Condensation reduction in water heaters

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10895404-B2
Application number	US-201815919796-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 13, 2018
Priority date	Mar 13, 2018
Publication date	Jan 19, 2021
Grant date	Jan 19, 2021

Abstract

A water heater can include a tank. The water heater can also include a heat exchanger that includes multiple flue tube segments disposed within the tank, where the flue tube segments include a thermally-conductive material. The heat exchanger can further include a heating system that heats a fluid to create a heated fluid, where the heating system further circulates the heated fluid through the flue tube segments, where the flue tube segments absorb thermal energy from the heated fluid and subsequently dissipate the thermal energy into the tank to convert the unheated water to the heated water. The water heater can also include a controller coupled to the heating system, where the controller operates the heating system outside of a normal heating cycle when the controller determines that condensation has accumulated in the flue tube segments, where operating the heating system outside of the normal heating cycle removes the condensation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A water heater comprising:
a tank;
a water inlet line that delivers unheated water to the tank;
a water outlet line that draws heated water from the tank for a hot water demand;
a heat exchanger comprising a plurality of flue tube segments disposed within the tank, wherein the plurality of flue tube segments comprises a thermally-conductive material;
a heating system that heats a fluid to create a heated fluid, wherein the heating system further circulates the heated fluid through the heat exchanger, wherein the plurality of flue tube segments of the heat exchanger absorb thermal energy from the heated fluid and subsequently dissipate the thermal energy into the tank to convert the unheated water to the heated water; and
a controller coupled to the heating system, wherein the controller is configured to:
determine a temperature of water within the tank;
compare the temperature of water within the tank with a threshold value, the threshold value being based at least in part on an offset value, the offset value incrementally increasing upon a passing of a predetermined period of time; and
if the temperature of water is greater than or equal to the threshold value, operate the heating system outside of a normal heating cycle, wherein operating the heating system outside of the normal heating cycle reduces the condensation; and
reset the offset value to zero.

2. The water heater of claim 1 , wherein the fluid is natural gas.

3. The water heater of claim 1 , further comprising:
a temperature sensor that determines the temperature of water within the tank,
wherein the controller is further coupled to the temperature sensor.

4. The water heater of claim 1 , wherein the controller further operates the heating system outside of the normal heating cycle based on a set point for the heating system.

5. The water heater of claim 4 , wherein the controller further operates the heating system outside of the normal heating cycle based on a first difference between the set point for the heating system and a differential, wherein the differential is a second difference between a turn-off temperature and a turn-on temperature for the heating system during the normal heating cycle.

6. The water heater of claim 5 , wherein the differential is less than 8° F.

7. The water heater of claim 5 , wherein the differential is adjustable by a user.

8. The water heater of claim 1 , wherein the controller uses an algorithm to operate the heating system outside of the normal heating cycle, wherein the algorithm establishes and increments the offset to determine when to operate the heating system outside of the normal heating cycle.

9. The water heater of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of flue tube segments form a multi-pass configuration within the tank of the water heater.

Assignees

• Rheem Mfg Co

Inventors

• Chaudhry Raheel A

Classifications

• Y02B30/00

  Energy efficient heating, ventilation or air conditioning [HVAC] · CPC title

• F24H1/206

  with submerged combustion chamber · CPC title

• F24H8/00

  Fluid heaters characterised by means for extracting latent heat from flue gases by means of condensation · CPC title

• F24H1/208

  with tubes filled with heat transfer fluid · CPC title

• G05D23/19

  characterised by the use of electric means {(G05D23/1393 takes precedence)} · CPC title