Superheated Liquid Heating System

A heating system which may be portable or installed, for example in a residence or other building, utilizes as its source of heat a liquid heater comprising a chamber filled with a liquid in which a body is rotated to create friction in the liquid, which is then supplied to a heat exchanger external to the liquid heater. A heating system is provided having two such liquid heaters, together with means for alternately connecting each of the heaters to the heat exchanger while disconnecting the other heater from the heat exchanger, thereby producing superheated liquid in the closed liquid heater.

A number of U.S. patents, and my co-pending application for patent Ser. No. 311,074, filed Oct. 13, 1981, for Heating Device, now abandoned describe and claim apparatus for producing heat by rotating a cylindrical body within a closed chamber containing a liquid, thereby producing friction and shearing action within the liquid and raising its temperature to a degree which makes the liquid a source of heat when supplied to a heat exchanger forming part of a heating system.

It is often necessary or desirable in the use of heating systems utilizing such liquid heaters to continuously provide to the heat exchanger liquid at a higher temperature than can normally be produced by a liquid heater of the type to which the invention relates, and it has therefore been the object of this invention to provide a liquid heater of that type, and a heating system utilizing such a liquid heater, which will produce superheated liquid for delivery to the heat exchanger.

FIG. 1 is a part sectional and part elevational view of the heating system provided by the invention.

The invention provides a new and useful liquid heater and a heating system utilizing the heater to provide liquid at higher temperatures than may normally be provided by the pertinent type of liquid heater.

The liquid heater provided by the invention is disclosed in FIG. 1 and comprises a housing chamber defined by a cylindrical wall 2 and end walls 4, 6 through which there extends axially a shaft 8 on which there are mounted in spaced relation two cylindrical rotors 10, 12. Between the two rotors there are two parallel, axially spaced annular walls 22, 24 defining on either side the spaced rotor chambers 26, 28 and between them a compartment 30 within which there is mounted on the shaft a centrifugal type pump 32. The inner edges of the annular walls 22, 24 define a central opening 34 providing communication between the two rotor chambers and the pump chamber. The rotor chambers have, respectively, inlet ports 36, 38 and the pump chamber has outlet port 40. Any suitable means may be provided for rotating the shaft, the rotors and the pump.

The heating system provided by the invention utilizing the described double rotor and single pump liquid heating apparatus comprises a heat exchanger 50 comprising a screen and an elongated tubing through which liquid from the heater is passed, and which may be conventional in structure and operation or which may be modified as described and claimed in my co-pending application for U.S. patent Ser. No. 311,074 filed Oct. 13, 1981 for Heating Device, now abandoned. In the system according to the present invention the port 40 of the pump chamber 30 is connected by tubing 52 to the inlet port 53 of the tubing which forms part of the heat exchanger, and the ports 36, 38 of the rotor chambers 26, 28 are connected, respectively, by tubes 54, 56 to the fixed part 58 of a switching valve 60. A tube 62 leads from this valve to the outlet port 64 of the heat exchanger tubing, and the valve comprises a movable member 70 having two passages 72, 74 through it. Suitable means, such as that illustrated, may be provided for moving the valve part 70 to alternate positions, in one of which the outlet port 64 of the heat exchanger tubing is connected to rotor chamber 26 through tube 62, valve passage 72 and tube 54, and in the other of which the outlet port of the heat exchanger is connected to rotor chamber 28 through tube 62, valve passage 74 and tube 56.

In the use and operation of the described system the shaft is rotated to rotate the two rotors and the pump and the switching valve is operated in the manner described to cause each of the rotor chambers to be alternately connected into the heating system while the other rotor chamber is disconnected from the remainder of the heating system. In this latter condition the liquid in the disconnected rotor chamber will be superheated because the rotor operates without release of the liquid in its chamber to the rest of the system. Upon further operation of the valve the closed rotor chamber will be connected into the system and will deliver superheated liquid to the heat exchanger. At the same time as this occurs, the other rotor chamber will be closed at the switching valve to cause superheated liquid to be produced within it which will be delivered to the heat exchanger when the valve is again shifted.