DE29614765U1 - Flow regulator - Google Patents

Description

Flow regulator

The invention relates to a flow rate control device for liquid and/or gaseous media, in particular for hot water preparation with proportional quantity adjustment, with a secondary circuit through which a first medium flows and which is provided with a measuring element for determining the flow rate and/or pressure difference between its inlet and its outlet, and with a primary circuit through which a second medium flows and which is provided with an actuator for adjusting the flow rate flowing between its inlet and its outlet, whereby the measuring element in the secondary circuit and the actuator in the primary circuit are operatively connected to one another in such a way that, over a wide range, the flow rate of the second medium flowing through the primary circuit is dependent on the flow rate flowing through the secondary circuit and/or the pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of the secondary circuit.

In addition to thermostat-controlled water heaters, which require auxiliary energy and have heating losses because they are constantly hot, pressure-controlled water heaters are also available on the market.

Such pressure-controlled water heaters have a flow control device with a measuring element and an actuator, which are connected to each other.

When you tap water from the hot water tap, the secondary circuit of the water heater is released. The measuring element, designed as a spring/diaphragm system, senses this release of the secondary circuit and uses a piston rod to adjust a control valve assigned to the measuring element, whereby the primary circuit of the water heater opens synchronously with the secondary circuit. Heating water from the heating supply can then flow through a plate heat exchanger using the countercurrent principle (and flow back into the heating circuit when cooled). The flow quantities are adjusted proportionally to one another. Energy consumption and heating of the water heater only occur when the water is being tapped. The device is cold during tapping breaks. In contrast to thermostat-controlled water heaters, limescale deposits and the formation of legionella are largely avoided.

The heating circuit is connected in parallel to the primary circuit of the water heater. During the tapping breaks, the primary side of the water heater is closed as well as the secondary side. The flow water pumped by a circulation pump then overcomes a throttle to supply the heating circuit. During tapping, however, the flow rate of the heating circuit is reduced so much that the heat exchanger of the water heater is sufficiently supplied with warm flow water.

With this arrangement, the resistance to be applied by the throttle must be large enough to ensure that enough water flows through the heat exchanger of the water heater during tapping (and as little as possible through the heating circuit).

The circulation pump must therefore not only provide the

Not only can the pumping power of a heating circuit be as high as usual, but it must also overcome the resistance of the throttle.
This means that the circulation pump when using a
Heat exchanger must be dimensioned accordingly larger

If a heat exchanger is subsequently installed in the heating system, a previously narrowly dimensioned
Circulation pump should be replaced with a more powerful one.

The object of the invention is to develop this as
to overcome detrimental characteristics and
a continuous flow heater

Water heater with proportional quantity determination, in which a heating circuit in the
throttle to be installed and a corresponding

Increase in performance of the circulation pump can be dispensed with
can.

In a flow control device of the initially
This task is solved by the fact that the

Primary circuit is extended with an additional input and an additional actuator in such a way that it has a
Three-way controller, whereby the additional (primary) circuit formed between the additional input and output with the additional actuator is opened to the extent that the additional (primary) circuit formed between the input and output with the actuator

(Primary circuit is closed - and vice versa, thus forming a priority circuit.

The essence of the invention therefore consists in extending the primary circuit of a flow control device to a three-way controller with priority function.

During the tapping process, the heating circuit is completely shut off. In this way, all of the supply water flows through the heat exchanger of the water heater and can thus achieve maximum heat transfer.

During the tapping breaks, the flow line leading to the heat exchanger is completely closed; at the same time, the heating circuit is completely open. Due to the priority switching enforced by the controller, there is no need for a throttle in the heating circuit or for the circulation pump to be boosted.

Preferably, the functional relationship between the volume flows flowing in the primary and secondary circuits and the point at which the additional primary circuit formed by an additional input and output is closed can be (manually) adjusted. This means that the boiler flow temperature in particular can be taken into account when providing the required amount of heat.

The control of a circulation pump (e.g. for a circulation line) or other units to be controlled or regulated can advantageously be achieved by means of an electromagnetic switching element attached to the flow regulator.

The embodiment of the flow rate regulator according to the invention described below is intended for hot water preparation. Numerous other

Areas of application, e.g. vehicle coolers with priority switching for the interior heating, are also conceivable.

