The present invention relates in general to a heating convector for convection heating of spaces, in particular, but not exclusively, industrial spaces and livestock farming areas. 5 More specifically, the present invention relates to a heating convector of the type provided with a gas heater as an air heating device, as specified in the preamble of the accompanying independent claim 1.

A heating convector of the aforementioned type is commercially distributed by the present

L 0 Applicant under the trade name of CUBO S/G. An illustration of such a known heating convector is shown in Figure 1 of the attached drawings. With reference to Figure 1 , the heating convector is generally indicated 10 and comprises a housing 12, a fan 14, which is preferably made as a centrifugal fan and is arranged inside the housing 12 with its axis of rotation directed vertically, and a gas heater 16 which is designed to heat the air which is

L 5 sucked in by the fan 14 through a vertical-axis conduit 18 forming the housing of the gas heater. The housing 12 is preferably made of sheet metal and has a substantially parallelepiped configuration. The side walls of the housing 12 are provided with grilles 20 positioned and with dimensions such as not to hinder the air flow flowing out of the housing, said air flow being generated by the fan 14 and being directed in a substantially 0 radial direction. The top horizontal wall 22 of the housing 12 has a circular inlet opening, the fan 14 being arranged inside the housing coaxially with said opening. The conduit 18 of the gas heater 16 is connected to the housing 12 in the region of the inlet opening so that the fan 14 sucks in the air in a substantially vertical (axial) direction from the top end of the conduit 18 and expels the air, which may be heated by the gas heater 16 while flowing

15 through the conduit 18, in a substantially horizontal (radial) direction through the grilles 20 of the housing 12. The heating convector 10 is installed suspended from the ceiling of the space or area to be heated, by means of suspension cables (not shown) which are connected either to the housing 12 or, more frequently, to the conduit 18 of the gas heater 16.

10 According to this known arrangement, the connection of the conduit 1 8 of the gas heater 16 to the top wall 22 of the housing 12 is a mechanical connection of the bayonet type. Such a type of connection, however, has a number of drawbacks. Firstly, any dirt which has accumulated in the interstices between the joining surfaces of the housing and of the conduit may make disassembly of the conduit from the housing more difficult, said disassembly being necessary for example for periodic maintenance and/or cleaning of the fan. Secondly, once the conduit has been disassembled from the housing the part of the heating convector which is not suspended from the ceiling (namely the gas heater, in the case where the suspension cables are connected to the housing, or the housing, in the case where the suspension cables are connected to the gas heater) must be placed on the ground somewhere in the vicinity of the heating convector, which may not always be easy. Likewise, subsequent reconnection of the conduit of the gas heater to the housing is usually not so easy.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a heating convector comprising a gas heater which allows access to the fan without the need to disassemble completely the gas heater from the housing inside which the fan is arranged.

This and other objects are fully achieved according to the present invention by means of a heating convector having the features specified in the accompanying independent claim 1.

Further advantageous features of the invention are set forth in the dependent claims, the contents of which are to be understood as forming an integral and complementary part of the following description.

In short, the invention is based on the idea of connecting by hinging the conduit of the gas heater to the top wall or, in more general terms, to the upstream wall (with respect to the direction of the air flow) of the housing of the heating convector, so that the conduit and the housing may be rotated relative to each other about a hinging axis between a closed normal-operation position, in which the gas heater closes off the inlet opening of the housing, and an open position, in which the gas heater allows access to the inside of the housing, and therefore to the fan, through the aforementioned inlet opening. With a heating convector according to the invention, therefore, the gas heater remains attached to the housing, even in the open position, by means of the hinge which connects the conduit of the gas heater to the housing. Accordingly, during cleaning and/or maintenance operations on the heating convector with the gas heater and the housing rotated relative to each other in the open position, both the gas heater and the housing remain suspended above the ground and there is therefore no need to place somewhere on the ground one of these two components of the heating convector. Moreover, the operation of opening or closing the heating convector becomes very easy, since it suffices in fact to remove or insert, respectively, a locking pin situated on a diametrically opposite side of the conduit with respect to the hinge.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description given purely by way of a non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of a heating convector provided with a gas heater according to the prior art;

Figure 2 shows a perspective view of a heating convector provided with a gas heater according to an embodiment of the present invention, in the closed position;

Figure 3 shows, on an enlarged scale, the zone where the conduit of the gas heater is connected to the housing of the heating convector of Figure 2; and

Figures 4 and 5 show perspective views, from two different angles, of the heating convector of Figure 2, in the open position.

With reference to Figures 2 to 5, a heating convector according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is generally indicated 10 and comprises a housing 12, a fan 14, which is preferably made as a centrifugal fan and is arranged inside the housing 12 with its axis of rotation (indicated z) directed vertically, and a gas heater 16 which is designed to heat the air which is sucked in by the fan 14 through a vertical-axis conduit 18 forming the housing of the gas heater.

