JP2010025402A - Hot water storage tank unit and water heater equipped with the same - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a hot water storage tank unit reducing heat release loss by performing heat insulation of an upper lateral face part of a hot water storage tank by a vacuum heat insulation material and having high efficiency and reliability. <P>SOLUTION: The hot water storage tank unit includes the hot water storage tank 2 in which an upper part and a lower part of an approximately cylindrical body 2a are closed by an approximately hemispherical upper end plate 2b and an approximately hemispherical lower end plate 2c, respectively; an exterior case 7 for storing the hot water storage tank 2; the vacuum heat insulation material 4 for covering at least part of the lateral periphery of the body 2a; and an upper end plate heat insulation material 5 for covering the upper end plate 2b. Since the vacuum heat insulation material 4 is arranged to project upwardly from a joint part between the upper end plate 2b and the body 2a, loss of heat release from the lateral face parts of the body 2a and the upper end plate 2b is reduced. Thus, the highly efficient and compact hot water storage tank unit can be provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a hot water storage tank unit and a water heater provided with the same, and more particularly to a hot water storage tank unit that achieves space saving and high efficiency by using a vacuum heat insulating material for heat insulation of the hot water storage tank.

  As a conventional hot water storage tank unit of this type and a water heater provided with the same, there is one using a vacuum heat insulating material as a heat insulating material (see, for example, Patent Document 1). 6 and 7 show a conventional hot water storage tank unit described in Patent Document 1. FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the hot water storage tank unit 1 includes a cylindrical hot water storage tank 2 and a rectangular tubular outer case 3 surrounding the hot water storage tank 2. In the space with 3, a vacuum heat insulating material 4 and a sheet-shaped heat insulating material 5 are installed to keep the hot water storage tank warm.

  The vacuum heat insulating material 4 is affixed along the shape of the hot water storage tank 2. The sheet-like heat insulating material 5 is installed so as to be filled in the space between the hot water storage tank 2 and the outer case 3.

Thus, by arranging the vacuum heat insulating material 4 in a portion where the space distance between the hot water storage tank 2 and the outer case 3 is small, the installation space can be reduced without deteriorating the heat insulating performance of the hot water storage tank 2 and the workability can be improved. It can be planned.
Japanese Patent No. 4001184

  However, in the conventional configuration, the top and bottom portions of the hot water storage tank 2 having a complicated three-dimensional curved surface in which the connecting portion between the hot water storage tank 2 and a water supply / hot water supply pipe (not shown) is located, and the vacuum heat insulating material 4 Since all the side surfaces of the hot water storage tank 2 other than the installation part are thermally insulated by the sheet-like heat insulating material 5, it is difficult to install the sheet-like heat insulating material 5, and when the installation is insufficient, the sheet-like heat insulating material is used. There was a fear that the heat insulation performance of the hot water storage tank 2 would be reduced due to heat dissipation loss from the gap between the materials 5 or the gap between the sheet-like heat insulating material 5 and the vacuum heat insulating material 4.

  The present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and insulates the hot water storage tank with a plurality of heat insulating materials according to the shape of the hot water storage tank and the water supply / hot water supply piping, thereby improving the workability of heat insulation, An object of the present invention is to provide a hot water storage tank unit with high efficiency and high reliability by reducing heat dissipation loss by performing heat insulation of the upper part of the tank with a vacuum heat insulating material.

  In order to solve the above-described conventional problems, a hot water storage tank unit of the present invention includes a hot water storage tank in which an upper portion of a substantially cylindrical body is sealed with an upper end plate and a lower portion of the body is sealed with a lower end plate, and the hot water storage tank is accommodated. An outer case, a vacuum heat insulating material that covers at least a part of the periphery of the body, and an upper heat insulating material that covers the upper end plate, wherein the vacuum heat insulating material is joined to the upper end plate and the body. It is characterized in that it is disposed so as to protrude further upward, and the heat dissipation loss of the side surface portion of the upper end plate is reduced, so that high efficiency and compactness can be achieved.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, by heat-insulating the upper side part of a hot water storage tank with a vacuum heat insulating material, a heat dissipation loss can be reduced and a highly efficient and reliable hot water storage tank unit can be provided.

