Carburetor for the combustion engine in a handheld work apparatus, combustion engine comprising a carburetor, and method for operating a combustion engine

A combustion engine comprising:

• a carburetor having a carburetor housing and a carburetor drum mounted rotatably about a pivot axis in said carburetor housing;
• said carburetor drum having a drum body;
• said drum body having at least one channel which runs transversely with respect to the pivot axis and forms an intake channel portion;
• said carburetor including a sensing unit for sensing at least one rotational position of the carburetor drum;
• said sensing unit being configured to generate an electrical signal when said carburetor drum is in said at least one rotational position;
• said sensing unit including a control contour and a sensing device configured to interact with said control contour;
• said control contour being formed on said carburetor drum;
• a fuel valve via which fuel is fed into said channel of said carburetor drum;
• a control device being connected to said sensing unit;
• said control device being configured to receive said electrical signal generated by said sensing unit as a received signal;
• and,
• said control device being connected to said fuel valve and configured to control an amount of fuel to be supplied to said at least one channel in dependence upon said received electrical signal.

A method for operating a combustion engine having a carburetor, the carburetor having a carburetor housing and a carburetor drum mounted rotatably about a pivot axis in the carburetor housing, the carburetor drum having a drum body, the drum body having at least one channel which runs transversely with respect to the pivot axis and forms an intake channel portion, the carburetor including a sensing unit for sensing at least one rotational position of the carburetor drum, the sensing unit being configured to generate an electrical signal, the sensing unit including a control contour and a sensing device interacting with the control contour, the control contour being formed on the carburetor drum, the carburetor further having a fuel valve via which fuel is fed into the channel of the carburetor drum, the combustion engine having a control device which is connected to the sensing unit and to the fuel valve for feeding fuel into the intake channel portion, the method comprising the steps of:

• sensing a rotational position of the carburetor drum via the sensing unit via a generation of an electrical signal in dependence upon a rotational position of the carburetor drum;
• transmitting the electrical signal to the control device;
• and,
• controlling, via the control device, a supplied quantity of fuel in dependence upon the electrical signal transmitted by the sensing unit.