Apparatus and control method for a hybrid tankless water heater
AssigneeIntellihot Green Technologies, Inc.
InventorsSridhar Deivasigamani, Sivaprasad Akasam
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Abstract
An on demand tankless water heater system that is capable of quickly delivering water within a desired temperature range. The tankless water heater provides a hybrid heating method that contains a primary heating system and a secondary heating system disposed in a buffer tank that cooperate to facilitate control of output water temperature during water usage. A pressure differential switch detects low flow demand and allows the secondary heating system to provide immediate heating to the water. This secondary heating system provides a faster temperature response and fine tuning of output water temperature.
Claims6
A method for controlling thermal spikes caused by overheating in a water supply of a water supply system, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a tankless water heater having a blower, a heat exchanger and a burner, wherein the burner has a thermal output providing a means for heating the water supply,
- providing a means for detecting a decrease in a flow rate of the water supply, measuring the flow rate of the water supply to detect a decrease in the flow rate, and
- activating the blower when a decrease in the flow rate of the water supply has been detected, thereby dissipating excess heat from the heat exchanger to the environment.
A method for controlling thermal spikes caused by overheating in a water supply of a water supply system, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a tankless water heater having a blower, a burner, a heat exchanger and an internal recirculation system,
- providing a means for detecting a decrease in a flow rate of the water supply, measuring the flow rate of the water supply to detect a decrease in the flow rate, and
- activating the internal recirculation system when a decrease in the flow rate has been detected, thereby distributing excess heat contained in the heat exchanger over a volume of water contained in the internal recirculation system to cool the water supply.
A method for controlling thermal spikes caused by overheating in a water supply of a water supply system, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a tankless water heater having a blower, a heat exchanger, a burner and an external recirculation system wherein the burner has a thermal output providing a means for heating the water supply,
- providing a means for detecting a decrease in a flow rate of the water supply, measuring the flow rate of the water supply to detect a decrease in the flow rate, and
- activating the external recirculation system when a decrease in the flow rate of the water supply has been detected, thereby dissipating excess heat from the heat exchanger to the environment.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.