Fluid heating attachment for automobile engine cooling systems

• US 4,575,003 A
• Filed: 05/10/1984
• Issued: 03/11/1986
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/1984
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hotshot Auto Products Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Hotshot Auto Products Incorporated
• Inventors: Linker, Roy E., Linker, Matthew P.
• Primary Examiner(s): BENNETT, HENRY A
• Application Number:
  US06/609,051
• Time in Patent Office: 670 Days
• Field of Search: 237/12.3 R, 219/205, 219/202, 219/203, 165/41, 15/250.04, 15/250.05, 126/350 A
• US Class Current: 237/12.30R
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/034 from the cooling liquid of the propulsion plant and from an electric heating device
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/487 the liquid being heated nozzles provided with heating means B60S1/52
• CPC Class Codes: B60S 1/488 electrically
• CPC Class Codes: F01P 11/20 concerning atmospheric freezing conditions, e.g. automatically draining or heating during frosty weather
• CPC Class Codes: F01P 2060/08 Cabin heater
• CPC Class Codes: F01P 3/20 Cooling circuits not specific to a single part of engine or machine F01P3/22 takes precedence

Abstract

A device connectable in the cooling system of an automobile engine includes a heating chamber through which the engine coolant flows, and which includes a tubular heating coil. The coil is connected between the windshield washer fluid reservoir and the windshield washer nozzle or nozzles of the vehicle. Windshield washer liquid flowing through the coil is warmed by heat exchange with hot engine coolant flowing through the chamber in which the coil is mounted. In a modified arrangement, the device incorporates a second function, in that the chamber is enlarged to include, in addition to the windshield washer fluid heating coil, an electrical heating element which can be connected to house current while the vehicle is parked with its engine not running. The engine coolant is thus heated to keep the engine warm during cold weather by thermal circulation.

Claims

1. The combination, with an internal combustion engine having a cooling system and including a block of the type through which a liquid coolant is circulated during operation of said system, said block having upper and lower ends, a radiator mounted adjacent the block and also having upper and lower ends, a radiator inlet hose extending from the upper end of the block to the upper end of the radiator, a pump for circulating coolant through the block, a radiator outlet hose extending from the lower end of the radiator to the coolant pump, a passenger space heater, a space heater supply hose extending from the block to the space heater, a return hose extending from the space heater to the pump, and a windshield washer system including a washer fluid reservoir, washer fluid nozzle means, and a washer fluid supply line having inlet and outlet end portions connected to the reservoir and nozzle means respectively, of a device for warming the engine and pre-warming the washer fluid when the engine is not running, and for also warming said washer fluid when the engine is running, comprising:

(a) a housing having a heating chamber and having an inlet and an outlet connected in communication with said chamber, the housing inlet and outlet being connected in communication with the radiator outlet hose and space heater supply hose, respectively, thus to connect the chamber in the cooling system as part of the flow path of coolant circulated through the system and thereby fill the chamber with the circulated coolant;

(b) a tubular conduit means for windshield washer fluid, supported within the chamber in position to be substantially wholly immersed in the coolant filling the chamber, whereby to heat the washer fluid by the transfer of heat from the circulated coolant to the washer fluid through the wall of the conduit, said conduit means including inflow and outflow ends projecting exteriorly of the chamber and respectively connected to the inlet and outlet end portions of the windshield washer fluid supply line to provide a heated supply of washer fluid for the spray head; and

(c) heating means within the chamber for elevating the temperature of the coolant and the washer fluid therein, said heating means comprising an electrical heating element wholly immersed in the coolant within the chamber in laterally spaced relation to the conduit means and adapted for connection to a supply of house current, whereby the heater means when energized will be in heat-exchange relation to and will warm the coolant to initiate flow thereof by thermal circulation when the engine is not running, from the housing to the space heater supply hose and into the upper end of the block, and thereafter downwardly through the block to the lower end thereof to displace and force upwardly coolant that is of a lower temperature, whereby to cause the same to exit the block through the radiator outlet hose and thereafter return to the housing through the connection between the radiator outlet hose and the housing inlet.

2. In a device for warming an internal combustion engine by a reverse, thermal circulation of an engine coolant during periods of time when the engine is not running, the combination, with a cooling system including a block through which, when the engine is in operation, a liquid coolant is normally circulated in a closed path by a pump from an outlet located at the upper end of the block through a radiator and back into the block via a radiator outlet line to flow upwardly in the block back to the outlet, and is also circulated by the pump from the upper end of the block through a space heater supply line to a space heater and back into the block through the pump, of:

(a) a housing mounted exteriorly of the block and having a flow-through heating chamber for the coolant, said housing having an inlet and an outlet that are in communication with the chamber and have lines connecting them to the radiator outlet and the space heater supply lines respectively; and

(b) means immersed in the chamber for heating the coolant flowing therethrough to induce thermal circulation of the coolant, when the engine and pump are not running, through the line connecting the chamber to the space heater supply line and thereafter through the space heater supply line in a direction reversed from the normal flow therethrough and on to the engine block coolant outlet at the upper end of the block, for gravitational flow of the coolant through the block to the lower end thereof, so as to displace coolant from the lower end of the block and cause the same to flow out of the block through the block inlet in a direction reversed from the normal flow of the coolant when the engine is running, and from there back to the chamber inlet through the radiator outlet line and the connection between the radiator outlet line and the chamber inlet.

3. In a device that operates, when an internal combustion engine is not running, to induce a reverse, thermal circulation of an engine coolant and also pre-warm a windshield washer fluid, and that further assures a supply of warm washer fluid when the engine is running, the combination, with a cooling system including a block through which, when the engine is in operation, a liquid coolant is normally circulated in a closed path by a pump from an outlet located at the upper end of the block through a radiator and back into the block via a radiator outlet line to flow upwardly in the block back to the outlet, and is also circulated by the pump from the upper end of the block through a space heater supply line to a space heater and back into the block through the pump, of:

(a) a housing mounted exteriorly of the block and having a flow-through heating chamber for the coolant, said housing having an inlet and an outlet that are in communication with the chamber and have lines connecting them to the radiator outlet and the space heater supply lines respectively;

(b) means immersed in the chamber for heating the coolant flowing therethrough to induce thermal circulation of the coolant, when the engine and pump are not running, through the line connecting the chamber to the space heater supply line and thereafter through the space heater supply line in a direction reversed from the normal flow therethrough and on to the engine block coolant outlet at the upper end of the block, for gravitational flow of the coolant through the block to the lower end thereof, so as to displace coolant from the lower end of the block and cause the same to flow out of the block through the block inlet in a direction reversed from the normal flow of the coolant when the engine is running, and from there back to the chamber inlet through the radiator outlet line and the connection between the radiator outlet line and the chamber inlet;

(c) a windshield washer fluid heat transfer conduit extending within said chamber in heat exchange relation to the coolant flowing therethrough;

(d) a washer fluid supply line extending from the reservoir to one end of said conduit; and

(e) a washer fluid discharge line extending from the other end of the conduit to the washer spray nozzle whereby to assure a continuously warmed supply of washer fluid to said spray nozzle.