Tank Water Heaters with Phase Change Material
AssigneeRheem Manufacturing Company
InventorsSaman Beyhaghi, Troy Edward Trant, Shubham Srivastava, Atilhan Manay
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Abstract
A water heater including a storage tank and an energy source is disclosed. The storage tank may be configured to store water. The storage tank comprises a top portion and a bottom portion. The bottom portion includes an enclosure configured to store a phase changing material (PCM). The energy source may be configured to heat the PCM to a predefined temperature via a heating source disposed in the enclosure. The PCM may be configured to transfer heat to the water stored in the storage tank when a temperature of water stored in the storage tank drops below the predefined temperature.
Claims20
A water heater comprising:
- a storage tank configured to store water, wherein the storage tank comprises a top portion and a bottom portion, and wherein the bottom portion comprises an enclosure with a phase changing material (PCM);
- and
- an energy source or the water stored in the storage tank is configured to heat the PCM to a first predefined temperature, wherein the PCM is configured to transfer heat to the water stored in the storage tank when a temperature of water stored in the storage tank drops below the first predefined temperature.
A water heater, comprising:
- a storage tank configured to store water, wherein the storage tank comprises a top portion and a bottom portion;
- and
- a first phase changing material (PCM) disposed about the storage tank in proximity to the bottom portion,
- wherein the first PCM is configured to extract heat from water in the storage tank and melt when a temperature of water in the storage tank in proximity to the bottom portion is greater than a first melting point of the first PCM, and
- wherein the first PCM is configured to transfer heat to the water in the storage tank and solidify when the temperature of water in the storage tank in proximity to the bottom portion is less than the first melting point.
A water heater comprising:
- a storage tank configured to store water and dispense hot water at a first predefined temperature;
- and
- a phase changing material (PCM) configured to receive hot water at the first predefined temperature from the storage tank, wherein the PCM is configured to:
- extract heat from the hot water and melt when the first predefined temperature is greater than a melting point of the PCM, and
- transfer heat to the hot water when the first predefined temperature is less than the melting point.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.