  According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hot water storage tank in which an upper portion of a substantially cylindrical body is sealed with an upper end plate and a lower portion of the body is sealed with a lower end plate, an exterior case for storing the hot water storage tank, and at least a peripheral side of the body A vacuum heat insulating material covering a part and an upper end plate heat insulating material covering the upper end plate, wherein the vacuum heat insulating material is disposed so as to protrude upward from a joint portion between the upper end plate and the body. Therefore, heat loss from the side surface of the upper end plate is reduced, and high efficiency and compactness can be achieved.

  In the second invention, the upper end plate is substantially hemispherical, and the normal distance connecting the point on the upper end face of the vacuum heat insulating material and the outer surface of the upper end plate is equal to or greater than the minimum thickness of the upper end plate heat insulating material. Thus, the strength of the upper end plate heat insulating material can be ensured, and the heat dissipation loss of the side surface portion of the upper end plate can be reduced, so that high efficiency and compactness can be achieved.

  In the third invention, the upper end plate is substantially hemispherical, the normal distance connecting the point on the upper end face of the vacuum heat insulating material and the outer surface of the upper end plate is L, the thermal conductivity of the vacuum heat insulating material is λ1, It is characterized by having a relationship of L ≧ D × λ2 / λ1, where D is the thickness of the vacuum heat insulating material and λ2 is the thermal conductivity of the heat insulating material of the upper end plate. However, the heat insulation performance of the side part of the tank body is higher, and the heat dissipation loss can be further reduced at the portion where the upper end plate heat insulating material and the vacuum heat insulating material are laminated, thereby achieving higher efficiency and downsizing.

  4th invention can comprise a highly efficient and compact water heater by connecting the heat source machine which heats water to a hot water storage tank unit.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a hot water storage tank unit 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the hot water storage tank unit 1 along AA ′.

  1 and 2, the actual hot water storage tank unit 1 has a water supply pipe for supplying water to the hot water storage tank 2, a hot water supply pipe for extracting hot water from the hot water storage tank 2, and a mixture of water and hot water. However, in order to describe the heat insulation structure of the hot water storage tank unit 1, illustration and detailed description are omitted. To do.

  In FIG. 1, a hot water storage tank 2 is a container in which an upper portion of a substantially cylindrical body 2a is sealed with an upper end plate 2b and a lower portion of the body 2a is sealed with a lower end plate 2c. The shapes of the upper end plate 2b and the lower end plate 2c are substantially hemispherical or substantially semi-elliptical. Stainless steel is mainly used as the material for the hot water storage tank 2.

  The outer peripheral portion of the hot water storage tank 2 is housed in the outer case 7 in a state of being insulated by the front heat insulating material 3, the vacuum heat insulating material 4, the upper end panel heat insulating material 5, and the bottom heat insulating material 6.

  A front heat insulating material 3 is installed on the outer front surface of the body 2a. Since the front part of the hot water storage tank 2 is usually equipped with many parts (not shown) such as water supply / hot water supply pipes and mixing valves in addition to control boards and electrical components, the material of the front heat insulating material 3 For example, it is preferable to use foamed polystyrene or foamed urethane that is easy to mold and relatively inexpensive.

  The vacuum heat insulating material 4 is installed from the left and right side surfaces to the back surface of the body 2a. Since this portion is not penetrated by water supply / hot water supply pipes and the surface shape of the hot water storage tank 2 is a simple two-dimensional curved surface, the body 2a of the hot water storage tank 2 is formed by molding the plate-like vacuum heat insulating material 4 into a roll shape. It is good to install along.

  The structure of a general vacuum heat insulating material is shown in FIG. The vacuum heat insulating material is formed by wrapping a core material 8 made of a fiber material such as silica with an upper skin material 9a and a lower skin material 9b such as aluminum and evacuating the inside, and then subjecting the outer peripheral end faces 10a and 10b to a heat welding process or the like. It is a heat-insulating material that is hermetically sealed, and its thermal conductivity is one-fifth to one-tenth that of urethane and is a very high-performance heat-insulating material.

