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US 6,745,723 B1Granted
Water heater heat trap apparatus
AssigneeRheem Manufacturing Company
InventorsKenneth J. Hicks, David L. Henderson, Jozef Boros
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Convective heat traps are installed at the cold water inlet and hot water outlet of a water heater. Each heat trap has a tubular body with two axially spaced apart resilient flapper members transversely extending across the interior of the body and being hinged on opposite sides thereof. The heat trap at the cold water inlet is coaxially disposed within a dip tube. In one alternate structure, flapper members are mounted directly on the dip tube, and in another alternate structure an external annular seal element is mounted on the dip tube or heat trap body, with a flapper member being integrally formed with the seal element.
Claims29
Convective heat trap apparatus comprising:
- a tubular body extending along an axis;
- and
- first and second axially spaced apart resilient flapper structures carried by said body and having portions transversely extending across the interior of said body and being operative to inhibit convective fluid flow therethrough, said flapper structure portions being axially deflectable about circumferentially offset hinge locations adjacent the interior side surface of said body.
Convective heat trap apparatus comprising:
- a tubular body extending along an axis;
- and
- first and second axially spaced apart resilient flapper structures carried by said body and having portions transversely extending across the interior of said body and being operative to inhibit convective fluid flow therethrough, said resilient flapper structure portions, when in undeflected orientations, defining axially spaced apart, circumferentially extending first and second gaps between said flapper structure portions and the interior side surface of said tubular body, said first and second gaps being circumferentially offset from one another.
Convective heat trap apparatus comprising:
- a tubular body having a slot extending radially inwardly through a side wall portion thereof into its interior;
- a generally tubular exterior resilient seal coaxially extending around said tubular body over said slot;
- and
- a resilient flapper structure transversely extending across the interior of said body and being connected to said seal through said slot, said resilient flapper structure having a flat configuration with an axial thickness substantially less than the axial length of said seal.
1 more element
A water heater comprising:
- a tank adapted to store a quantity of water and having water inlet and outlet openings;
- heating apparatus for heating water stored within said tank;
- and
- first and second heat traps respectively associated with said water inlet and outlet openings and operative to inhibit convective water outflows therethrough, each of said first and second heat traps including:
- a tubular body extending along an axis, and
- first and second axially spaced apart resilient flapper structures carried by said body and having portions transversely extending across the interior of said body, said flapper structure portions being axially deflectable about circumferentially offset hinge locations adjacent the interior side surface of said body.
3 more elements
A water heater comprising:
- a tank adapted to store a quantity of water and having water inlet and outlet openings;
- heating apparatus for heating water stored within said tank;
- and
- first and second heat traps respectively associated with said water inlet and outlet openings and operative to inhibit convective water outflows therethrough, each of said first and second heat traps including:
- a tubular body extending along an axis, and
- first and second axially spaced apart resilient flapper structures carried by said body and having portions transversely extending across the interior of said body, said flapper structure portions being axially deflectable relative to said tubular body and, when in an undeflected orientation, defining axially spaced apart, circumferentially extending first and second gaps between said flapper structure portions and the interior side surfaces of their associated tubular bodies, said first and second gaps being circumferentially offset from one another.
3 more elements
A water heater comprising:
- a tank adapted to store a quantity of water and having a water flow opening therein;
- heating apparatus for heating water stored within said tank;
- and
- a convective heat trap associated with said water flow opening and including:
- a tubular body having a slot extending radially inwardly through a side wall portion thereof into its interior;
- a generally tubular exterior resilient seal coaxially extending around said tubular body over said slot;
- and
- a resilient flapper structure transversely extending across the interior of said body and being connected to said seal through said slot, said resilient flapper structure having a flat configuration with an axial thickness substantially less than the axial length of said seal.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.