Water heater with optimized dip tube

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11280519-B2
Application number	US-202016925754-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 10, 2020
Priority date	Jul 10, 2020
Publication date	Mar 22, 2022
Grant date	Mar 22, 2022

Abstract

A water heater appliance includes a tank extending along a vertical direction between a top end wall and a bottom end wall and a dip tube extending from an inlet end to an outlet end. The inlet end of the dip tube is coupled to a cold water inlet in the top end wall of the tank. The outlet end of the dip tube may be positioned in a bottom corner of the tank and/or positioned at an outer perimeter of the bottom end wall.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A water heater appliance, comprising:
a tank, the tank comprising:
a top end wall;
a bottom end wall spaced from the top end wall along a vertical direction;
a cylindrical wall extending along the vertical direction between the top end wall and the bottom end wall; and
a bottom corner of the tank defined by an intersection of the cylindrical wall and the bottom end wall; and

a dip tube comprising a cylindrical portion having a generally constant diameter, the cylindrical portion extending from an inlet end of the dip tube coupled to a cold water inlet in the top end wall to a convex hemispherical outlet end of the dip tube positioned in the bottom corner of the tank, wherein the cylindrical portion of the dip tube directly adjoins the convex hemispherical outlet end of the dip tube.

2. The water heater appliance of claim 1 , wherein the bottom end wall is curved.

3. The water heater appliance of claim 1 , wherein the bottom end wall is convex.

4. The water heater appliance of claim 1 , wherein the outlet end of the dip tube is radially offset from the inlet end of the dip tube.

5. The water heater appliance of claim 1 , wherein the dip tube further comprises a plurality of outlets in the cylindrical portion of the dip tube near the convex hemispherical outlet end of the dip tube.

6. The water heater appliance of claim 1 , wherein the bottom end wall is spaced from the top end wall along the vertical direction by a first distance, the dip tube defines a length of the dip tube from the inlet end of the dip tube to the convex hemispherical outlet end of the dip tube, and the length of the dip tube is greater than the first distance.

7. The water heater appliance of claim 1 , wherein the dip tube is curved.

8. The water heater appliance of claim 1 , wherein the convex hemispherical outlet end of the dip tube is in contact with the bottom end wall and in contact with the cylindrical wall.

9. A water heater appliance, comprising:
a tank extending along a vertical direction between a top end wall and a bottom end wall; and
a dip tube comprising a cylindrical portion having a generally constant diameter, the cylindrical portion extending from an inlet end to a convex hemispherical outlet end having approximately the same diameter as the cylindrical portion of the dip tube;
wherein the inlet end of the dip tube is coupled to a cold water inlet in the top end wall of the tank and the convex hemispherical outlet end of the dip tube is positioned at an outer perimeter of the bottom end wall.

10. The water heater appliance of claim 9 , wherein the bottom end wall is curved.

11. The water heater appliance of claim 9 , wherein the bottom end wall is convex.

12. The water heater appliance of claim 9 , wherein the convex hemispherical outlet end of the dip tube is radially offset from the inlet end of the dip tube.

13. The water heater appliance of claim 9 , wherein the dip tube further comprises a plurality of outlets in the cylindrical portion of the dip tube near the convex hemispherical outlet end of the dip tube.

14. The water heater appliance of claim 9 , wherein the bottom end wall is spaced from the top end wall along the vertical direction by a first distance, the dip tube defines a length of the dip tube from the inlet end of the dip tube to the convex hemispherical outlet end of the dip tube, and the length of the dip tube is greater than the first distance.

15. The water heater appliance of claim 9 , wherein the dip tube is curved.

Assignees

• Haier Us Appliance Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Hutchison Gregory L
• Tsai Craig Iung-Pei
• Gantt Timothy David
• Constance Alan George
• Nelson Jonathan D

Classifications

• F28D20/0034

  using liquid heat storage material · CPC title

• F24H9/133 Primary

  Storage heaters · CPC title

• F28D2020/0069

  Distributing arrangements; Fluid deflecting means · CPC title

• Y10T137/86372

  Inlet internally extending · CPC title

• F24H9/0015

  in water channels · CPC title