Preferably, the housing 12 is made of sheet metal and has a substantially parallelepiped configuration. The side walls of the housing 12 are preferably provided with grilles 20 positioned and with dimensions such as not to hinder the substantially radial air flow flowing out of the housing. The top horizontal wall 22 of the housing 12 (upstream wall, with respect to the direction of the air flow through the housing of the heating convector) has a circular inlet opening 26 (Figure 5), the fan 14 being arranged inside the housing coaxially with said opening. The conduit 18 of the gas heater 16 is connected to the housing 12 in the region of the inlet opening 26 in such a way that the fan 14 sucks in the air in a substantially vertical direction (axial direction) from the top end of the conduit 18 and expels the air, which may be heated by the gas heater 16 while flowing through the conduit 18, in a substantially horizontal direction (more precisely, in a radial direction) through the grilles 20 of the housing 12.

The heating convector 10 is installed suspended from the ceiling of the space or area to be heated by means of suspension cables 24 (shown in Figures 4 and 5) which in the embodiment proposed here are connected to the conduit 18 of the gas heater 16, but might alternatively be connected to the housing 12.

In order to allow easy access to the inside of the housing 12 to carry out cleaning and/or maintenance operations on the fan 14 received inside the housing, the conduit 18 of the gas heater 16 is connected by means of a hinge device 28 to the top wall 22 of the housing 12, in such a way that the conduit 18 and the housing 12 may be rotated relative to each other about a hinging axis y (which extends parallel to the top wall 22 of the housing, i.e. in a substantially horizontal direction) between a closed normal-operation position, in which the gas heater 16 closes off the inlet opening 26 of the housing 12, and an open position, in which the gas heater 16 allows access to the inside of the housing 12, and therefore to the fan 14, through the aforementioned inlet opening 26.

More specifically, as can be seen in particular in the enlarged view of Figure 3, the hinge device 28 comprises a first hinge element 30 rigidly fixed, for example by means of screws, to the conduit 18, a second hinge element 32 rigidly fixed, for example by means of screws, to the top wall 22 of the housing 12, and one or more hinge pins 34 by means of which the first and second hinge elements 30 and 32 are connected to each other so as to be able to rotate freely relative to each other about the hinging axis y. In the embodiment proposed here, both the first hinge element 30 and the second hinge element 32 comprise a pair of connection plates (indicated 36 for the first hinge element 30 and 38 for the second hinge element 32) which are directed perpendicularly with respect to the hinging axis y and are connected in pairs by means of a pair of screws acting as hinge pins 34.

A locking device 40 is provided on the diametrically opposite side with respect to the hinge device 28, said device allowing the conduit 18 and the housing 12 to be releasably locked in the aforementioned closed position. As shown in particular in Figures 3 and 5, according to the proposed embodiment the locking device 40 comprises a first locking element 42 rigidly fixed, for example by means of screws, to the conduit 18 on the diametrically opposite side with respect to the first hinge element 30, and a second locking element 44 rigidly fixed, for example by means of screws, to the top wall 22 of the housing 12 on the diametrically opposite side with respect to the second hinge element 32. The first and the second locking elements 42 and 44 both comprise a pair of locking plates (indicated 46 for the first locking element 42 and 48 for the second locking element 44) which have respective through-holes 50 aligned with each other. In the aforementioned closed position, the through-holes 50 of the pair of locking plates 46 of the first locking element 42 are aligned with the through-holes 50 of the pair of locking plates 48 of the second locking element 44 and it is therefore possible to insert through these holes a locking pin 52 (partially visible in Figure 2) in order to connect the two locking elements 42 and 44, and therefore the conduit 18 and the housing 12 to which these elements are rigidly connected, to each other. Upon extraction of the locking pin from the through-holes 50, the conduit 18 and the housing 12 are no longer fastened to each other and may therefore be rotated relative to each other about the hinging axis y so as to assume the open position defined above. With a heating convector according to the invention, the gas heater remains attached to the housing by means of the hinge which connects the conduit of the gas heater to said housing, even in the open position. Consequently, during cleaning and/or maintenance operations on the heating convector with the gas heater and the housing rotated relative to each other in the open position, both the gas heater and the housing remain suspended from the ground and there is therefore no need to place somewhere on the ground one of these two components of the heating convector. Moreover, the operation of opening or closing the heating convector is very easy, since it suffices to unlock the locking device (for example by removing a locking pin) situated on a diametrically opposite side of the conduit with respect to the hinge.

Naturally, the principle of the invention remaining unchanged, the embodiments and the constructional details may vary widely from those described and illustrated purely by way of non-limiting example, without thereby departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.