  Normally, the shape of the vacuum heat insulating material is a flat plate, but it can be processed into a curved surface by rolling, and can be installed along a cylindrical curved surface such as the hot water storage tank 2.

  Therefore, if a vacuum heat insulating material is used for heat insulation of the side surface of the hot water storage tank 2, the thickness of the heat insulating material can be made thinner than that of urethane or the like, and the hot water storage tank unit 1 can be made compact. .

  On the outer periphery of the upper end plate 2b of the hot water storage tank 2, an upper end plate insulating material 5 is installed. In the upper end plate 2b, not only piping such as a hot water supply pipe penetrates the upper end plate insulating material 5, but also the shape of the upper end plate 2b is a complicated three-dimensional curved surface, so it is difficult to install the insulating material without a gap.

  Moreover, since hot water (60-90 degreeC) always exists in the upper part of the hot water storage tank 2, it is desirable that the heat insulation performance of the hot water storage tank 2 upper part is higher than the heat insulation performance of the hot water storage tank 2 lower part.

  Therefore, the upper end position of the vacuum heat insulating material 4 is protruded upward from the joint portion between the upper end plate 2b and the body 2a, and the side surface portion of the upper end plate 2b is insulated with the high performance vacuum heat insulating material 4, thereby torso Therefore, it is possible to reduce the heat radiation loss from the side surfaces of 2a and the upper end plate 2b.

  The vacuum heat insulating material 4 has a normal distance L connecting one point on the upper end surface of the vacuum heat insulating material 4 and the outer surface of the substantially hemispherical upper end plate 2b equal to or greater than the minimum thickness of the upper end plate insulating material 5. It is good to arrange so that it becomes. Thereby, while ensuring the intensity | strength of the upper end panel heat insulating material 5, the heat loss from the side part of the upper end panel 2b can be reduced, and the hot water storage tank unit 1 can be made highly efficient and compact.

  Desirably, the normal distance L connecting one point on the upper end face of the vacuum heat insulating material 4 and the outer surface of the substantially hemispherical upper end plate 2b is λ1, the thermal conductivity of the vacuum heat insulating material 4 By arranging the vacuum heat insulating material 4 so that L ≧ D × λ2 / λ1 when the thickness of the material 4 is D and the thermal conductivity of the upper end heat insulating material is λ2, the side surface portion of the upper end plate 2b is arranged. Heat insulation performance is higher than the heat insulation performance of the side surface portion of the body 2a, and the heat dissipation loss can be further reduced in the portion where the upper end plate heat insulating material 5 and the vacuum heat insulating material 4 are laminated, and the hot water storage tank unit 1 is highly efficient and Compactness can be achieved.

  For example, when foam polystyrene is adopted as the material of the upper end plate heat insulating material 5 (the thermal conductivity is 5 times that of the vacuum heat insulating material 4) and the thickness of the vacuum heat insulating material 4 is 8 mm, the predetermined length L is the vacuum heat insulating material. It becomes 40 mm, which is five times the thickness of the material 4.

  Further, as the material of the upper end plate heat insulating material 5, it is preferable to use foamed polystyrene or foamed urethane that is easy to mold and relatively inexpensive.

  A bottom heat insulating material 6 is installed on the outer periphery of the lower end plate 2 c of the hot water storage tank 2. In the lower end plate 2c, not only pipes such as water supply pipes penetrate the bottom heat insulating material 6, but also the shape of the lower end plate 2c is a complicated three-dimensional curved surface, so it is difficult to install the heat insulating material without a gap.

  However, there is little hot water near the bottom of the hot water storage tank 2 (just after the boiling operation of the entire hot water storage tank 2 is completed), and usually there is low temperature water at the bottom of the hot water storage tank 2. Therefore, it is not necessary to strengthen the heat insulation as much as the upper part of the hot water storage tank 2. Therefore, as the material of the bottom heat insulating material 6, it is preferable to use glass wool or the like that is inexpensive and easy to install in addition to foamed polystyrene and foamed urethane that are easy to mold and relatively inexpensive.

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of the hot water storage tank unit 1 according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the upper end panel 2b and the body 2a are divided into an upper vacuum heat insulating material 4a and a lower vacuum heat insulating material 4b at the joint portion between the left and right side surfaces of the body 2a. It is in the point which comprised the vacuum heat insulating material 4 covered from a part to a back part.

