GB2397120A

GB2397120A - Rope heating element

Info

Publication number: GB2397120A
Application number: GB0225271A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Holden; Dennis Michael Platten
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2002-10-30
Filing date: 2002-10-30
Publication date: 2004-07-14
Also published as: GB0225271D0

Abstract

A rope heating element comprises a conduit 8 communicating hot fluid and one or more strands 4, 5 of thermally conducting material wrapped around the conduit 8. Conduit 8 may be made from metal (copper) or plastics material (polybutylene). Strands 4, 5 may be metal and made from a plurality of thinner yarns to increase the surface area thereby increasing the efficiency of the heating element. The hot fluid may be water and the heating element may have internally threaded connectors so that it may be connected to a hot water pipe of a domestic central heating system. The heating element may be bent into coil or knot shapes while maintaining an open bore of the conduit 8. Conduit 8 may be incorporated into a preformed wire rope by either separating one or more strands and replacing one or more of the strands, or by removing a core (7, fig 1) of the wire rope and the conduit 8 replacing the core (7).

Description

Heating Element The present invention relates to heating elements, and in

particular to heating elements which carry a flow of heated fluid.

The amount of heat provided to the surroundings by heating elements (such as hot water radiators and the like) depends on the surface area of the heating element.

Consequently there is a drive to find ways to increase the surface area of such heating elements. Separately, it is desirable to provide heating elements having an aesthetically pleasing appearance.

The present invention provides a heating element, comprising a conduit suitable for carrying a flow of heated fluid, and one or more strands of a thermally conducting material wrapped around said conduit.

In preferred embodiments, each strand comprises a plurality of twisted yarns, each yarn preferably being a single filament. Any suitable thermally conductive material may be used for the yarns or strands, but metals are preferred. A particularly preferred material is steel.

Preferably, a plurality of strands may be twisted around the conduit such that each strand lies adjacent to at least one another along its length.

Preferably the surface of the conduit is completely covered by the strands.

Addition of the wrapped strands to the fluid conduit increases the surface area available to provide heat to the surroundings. It will be seen that formation of the strands from thinner yarns increases the surface area further still, thus increasing the efficiency of the heating element. Such construction may also cause the heating element to resemble a rope, so contributing to the aesthetically pleasing appearance.

The conduit may be made from any suitable material; e.g. a metal (such as copper) or plastics material, capable of tolerating the heat of the fluid to be carried. Where the surrounding strands are metal, the conduit is preferably of the same metal or of an electrical insulator, such as plastics material, to avoid galvanic corrosion between the conduit and strands. A particularly preferred conduit material is a flexible polymer, giving a flexible, preferably resiliently flexible which can easily be bent to different shapes.

Polybutylene is a suitable material.

Heating elements of the present invention may further comprise means for connection to a supply of heated fluid; the fluid to be carried by the conduit will typically be heated water. Therefore the heating elements may comprise, for example, internally threaded universal connectors suitable for connection to a threaded hot water pipe of the type conventionally found in domestic or other types of central heating systems.

The present invention further provides a heater comprising a heating element as described herein. Also provided is a heating system, comprising a heating element or heater according to the present invention.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a method of making a heating element as described herein.

The heating elements may be formed by any appropriate means. They may be formed in one piece, or individual strands may be applied to a conduit. A particularly convenient method of forming such heating elements though involves the incorporation of a conduit into a preformed wire rope of the type readily commercially available.

Wire ropes comprise a plurality of strands, each strand being composed of a plurality of yarns twisted together, each yarn being a single metal filament. A preferred method of construction comprises separating one or more strands from a rope, and subsequently laying the conduit into the rope. The conduit may be laid in either in place of one or more of the original component strands, or in addition to the original component strands.

Many wire ropes have a core of strands not exposed at the surface of the rope, surrounded by external strands.

Thus in a preferred method, outer strands of the rope are separated, all or part of the core is removed, and the conduit is laid in in place of the removed core. With appropriate selection of rope and conduit diameters this ensures that the conduit is closely covered but not exposed at the surface of the heating element.

The number of strands to be removed will depend upon the gauge of the strands, the external gauge of the conduit, and the desired thickness of the resulting heating element. It is also possible to add additional strands to the heating element (for example, separated from similar ropes) to ensure complete coverage of the conduit.

Once formed, the heating element can be bent into a desired shape, depending on the flexibility of the conduit. The strands typically form a sheath around the conduit, which may help to distribute forces and protect the conduit from being kinked or broken by the forces exerted during bending. As a result the heating element may preferably be bent into e.g. coil or knot shapes while maintaining an open bore, and hence continuous fluid flow path, along the length of the conduit.

The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example and not limitation, by reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 shows a wire rope during separation into two sets of external strands and a central core.

Figure 2 shows a hot water conduit intertwined with one of the external sets of strands.

Figure 3 shows laying of the second set of external strands to cover the conduit.

A steel wire rope 1 is composed of a plurality of strands 2, each strand being made up of twisted steel yarns 3.

As shown in Figure 1, rope 1 is separated into two sets of external strands 4 and 5, and a core 7 of strands not normally exposed at the surface of the rope.

Once the external and core strands are fully separated, the core 7 is discarded. External sets of strands 4 and retain their shape to a large extent, which facilitates engagement of a polybutyl pipe 8 with one set of the external strands in place of the core. The second set of external strands is then laid to cover the pipe completely along its length. Thus a heating element capable of carrying hot water, but having the appearance of a wire rope is produced.

The resultant heating element can be bent into almost any desirable shape, for example into a decorative shape such as a coil, or a knot. As set out above, the wire strands form a sheath which acts to protect the polybutyl conduit pipe from being kinked or cracked when the heating element is deformed in this way, and so a continuous fluid path is maintained in the bore of the pipe.

Either before or after forming into the desired shape, threaded universal connectors are fitted to the open ends of the polybutyl pipe to enable the heating element to be ! connected into a standard hot water heating system.

Additional internal support elements may be incorporated necessary to keep the heating element in the preferred shape.

While the invention has been described in conjunction with the exemplary embodiments described above, many equivalent modifications and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art when given this disclosure.

Accordingly, the exemplary embodiments of the invention set forth are considered to be illustrative and not limiting. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made without departing from the general teaching herein.

Claims

Claims: 1. A heating element, comprising a conduit suitable for carrying a

flow of heated fluid, and one or more strands of a thermally conducting material wrapped around said conduit.
2. A heating element according to claim 1, wherein each said strand comprises a plurality of twisted yarns.
3. A heating element according to claim 1 or claim 2 comprising a plurality of said strands wrapped around said conduit, such that each said strand lies adjacent to at least one other said strand along its length.
4. A heating element according to any one of claims 1 to 3, in which said strands entirely cover the conduit.
5. A heating element according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said strands or yarns are metal.
6. A heating element according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the conduit is a tube of plastics material.
7. A heating element according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising means for connection to a supply of heated fluid.
8. A heater comprising a heating element according to any one of the preceding claims.
9. A heating system comprising a heating element according to any one of claims 1 to 7 or a heater lO according to claim 8.
10. A method of forming a heating element as described in any one of claims 1 to 7.
11. A method according to claim 10, comprising separating one or more strands from a wire rope and laying said conduit into the rope.
12. A method according to claim 10 or claim 11, comprising removing all or part of a core of the rope and laying in said conduit in place of the removed core.
13. A method according to according to any one of claims to 12, further comprising adding a strand to said rope.
14. A heating element substantially as herein described, with reference to the accompanying drawings.
15. A method of forming a heating element substantially as herein described, with reference to the accompanying drawings.