THERMAL BLOCK FOR HEATING LIQUIDS

• US 20170172341A1
• Filed: 11/25/2014
• Published: 06/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IRCA SPA Industria Resistenze Corazzate E Affini (Zoppas Industries SPA)
• Original Assignee: IRCA SPA Industria Resistenze Corazzate E Affini (Zoppas Industries SPA)
• Inventors: WEDAM, Stefano, ZOPPAS, Federico
• Granted Patent: US 10,638,874 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A47J 31/542 Continuous-flow heaters

Abstract

A thermal block (100) for heating a liquid, comprises: a tube (200) for the passage of liquid, provided with an inlet (3) and an outlet (4) and with at least one segment (200) with corrugated walls (6), a massive block (1) co-molded outside said pipe (200) so that the inlet (3) and the outlet (4) are outside the massive block (1), one resistive element (5) for heating the massive block (1).

Claims

1. A thermal block for heating a liquid, comprising:

a tube for the passage of said liquid, provided with a wall, an inlet and an outlet,

a massive block consisting of a mass of heat-conducting material,

at least one resistive element for heating said massive block,

wherein the tube is arranged in the thermal block so that the wall thereof is immersed in and separate from said mass,

and so that said inlet and outlet are outside the massive block, and

wherein the tube has at least one corrugated segment with inner surface irregularities,

whereby the heat exchange between the massive block and the liquid is increased.

2. The thermal block according to claim 1, wherein said block is made of a first material and said tube is made of a second material, different from the first material.

3. The thermal block according to claim 2, wherein said first material is aluminum and said second material is stainless steel.

4. The thermal block according to claim 1, wherein each inner surface irregularity extends over the whole perimeter of the orthogonal section of the tube or over at least one portion of said perimeter.

5. The thermal block according to claim 1, wherein said tube consists of a meander serpentine.

6. The thermal block according to claim 1, wherein the tube is corrugated over the whole length thereof.

7. The thermal block according to claim 1, wherein said thermal block has parallelepiped dimensions with two end bases which are greater in size than the other dimensions of the parallelepiped, and wherein the tube comprises a meander serpentine, the path of which is mainly developed on two superimposed planes placed close to a respective end base.

8. The thermal block according to claim 1, wherein said thermal block and said tube have mainly cylindrical dimensions.

9. The thermal block according to claim 1, wherein said resistive element comprises a corrugated sheath so as to optimize the heat exchange between said massive block and said resistive element.

10. The coffee maker comprising a thermal block according to claim 1.

11. A process for manufacturing a thermal block having the features set forth in claim 1, wherein there are provided a tube having at least one corrugated segment with inner surface irregularities, at least one resistive element, a mass of heat-conducting material, heating means adapted to melt said mass of heat-conducting material, injection means and a mold, said process comprising the steps of:

arranging the tube inside the mold,

arranging the at least one resistive element in the mold,

melting the mass of heat-conducting material via the heating means so as to obtain a molten mass,

injecting the molten mass into the mold via the injection means, so that the molten mass surrounds the tube and the at least one resistive element,

cooling the molten mass to ambient temperature.