Electrically heated windshield washer spray nozzle assembly

Claim 1

A apparatus for spraying such as the windshield of an automotive vehicle comprising: a hollow angled pipe of thermally conductive material, having a fluid inlet and a terminal portion; a spray nozzle assembly of thermally conductive material and mounted on said terminal portion; housing means of thermally insulating material enclosing said pipe and adapted for a detachable mounting upon the vehicle, adjacent the windshield thereof in a position such that fluid spray from said nozzle assembly is directed onto the exterior surface of the windshield; and forming a chamber with a downwardlyfacing opening beneath the nozzle assembly; a PTC heating element mounted in said chamber contiguous to and in heat exchange relation with said nozzle assembly and pipe; said PTC element having a pill-shaped structure, whose electric connections from a power supply pass through a plastic closure element to the outside; said closure element being removably fixed in said housing and closing said downwardly-facing opening, said housing being formed of heat-insulating thermo-plastic material and being circumferentially grooved for releasable engagement with the rim of an opening in the body surface of the vehicle, said PTC heating element having a temperature resistance curve such that at low ambient temperatures a low resistance and at high ambient temperatures a high resistance occurs; the Curie point of said curve being at or just below the freezing point temperature of water and rising sharply at or about 0° C. with its steepest portion below about 50° C.

Claim 2

A apparatus for spraying such as the windshield of an automotive vehicle comprising: a hollow angled pipe of thermally conductive material, having a fluid inlet and a terminal portion; a spray nozzle assembly of thermally conductive material and mounted on said terminal portion; housing means of thermally insulating material enclosing said pipe and adapted for a detachable mounting upon the vehicle, adjacent the windshield thereof in a position such that fluid spray from said nozzle assembly is directed onto the exterior surface of the windshield; and forming a chamber with a downwardlyfacing opening beneath the nozzle assembly; a PTC heating element mounted in said chamber contiguous to and in heat exchange relation with said nozzle assembly and pipe; said PTC element having a pill-shaped structure, whose electric connections from a power supply pass through a plastic closure element to the outside; said closure element being removably fixed in said housing and closing said downwardly-facing opening, said housing being formed of heat-insulating thermo-plastic material and being circumferentially grooved for releasable engagement with the rim of an opening in the body surface of the vehicle, said PTC heating element having a temperature resistance curve such that at low ambient temperatures a low resistance and at high ambient temperatures a high resistance occurs; the Curie point of said curve being at or just below the freezing point temperature of water and rising sharply at or about 0° C. with its steepest portion below about 50° C.