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Title:
THERMOELECTRIC DEVICE TO BE IMMERSED AND RELATED METHOD
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2020/240599
Kind Code:
A1
Abstract:
A thermoelectric device (1) is described, to be immersed in a liquid medium (11) designed to induce a thermal variation in the liquid medium (11), and comprising: at least one thermoelectric element (8), designed to induce the thermal variation of the liquid medium (11) in which the device (1) is immersed; at least one electromagnetic element (5), designed to actuate the thermoelectric element (8), through a plurality of electric elements (7); and the plurality of electric elements (7).

Inventors:
VITIELLO FABIO (IT)
Application Number:
PCT/IT2019/000043
Publication Date:
December 03, 2020
Filing Date:
May 29, 2019
Export Citation:
Click for automatic bibliography generation   Help
Assignee:
VITIELLO FABIO (IT)
International Classes:
F25D31/00; F25B21/04
Foreign References:
US20150013347A12015-01-15
US20150191685A12015-07-09
US3298191A1967-01-17
GB2426122A2006-11-15
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
GARAVELLI, Paolo (IT)
Download PDF:
Claims:
CLAIMS

1. Thermoelectric device (1) to be immersed in a liquid medium (11) inside a container (12) designed to induce a thermal variation in said liquid medium (11), characterized in that it comprises:

at least one thermoelectric element (8) , designed to induce said thermal variation of said liquid medium (11) in which said device (1) is immersed;

- at least one electromagnetic element (5) , designed to actuate said thermoelectric element (8) , through a plurality of electric elements (7) ; and

said plurality of electric elements (7) .

2. Device (1) according to the previous claim, characterized in that it further comprises:

a case (2 ) ;

at least one dissipating means (9) , arranged on said thermoelectric element (8) , designed to prevent an excessive overheating of said thermoelectric element (8) ;

at least one switching element (3) , suitable to turn the device (1) on and/or off;

a plurality of insulating elements (4) , suitable to cohibent said device (1) during its immersion in said liquid medium (11) ; and

at least one means (6) for accumulating electric energy, designed to re-charge the device (1) .

3. Device according to any one of the previous claims, characterized in that said thermal variation induced by said thermoelectric device (1) , through said thermoelectric element (8) , consists in a heating or in a cooling of said liquid medium (11) in which said device (1) is immersed.

4. Device (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that it is designed to induce a heating of said liquid medium (11) , said device (1) being composed of :

- said case (2) ;

said plurality of electric elements (7) , designed to induce said heating of said liquid medium (11) ;

said electromagnetic element (5) , designed to actuate said plurality of electric elements (7) ; said dissipating means (9) designed to prevent an excessive overheating of said device (1) ;

said switching element (3) ;

said plurality of insulating elements (4) ; and said means (6) for accumulating electric energy.

5. Method of thermal variation induced in said liquid medium (11) by said thermoelectric device (1) according to any one of the previous claims, said method comprising the following steps:

- turning on said thermoelectric device (1) through said switching element (3) and immersing said device (1) by at least one user, inside said liquid medium (11) ;

activating and operating said thermoelectric elements (8) , through said electromagnetic element (5) ; and

inducing said thermal variation by said thermoelectric element (8) , in said liquid medium

(11) .

Description:
THERMOELECTRIC DEVICE TO BE IMMERSED AND RELATED METHOD

The present invention refers to a thermoelectric device to be immersed, in particular to a device immersed into a liquid suitable to induce a thermal variation in the liquid. The present invention further refers to a method of thermal variation induced by the thermoelectric device to be immersed.

Complex heating and/or cooling systems are known in the art, mainly suitable to heat a liquid or a material with which they are in contact, through the use of thermoelectric devices, but the overall sizes and the volumes of such systems do not allow the use of such systems inside glasses, or other small containers for beverages.

