide a method of producing a water heater door assembly comprising providing a base plate sized and shaped to substantially sealingly cover an access opening in a water heater combustion chamber and having at least one opening through which a fuel supply line extends at least partly between a burner in the combustion chamber and a fuel control valve, assembling a plurality of complementary seal pieces in the opening, passing the fuel supply line through a through hole formed by the complementary seal pieces and applying force to the complementary seal pieces sufficient to deform the seal pieces to substantially seal the seal pieces together, to the opening and to the fuel supply line.
It will be appreciated that the following description is intended to refer to specific aspects of the representative structures selected for illustration in the drawings and is not intended to define or limit the substance of this disclosure, other than in the appended claims.
Turning now to the drawings in general and
Passing through the center of the tank 6 is a flue 10, in this instance incorporating a series of baffles 12 to better transfer heat generated by the main burner 14. Water tank 6 is preferably of mains pressure capability and is capable of holding heated water. Water tank 6 is preferably insulated by foam insulation 8. Alternative insulation may include fiberglass or other types of fibrous insulation, heating retaining material and the like. Fiberglass insulation 9 surrounds combustion chamber 15 and the lowermost portion of water tank 6. It is possible that heat resistant foam insulation can be used if desired. A foam dam 7 separates foam insulation 8 and fiberglass insulation 9.
Located underneath the water tank 6, within the combustion chamber 15, is the main burner 14 which uses any type of fuel such as oil, natural gas or other gases such as LPG, for example. Other suitable fuels may be substituted. Fuel is provided to the main burner 14 through the fuel supply line 20, which is fluidly connected to fuel control valve 21. Fuel control valve 21 supplies fuel to burner 14 by way of fuel supply line 20. Main burner 14 combusts a fuel and air mixture and the hot products of combustion resulting rise up through flue 10, possibly with heated air. Water tank 6 is lined with a glass or other type of coating for corrosion resistance. Bottom 5 of water tank 6 is preferably coated on both its interior facing surface 3 and exterior facing surface 11. The thickness of the coating of exterior facing surface 11 may be about half of the thickness of interior facing surface 3. Also, the lower portion of flue 10 is preferably coated on both of its opposing surfaces. The surface exposed to the flue gases has a thickness about half the thickness of the surface exposed to water in water tank 6. The glass coating helps to prevent scaling of the flue and water tank surfaces.
Combustion chamber 15 also contains a pilot burner 49 connected to fuel control valve 21 by pilot fuel supply line 47. A sheath 52, preferably made of copper, contains wires (not shown) from a flame detecting thermocouple 51 to cause, in the absence of a flame at pilot burner 49, fuel control valve 21 to shut off the gas supply. Thermocouple 51 may be selected from those known in the art. RobertShaw Model No. TS 750U may be used, for example.
The products of combustion pass upwardly and out the top of jacket 4 via flue outlet 16 after heat has been transferred from the products of combustion. The flue outlet 16 discharges conventionally into a draft diverter 17 which in turn connects to an exhaust duct leading outdoors.
Water heater 2 is preferably mounted on legs 24 to raise bottom pan 26 off the floor. Bottom pan 26 preferably has one or more apertures 27 or some other means that receive combustion air. Where bottom pan 26 meets jacket 4, the mating surfaces (made up from surfaces of bottom pan 26 and jacket 4) can be sealed thoroughly to prevent ingress of air or any flammable gas or vapor. The cylindrical wall of jacket 4 (the majority of gas water heaters are cylindrical; however, a cubic or other shaped jacket 4 may be utilized) can be sealed substantially gas tightly so that no openings or breaks remain upon assembly and installation.
In particular, gas, water, electrical, control or other connections, fittings or plumbing, wherever they pass through the jacket 4 or bottom pan 26 may be sealed substantially airtightly. The joining area of bottom pan 26 to jacket 4 and service entries or exits to the jacket 4 need not be sealed airtightly. It is preferred, however, that the space around burner 14 be substantially air/gas tight except for means to supply combustion air.
Turning now to
In the two structures shown in
Fittings 200 each have a substantially cylindrically-shaped protrusion 208 that extends from the barrels 202. Then, each fitting 200 on the opposed face of barrels 202 has a substantially cylindrically-shaped bore 210 that is sized and shaped to receive in a close fit the protrusions 208 from a complementary fitting 200.
It should be noted in the structure of
The arrangement in
The amount of deforming force may be varied depending on the material that is used to manufacture the fittings 100, 200 and 300. Also, any number of different devices may be used to apply the deforming force. Any number of materials can be used so long as they are heat resistant, deform in response to deforming force and are capable of providing a seal between fuel supply line 20 and door 25. Aluminum is a particularly preferred material. Of course, various aluminum alloys may be used as may be other metals such as copper, copper alloys, and mild steel. Non-metals may also be used such as, for example, silicon rubber.
The assembly may be made by inserting the two complementary fittings 300 into the through hole with fuel supply line 20 having been inserted inside the complementary fittings. Then, the fittings are subjected to deforming force from both inside and outside of the door in the axial direction along the center line of fuel supply line 20. The material used to form fittings 300 deforms or “flows” radially inwardly and outwardly. Inward flow affixes the material of the complementary fittings to fuel supply line 20, while outward flow affixes the material of the complementary fittings to the through hole of the door. This achieves complete attachment of the fuel line to the door and also results in a substantially airtight seal.
The resulting deformed structure is shown in
It will be understood that water heater 2 may be constructed with a wide variety of materials, in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. For example, any number of types of burners 14 may be employed, along with various types of fuel control valves 21 and the like. Also, various types of insulation, water containers/tanks and jackets may be employed.
Although the contents of this disclosure have been described in connection with specific representative forms thereof, it will be appreciated that a wide variety of equivalents may be substituted for the specified elements described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure as described in the appended claims.
