Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Bac~ground of Invention
Electric floor heater arrangements have been used in railway cars
One such arrangement is illustrated in United States Patent to Skypala NoO
3,~6,177.
In many heater systems used heretofore, perforated stainless steel
guard plates have been used to transmit the heat generated from a heat chamber
into the passenger compartment of the car. This has resulted in hot spots
being developed in the heater guard in the area at which the electric heating
element is attached to the stainless steel guard. This is partly because the
stainless steel is a poor heat conduc~or and it is difficult to generate a
uniform heat over a wide area. Despite this disadvantage, however, it is
still desirable to use a stainless steel exterior surface on the heater guards
because of its relatively long life and relative lack of maintenance require-
ments .
Heretofore, ma~y floor heater guards have used relatively flat
surfaces for transmitting the heat generated in a chamber. Consequently,
this limits the areas from which the heat is transmitted from the heater
guard into the car compartment.
In utili~ing floor heaters in a railway car, it is desirable to have
~O relatively uniform heat along long lengths of the car floor. Consequently,
a relatively large number of electrical heater elements are employed. In
order to give flexibility to the system and provide maximum cost efficiency
in manufacturing the system, it is desirable to have most, if not all, of the
heating elements of the same type and have the same wattage requirements even
for areas of the car near the doors, which tend to become cooler or subject
to great temperature fluctuations.
It is ~l object of this invention to provide an improved heater
guard in a heater system which minimi~es the creation of "hot spots" and
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results in greater heat distribution.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a heater guard
having a greater and more unifcrm heat transmitting surface.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide improved
meanS for generating uniform heat over a wide area in a passenger compartment
of a railway car utilizing heater elements of the same requirements to accom-
odate different temperature requirements.
Summary of Invention
The invention provides in a railway car having a floor and sidewall
~ith a ~indow therein, a heater arrangement comprising:
~ a~ a heater assembly for forming a heater chamber including first
and second attachment means and a heater guard;
(b) means for mounting said first attachment means to said side-
~all to extend perpendicularly therefrom;
~ c) means for mounting said second attachment means to said floor
in spaced relationship to said sidewall;
~ d) said heater guard extending longitudinally along said floor
and having a flat perforated central front section and perforated "V" shaped
top and bottom sections;
~0 te) means for attaching said heater guard to said first and
second attachment means so that said top and bottom "V" shaped sections of
said heater guard extend into said chamber and
~ f) a heating element attached to the flat central section of
said heater guard;
Preferably a perforated air duct is disposed below a window in the
car. A wall panel spaced from the sidewall of the car provides a heat con-
ductive passage~ay to connect the air duct to the heater chamber. Heat
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generated by the heating element causes cool air to enter and circulake
through the heater chamber and warm air to exit through the perforations in
the heater guard and ~hrough the heat conductive passageway to the air duct.
Heated air passes into the interior of the car from the perforations in the
heater guard and air duct.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be ap-
parent and suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, from a reading of
the following specification and claims, taken in conjunction with the accom-
panying drawing, in which:
Figure 1 is a front view, broken away, illustrating a heater ar-
rangement for a railway car, in accordance with the present invention;
Figures 2A-2B are cross-sectional views, partly broken away, taken
along lines 2A-2B of Figure 1, with Figure 2B being a continuation of Figure
~, and
Figure 3 is an isometric view, partly broken away, illustrating
the heater arrangement of the present invention.
Description of Invention
Referring to Figure 1, a floor heater 10 comprises one of a plura-
lity of floor heaters disposed along the sidewall and floor 12 of the rail-
way car. The individual floor units may include endwalls 14. In a preferredembodiment, all of the floor heater ends are disposed next to each other so as
to form a continuous floor heating arrangement.
As will be described, cool air is taken into perforations 20 and
heated in a heating chamber and exhausted through perforations 16 and 18 of
the heater guard 22. The arrows generally indicate the directi~n of movement
by convection of the cool air and heated air. Some of the air heated within
the heater 10 is transmitted through a passageway in the sidewall of the car
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to a perforated duct 2~, which is disposed in close proximity to a window 26.
The heated air from the duct 24 originating in the floor heater 10 passes
through the perforations 28 generally in the direction indicated by the
arrows lhe dol~nward pointing arrow represents the relative cool air from
the ~indow 26.
Referring to Figures 2A and 2B, along with Figure 1~ the various
details of the heating arrangements shown generally in Figur)e 1 are illus-
trated. The floor heater 10 co~prises a top attachment flange 30 which
extends perpendicularly away from the sidewall of the rail car. The sidewail
comprises an outer sheet 32 and insulating panel 34. A second attachment
means is attached to the floor 12. This attachment means includes a molding
36. Heater guard 22 is attached to the attachment means, including the
flange 30, by means o~ suitable connect~r 40 extending through to a spacer 42
to engage an inwardly extending portion 44 of the flange 30. The~bottom of
the heater guard 22 is connected between the molding 36 and the spring-loaded
clip 38. During installation, the bottom edge 46 o~ the heater guard 22 is~
inserted between the molding 36 and spring clip 38 with the top part of the
heater guard 22 then being connected to the inward portion 44 of the flange
30~ as illustrated.