It shows:

Fig. 1 shows a heating arrangement with a heat exchanger, which is controlled by a flow rate regulator according to the invention,

Fig. 2 shows a conventional heating arrangement with a heat exchanger;

Fig. 3 shows a conventional flow regulator and Fig. 4 shows a flow regulator according to the invention,

The conventional arrangement shown in Fig. 2 comprises a heating boiler <not shown), radiator 6 and a heating circuit consisting of flow 2 and return 4 2,4.

For hot water preparation, the primary circuit 10 of a continuous flow heater 8 is connected in parallel to this heating circuit 2,4 via the primary side input 12 and the primary side output. The secondary side input 18 of the continuous flow heater 8 is connected to the <cold> water pipe 22. The hot water tap 24 is supplied via the secondary side output 20 of the continuous flow heater 8.

The instantaneous water heater 8 consists of a heat exchanger 26 and an upstream flow rate regulator 28.

During tapping, the secondary side <heating side> circuit 16 of the water heater (instantaneous water heater) 8 is opened by means of the water pressure. In order to ensure that the instantaneous water heater 8 is sufficiently supplied with warm flow water 2 during tapping, a throttle 30 is inserted into the heating circuit 2,4, which

Heating circuit 2,4 is largely shut off during tapping. During tapping breaks, however, when both circuits 10,16 of the flow heater 8 are closed, the resistance of the throttle 30 must be overcome by the increased power of a heating circulation pump <not shown).

The arrangement according to the invention shown in Fig. 1 has a largely comparable structure:

The primary-side circuit 10 of the instantaneous water heater 8 is also connected in parallel to the heating circuit 2,4. The secondary-side circuit 16 of the instantaneous water heater 8 is, as in Fig. 2, connected to the (cold) water pipe 22.

In contrast to a conventional controller, the primary circuit 10 of the flow rate controller 28 according to the invention has a further input 32 and, in addition to an actuator 34 (see Fig. 3), a further actuator 36 (see Fig. 4).
The return 4 of the heating circuit 2,4 is now connected from the radiators 6 to the further input 32 of the flow rate regulator 28, thereby forming a further primary circuit 52. According to the invention, this primary circuit 10 is designed as a three-way regulator that functions as a priority circuit: During tapping, the heat exchanger circuit (primary circuit 10) is open and the heating circuit 2,4 (further primary circuit 52) is temporarily closed. In this way, the full heating power is available to the continuous flow heater 8 via the further primary circuit 52. On the other hand, during the tapping breaks, the entire heating power reaches the heating circuit 2,4 unhindered via the further primary circuit 52. The conventional use of a throttle 30 can therefore be completely dispensed with.

The differences between a conventional flow regulator 28 and a flow regulator 28 according to the invention become apparent when comparing Figures 3 and 4.

The conventional flow regulator 28 shown in Fig. 3 consists essentially of a primary-side circuit 10 with a primary-side inlet 12, a primary-side outlet 14 and an actuator 34. On the right-hand side of Fig. 3, a secondary-side circuit 16 (see Fig. 2) with a secondary-side inlet 18, a secondary-side outlet 20 and a measuring element 38 in the form of a bushing can be seen. A spring 40 acts on the bushing. The measuring element 38 and the actuator 34 are connected to one another by the bolt 42.

During tapping, the water pressure at the secondary-side inlet 18 pushes the measuring element 38 to the right against the force of the spring 40 and thus releases the gap between the inlet 18 and outlet 20 of the secondary circuit 16 <Fig. 2). At the same time, the actuator 34 is moved to the right by means of the bolt 42 and in the same way releases the primary circuit 10 for the flow of the heating water through the heat exchanger 26 <Fig. 2).

The embodiment of the flow rate regulator 28 according to the invention shown in longitudinal section in Fig. 4 is identical to the conventional flow rate regulator on the secondary side (right in the picture).

The main difference is on the primary side.

