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Designing Better Boilers

Heber’s extensive capability in designing and manufacturing sophisticated electronic controls for the hot water and water boiler market can help drive faster delivery of effective, consumer focused design.

There are a number of standard design requirements for water boilers of all types: fast and efficient heating, minimum condensation, maintenance of water temperature close to boiling point without boiling, ready for use on demand. As the water is being used, it is important to minimise the time to get the water ready for the next user or customer. Whilst obvious, none of these issues are trivial to implement.

The boiling point of water is variable and affected by air pressure and solutes in the water. Simply holding a particular temperature is not good enough if this temperature needs to be as close to boiling as possible. Heber has developed an innovative real time control loop that detects and calibrates the boiling point of water on installation. Once operational, the electronics recalibrates the boiling point, allowing for the drift caused by pressure changes as weather systems pass overhead. We have studied meteorological records of severe storms to identify the worst case rate of change of pressure likely to be experienced by the system if installed anywhere in the world.

In larger boilers for domestic and commercial use it is important to manage the vertical stratification of the water column caused by hot water rising to the top. Correct management of this enables the most efficient use of hot water. It ensures that colder water entering at the bottom of the boiler to replace hot water being drawn off from the top of the tank, does not come in too quickly or turbulently and cool down any more of the tank’s water than necessary.

It’s not only about having hot water on demand or making a good cup of tea. We also need to constantly improve energy loss and legislation regarding power use in standby mode is getting stricter every year. All water boiler manufacturers need to keep up to date with the latest standards with regarding to power use, standby power and overall efficiency. Heber has great experience in designing electronics and developing sophisticated control software that ensures manufacturers’ boiler products are up to date with all of these issues and remain highly competitive in the market.

If you want to heat, pump, cool, or mix water or detect accurately the flow rate and temperature at any point at any time, then Heber can help. We can also provide consultancy services to check hardware and software designs to check for potential problems as well as assisting with the approvals and applications for patents.