~ The heater guard 22 comprises a central portion 48, a top portion
50 and a bottom portion 52. The upper and lower portions, 50 and 52, are l'V"
shaped and extend into heating chamber 54. The heating chamber 54 may, in
effect, be formed by the top flange 30, the heater guard 22, the floor and
side-wall of the car.
A pair of heater elements 56 and 58 are mounted to the central por-
ti~n of the heater guard 22 by means of carriage bolts 60 and 62S held in
place b~ nuts 64 and 66. Suitable~c~ al ~ires not illustrated, are con
nected to the heating elements 56 and 58 to generate heat in the chamber 54.
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The heating elements 56 and 58 are suitably insulated from the heater guard
22 by means of insulators 68) 70 and 72. A reflector 7~ is connected between
the insulators 68 and 70 and will be describe~ in further detail below.
A passageway 76 is connected between the heating chamber 54 of the
floor heater 10 and a chamber 78 provided by the perforated duct 24. Warm
air is transmitted in the direction indicated by the arrows through the pass-
ageway 76 into the heating chamber 78 and finally exits through the perfora-
tion 28 the cold air emanating from the window 26 is indicated by arrows
extending generally downward. The upwardly moving warm air from the duct 24
tends to neutralize the downwardly extending cool air emanating from the
~indow 26. The total overall effect is that a passènger sitting adjacent to
indol~ 26 will not tend to feel the cool air from the window 26 and the area
around the window will tend to be of about the same temperature most of the
time.
Referring to Figure 2B, the heater panel 22 comprises a main body of
aluminum material 80 metallurgically clad by a thin coating of stainless steel
B2 on the outer surface of the heater guard 22. The thickness o~f the steel
B2 is greatly e~aggerated for purposes of illustration. The use of the stain-
less steel coatings makes the surfaces of the heater guard 22 resistant to
~ear and require very little maintenance. At the same time, the main body 80
comprises aluminum which is highly conductive with respect to heat. The high-
ly conductive aluminum body makes it possible to generate a rela~ively uniform
heat throughout the surface of the heater guard 22. This eliminates the so-
called "hot spots" found in prior art sys~ems where the heater guards were
made entirely of stainless steel. The heat spots were generally caused by the
p~or conductivity of the stainless steel. Thus~ the particular composition of
the heater guard 22 provides the advantage~of both stainless steel and alumi-
num without the attendant disadvantages relating thereto.
The reflector guard 74 comprises a section 86 with ~wo inwardly
angularly extending sections 88 and 90. The section 90 ex~e~ds inwardly so
as to receive the heat generated from the bottom of the heating chamber 54
and directed between the reflector and heater guard 22. The~upper angular
section ~8 is substantially parallel to one of the "V" legs of portion 50.
nle reflector 74 is spaced from the heating element 56. The reflector there-
fore is positioned to reflect some of the heat generated from the heating
element 56. Consequently, the amount of heat passing from the element 56 to
the panel 22 is controlled, to a great extent, by the rcflector 74. In ad-
dition to controlling the "hot spots" which may be generated in the panel 22>the reflector 74 makes it possible to utilize heating elements of higher
capacity while still generating a desired temperature at the panel 22. In
other ~Yords, the heating elements involved in a raii car may be numerous and
the more uniform the ~attage requirements the more economical it is to build
the heating system in the car. Reflectors such as reflector 74 are capable of
handling heating elements of higher wattage by reflecting the amount of heat
desired.
The lo~er heating element 58 does not include a reflector. The
reason for this is that air entering into the chamber 74 is much cooler than
~0 the air toward the top of the chamber 54. Consequently, no reflector is re-
quired to reduce or reflect the heat generated.
Various other elements, not directly connected to the invention,
and found in many railway cars are illustrated. For example, an attachment
92 is used to receive a seat support flange. A base 94 is provided to support
the insulating panel 34. A seat support flange 96 is provided and is shaped
50 as to include an area 98 for better control of the airflow in the passage-
u~ay 76.
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A ~Yainscot 100 is connected below the window and above heater guard
22. A channel member 102 and member 104 are utilized for supports and to
define the heating chamber 78. The window 26 is supported in a flexible mem-
ber 106 held in position by conventional means. It is noted that most of the
passageway 76 is relatively narrow, in the order of one inch. At the same
time, the ducts 24 extend outwardly away from the window for passenger com-
fort. Consequently, the various connecting elements are arranged as described
to maintain the passageway 76 relatively narrow as the heated air passes
from the chamber 54 to the chamber 78.
It is noted that the reflector element 74 includes angular portions
88 and 90 which reflect heat back into the chamber 54, At the same time, the
central portion of the reflector is spaced from and parallel to the central
section of the heater guard to provide a path for the heat to circulate from
the top to the bottom of the chamber 54.
The flanges 30 include, at the inner end of flanges 30, a downwardly
extending lip. The section 50 includes a cooperating upwardly extending lip.
This arrangement prevents vandals from inserting sticks or wires into the
heating chamber to cause electrical problems.