The primary circuit 10 has a further input 32 and a further actuator 36. The further actuator 36 consists of a spring-loaded

attached disk 46, which presses against the front opening 48 of a control sleeve 50 (with third path). The further bolt 44 is also operatively connected to the first bolt 42. In fact, during the tapping break, the further primary circuit 52, consisting of further inlet 32, outlet 14 and further actuator 36 (disk 46 and control sleeve 50 with 3rd path), is open. During tapping, the water pressure between the secondary inlet 18 and outlet 20 presses on the bushing acting as a measuring element 38, which is moved against the force of the spring 40 (to the right in Fig. 4). The bushing takes the bolt 42 and the further bolt 44 with it. In this case, the sealing piece acting as an actuator 34 is also moved to the right and thus opens the primary circuit 10 located between the primary-side inlet 12 and the outlet 14. At the same time, the additional bolt 44 is also moved to the right, whereby the disk 46 closes the front opening 48 of the control sleeve 50 and thus interrupts the additional primary circuit 52 located between the additional primary-side inlet 32 and the primary-side outlet 14.

Between the bolt 42 and the other bolt 44 there is a permanent magnet 54 that can move with the bolts 42, 44 and is in operative connection with an electromagnetic sensor 56 that is fixedly attached to the housing of the flow regulator 28.

Flow regulator List of reference symbols

2 Lead-in

4 Return

2.4 Heating circuit

6 radiators

5 Instantaneous water heater 10 Primary circuit

<of the instantaneous water heater or the flow regulator)

12 primary input

14 primary output

16 Secondary circuit

<of the instantaneous water heater or the flow regulator)

18 secondary input

20 Secondary outlet 22 (Cold) water pipe 24 (Hot water) tap

26 heat exchangers

28 Flow regulator

30 Throttle

32 primary side (additional) input

34 Actuator

36 (additional) actuator (44, 46, 48 and 50)

38 Measuring element (socket)

40 Spring

42 bolts

44 (additional) bolt

46 See i be

48 (front) opening

50 Control sleeve

52 (additional) primary circuit

54 Permanent magnet

56 electromagnetic sensor

Claims (5)

Protection claims 1. Flow rate control device for liquid and/or gaseous media, in particular for hot water preparation, with proportional flow rate adjustment, with a secondary circuit through which a first medium flows <16) , which is provided with a measuring element <38) for determining the flow rate and/or pressure difference between its inlet (18) and its outlet <20>, and with a primary circuit <10> through which a second medium flows, which is provided with an actuator <34) for adjusting the flow rate between its inlet <12> and its outlet <14>, wherein the measuring element <3d) located in the secondary circuit <15> and the actuator <34) located in the primary circuit (10) are operatively connected to one another in such a way that, over a wide range, the flow rate of the second medium flowing through the primary circuit <10) is dependent on the flow rate flowing through the secondary circuit <16> and/or the pressure difference between the inlet <18) and outlet <20) of the secondary circuit <16), characterized in that the primary circuit <10) has a further input (32) and a further actuator (36), and thus forms a three-way controller with a further primary circuit (52), wherein the further primary circuit <52> formed between the further input <32> and the output (14) with the further actuator (36) is opened to the extent that the primary circuit <10) formed with the input (12) and the output (14) with the actuator <34) is closed - and vice versa <priority circuit). 2. Flow rate control device according to claim 1, characterized in that the functional relationship between the volume flows flowing in the primary circuit (10) and secondary circuit (16) and that the starting point for the closure of the further primary circuit (52) formed from the further inlet (32) and outlet (14) can be set manually. 3. Flow rate control device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the further actuator <36) consists of a disk <46) which is spring-mounted on a further bolt <44) and is directed towards the front opening <48> of a control sleeve (50) <with third path), the further bolt (44) also being operatively connected to a first bolt <42> connected to the actuator <38) in such a way that during tapping breaks the further primary circuit <52) consisting of a further input <32>, output <14) and further actuator (36) (disk 46 and control sleeve 50 with third path) is open. 4. Flow rate control device according to one of claims 1 to 3,
characterized by a switching element for controlling externally arranged units. 5. Flow rate control device according to claim 4, characterized in that the switching element contains a permanent magnet <54) which can move with the bolt (42) and/or the further bolt <44) and which is in operative connection with an electromagnetic sensor <5ö) fixedly attached to the housing of the flow rate controller <28).