A rigid element is also known, as disclosed in JPH-A-0792223 , equipped with an electric circuit therein, adapted to heat the device and transfer heat inside or next to the container in which it is inserted; it is further equipped with a complex system which provides for the expansion of nitrogen gas therein, to enable a refrigeration of the device itself and of the container or object arranged next to or inside which it is inserted.

It is clear how a simple thermoelectric system to be immersed is not known, which can be easily used by a user, and which allows cooling and heating a liquid contained inside a container, without changing its consistency and taste.

Object of the present invention is solving the above prior art problems, by providing a thermoelectric device to be immersed designed to induce a thermal variation of a liquid.

Another object is providing a method of thermal variation of the liquid in which the thermoelectric device is immersed.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will result from the following description, are obtained with a thermoelectric device to be immersed and a method of thermal variation induced by such device, as claimed, respectively, in claims 1 and 5.

Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims. It is intended that all enclosed claims are an integral part of the present description.

It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) can be made to what is described, without departing from the scope of the invention, as appears from the enclosed claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:

- Figure 1 shows a sectional view of an embodiment of the thermoelectric device according to the present invention;

- Figure 2 shows a sectional view of a use mode of the thermoelectric device according to the present invention; and

- Figure 3 shows a sectional view of a second embodiment of the thermoelectric device according to the present invention.

With reference to Figure 1, a thermoelectric device 1 according to the present invention, to be immersed into a liquid medium 11, such as, for example, water, or beer, or other simmilar one, arranged in a container 12, such as, for example, a glass, a pitcher, etc., is designed to induce a thermal variation, such as, for example a heating, or a cooling, in the liquid medium 11, without modifying its consistency and taste, and comprises: at least one case 2, preferably made of plastic material, such as, for example PVC, or resin, etc., and with a preferably cylindrical shape, enablimg an immersion of the device 1 by a user inside the liquid medium 11;

a thermoelectric element 8, such as, for example, a Peltier cell, arranged inside the case 2, designed to induce a thermal variation of the liquid medium 11 in which the device 1 is immersed; dissipating means 9, arranged on the thermoelectric element 8, designed to prevent an excessive overheating of the thermoelectric element 8;

an electromagnetic element 5, such as, for example, a switchin relay, or a cyclic relay, or a monostable relay, etc., designed to actuate the thermoelectric element 8, through a plurality of electric elements 7;

the plurality of electric elements 7, such as, for example, resistances, capacitors, etc.; at least one switching element 3, such as, for example, a switch, a circuit breaker, etc., suitable to turn the device 1 on and/or off, preferably arranged at an end of the case 2 ;

- a plurality of insulating elements 4, preferably arranged at both ends of the device 1, suitable to cohibent the device 1 during its immersion into the liquid medium 11; and

means 6 for accumulating electric energy, such as, for example a battery or other similar one, designed to re-charge the device 1.

Advantageously, the thermoelectric device 1 is decorated with customizable graphic and decorative finishings, is made of thin and light-weight material, conferring to the terhmoelectric device 1 resistance, lightness and originality, allowing its easy use by the user.

The method of thermal variation induced in the liquid medium 11 by the above described thermoelectric device 1, comprises the following steps :

turning on the thermoelectric device 1 through the switching element 3 and immersing the device 1, by the user, inside the liquid medium 11 as shown in Figure 2 ; activating and operating the thermoelectric element 8, through the electromagnetic element 5; inducing a thermal variation by the thermoelectric element 8, inducing the cooling or heating of the liquid medium 11 in which the device 1 is immersed.

Figure 3 shows a second embodiment of the thermoelectric device 1 to be immersed, designed to induce a heating of the liquid medium 11 in which it is immersed, such device 1 being composed of: the case 2 ;

the plurality of electric elements 7, designed to induce the heating of the liquid medium 11 in which the device 1 is immersed;

- the electromagnetic element 5 designed to actuate the plurality of electric elements 7;

the dissipating means 9 designed to prevent an excessive overheating of the device 1 ;

the switching element 3;

- the plurality of insulating elements 4; and

the means 6 for accumulating electric energy.