Back to results
US 8,476,562 B2Granted
Inductive heater humidifier
AssigneeWatlow Electric Manufacturing Company
InventorCal Swanson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An inductive heater humidifier for heating fluids is provided by the present disclosure. The humidifier includes a reservoir having a ferromagnetic bottom plate. The reservoir is disposed on top of a non-metallic cover plate, which rests on a topless ferrite base. The ferrite base includes induction coil for generating heat. The induction coil is energized to produce eddy currents that generate heat, which is convectively transferred to the reservoir via the bottom plate to heat fluid in the reservoir.
Claims23
An inductive heater humidifier comprising:
- a ferrite base defining a peripheral sidewall, a central core, and a cavity disposed between the peripheral sidewall and the central core, the ferrite base being formed of a ferrous oxide having a transition metal element;
- magnetic wire disposed within the cavity and wound around the central core to form an induction coil;
- a non-metallic cover plate having a bottom surface and a top surface, the bottom surface of the cover plate disposed on top of the ferrite base;
- and
- a reservoir for storing fluid, the reservoir having a ferromagnetic bottom plate disposed on the top surface of the cover plate, the ferromagnetic bottom plate being formed of a material having a higher loss property than that of the ferrite base;
- wherein the induction coil is selectively energized to produce eddy currents in a path constrained by the ferrite base and the ferromagnetic bottom plate and alternating magnetic polarizations that generate heat due to the higher loss property of the ferromagnetic bottom plate, the heat being convectively transferred to the reservoir via the ferromagnetic bottom plate to heat the fluid.
3 more elements
An inductive heater comprising:
- a ferrite base defining a peripheral sidewall, a central core, and a cavity disposed between the peripheral sidewall and the central core, the ferrite base being formed of a ferrite oxide having a transition metal element;
- magnetic wire disposed within the cavity and wound around the central core to form an induction coil;
- a non-metallic cover plate having a bottom surface and a top surface, the bottom surface of the cover plate disposed on top of the ferrite base;
- and
- a ferromagnetic bottom plate disposed on the top surface of the non-metallic cover plate and being formed of a material having a higher loss property than that of ferrite base,
- wherein the induction coil is selectively energized to produce eddy currents in a path constrained by the ferrite base and the ferromagnetic bottom plate and alternating magnetic polarizations that generate heat due to the higher loss property of the ferromagnetic bottom plate, the heat being convectively transferred to a target through the cover plate.
3 more elements
An inductive heater comprising:
- a ferrite base defining:
- a bottom portion;
- a peripheral sidewall extending from the bottom portion;
- an exposed upper portion;
- a central core;
- a cavity disposed between the peripheral sidewall and the central core;
- and
- magnetic wire disposed within the cavity and wound around the central core to form an induction coil;
- and
- a ferromagnetic bottom plate disposed proximate the exposed upper portion and being formed of a material having a higher loss property than that of the ferrite base,
- the ferrite base being formed of a ferrous oxide having a transition metal element, and the induction coil being selectively energized to produce eddy currents in a path constrained by the ferrite base and the ferromagnetic bottom plate and alternating magnetic polarizations that generate heat due to the higher loss property of the ferromagnetic bottom plate, the heat being convectively transferred to a target through the exposed upper portion.
8 more elements
A method of operating an induction heater humidifier comprising:
- energizing an induction coil disposed within a ferrite base;
- circulating magnetic flux through the ferrite base and a reservoir bottom plate, the reservoir bottom plate being formed of a material having a higher loss property than that of the ferrite base;
- directing heat generated from the induction coil to a reservoir base;
- restricting an operating temperature of the induction heater humidifier to below a ferromagnetic curie point of the reservoir bottom plate in order to oscillate magnetic domains within the reservoir base to generate additional heat due to the higher loss property of the reservoir bottom plate.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.