  The upper end plate 2b and the body 2a are joined by welding. However, if there is a burr or the like at the joined portion, the burr may damage the vacuum heat insulating material 4 and cause a decrease in the heat insulation performance of the hot water storage tank 2.

  Therefore, the vacuum heat insulating material 4 is divided into the upper vacuum heat insulating material 4a and the lower vacuum heat insulating material 4b with the joint between the upper end plate 2b and the body 2a as a boundary, thereby preventing the vacuum heat insulating material 4 from being damaged by burrs. be able to. Also, even if either the upper vacuum insulation 4a or the lower vacuum insulation 4b is damaged, the other vacuum insulation is normal, so that the deterioration of the insulation performance of the hot water storage tank 2 is minimized. Can do.

  Furthermore, by dividing | segmenting the vacuum heat insulating material 4, workability improves compared with the case where the big vacuum heat insulating material before a division | segmentation is installed.

  Moreover, as shown in FIG. 5, it is also possible to arrange the upper vacuum heat insulating material 4a so as to be inclined toward the upper end plate 2b with respect to the vertical direction. By arranging the upper vacuum heat insulating material 4a in this way, the upper end plate heat insulating material 5 can be reduced in size, and the material cost can be reduced.

  Note that a hot water supply device can be configured by connecting a heat source device (not shown) for heating water to the hot water storage tank unit 1, but an electric heater or a heat pump unit can be adopted as the heat source device. .

  As described above, in the hot water storage tank unit of the present invention, the heat radiation loss from the side surface portion of the upper end plate can be reduced by performing heat insulation of the side surface portion of the upper end plate and the side surface portion of the tank body with the vacuum heat insulating material. A compact hot water storage tank unit can be provided.

  The hot water storage tank unit according to the present invention can be used for a hot water storage tank unit of an electric water heater using an electric heater as well as a heat pump water heater using a heat pump unit as a heat source device of the hot water storage tank.

The block diagram of the hot water storage tank unit in Embodiment 1 of this invention A-A 'horizontal sectional view of FIG. The block diagram of the vacuum heat insulating material in Embodiment 1 of this invention The block diagram of the hot water storage tank unit in Embodiment 2 of this invention Configuration diagram of other hot water storage tank units Configuration diagram of a hot water storage tank unit of a conventional hot water storage type hot water supply system B-B 'horizontal sectional view of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hot water storage tank unit 2 Hot water storage tank 2a Body 2b Upper end plate 2c Lower end plate 3 Front heat insulating material 4 Vacuum heat insulating material 4a Upper vacuum heat insulating material 4b Lower vacuum heat insulating material 5 Upper end plate insulating material 6 Bottom heat insulating material 7 Exterior case 8 Core material 9a Upper part Outer skin material 9b Lower skin material 10a, 10b Outer peripheral edge

Claims (4)

A hot water storage tank in which the upper part of the substantially cylindrical body is sealed with an upper end panel and the lower part of the body is sealed with a lower end panel, an outer case for housing the hot water storage tank, and vacuum insulation covering at least part of the periphery of the body A hot water storage tank unit comprising: a material and an upper end plate heat insulating material covering the upper end plate, wherein the vacuum heat insulating material is disposed to protrude upward from a joint portion between the upper end plate and the body. The upper end plate is substantially hemispherical, and the normal distance connecting the point on the upper end face of the vacuum heat insulating material and the outer surface of the upper end plate is equal to or greater than the minimum thickness of the upper end plate heat insulating material. Item 2. A hot water storage tank unit according to item 1. The upper end plate is substantially hemispherical, the normal distance connecting the point on the upper end face of the vacuum heat insulating material and the outer surface of the upper end plate is L, the thermal conductivity of the vacuum heat insulating material is λ1, and the thickness of the vacuum heat insulating material. The hot water storage tank unit according to claim 1, wherein a relationship of L ≧ D × λ2 / λ1 is established, where D is D and the thermal conductivity of the upper end plate heat insulating material is λ2. A water heater provided with the hot water storage tank unit according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

Images