Electric water heater having balanced wattage density water heating
AssigneeRheem Manufacturing Company
InventorsBarry N. Jackson, Gary W. Gauer, Jeffrey A. Leep
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electric water heater has a tank portion in which water to be heated is stored. The stored water is heated by a vertically spaced plurality of electric heating elements extending into the tank interior. The heating elements are of unequal wattages, and serve unequal volume water zones, but provide equal heating wattage densities in each of the water zones.
Claims15
Liquid heating apparatus comprising:
- a tank adapted to store therein a quantity of liquid to be heated, said tank having a plurality of contiguous vertical zones of unequal volumes;
- and
- a vertically spaced plurality of unequal wattage electrical heating structures extending into said tank, each electrical heating structure serving a different one of said zones, said electrical heating structures providing said zones with substantially equal heating wattage densities.
An electric water heater comprising:
- a tank adapted to store therein a quantity of water to be heated, said tank having a plurality of contiguous vertical zones of unequal volumes;
- an insulating jacket structure surrounding said tank;
- and
- a vertically spaced apart plurality of unequal wattage electrical heating structures horizontally projecting into the interior of said tank, each of said electrical heating structures extending along a bottom portion of and serving a different one of said zones, said electrical heating structures being sized to provide said zones with substantially equal heating wattage densities.
An electric water heater comprising a water storage tank having unequal volume interior zones respectively served by spaced apart unequal wattage electrical heating structures extending into the interior of the tank and providing said zones with substantially equal heating wattage densities.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.