Systems for avoiding harmonic modes of gas burners
AssigneeBrunswick Corporation
InventorsPhilip Eadie, Stuart C. Black
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A gas burner system has a gas burner with a conduit through which an air-gas mixture is conducted; a variable-speed forced-air device that forces air through the conduit; a control valve that controls a supply of gas for mixture with the air to thereby form the air-gas mixture; and an electrode configured to ignite the air-gas mixture so as to produce a flame. The electrode is further configured to measure a flame ionization current associated with the flame. A controller is configured to actively control the variable-speed forced-air device based on the flame ionization current measured by the electrode so as to automatically avoid a flame harmonic mode of the gas burner. Corresponding methods are provided.
Claims8
A fully premix gas burner system comprising:
- a flame tube through which an air-gas mixture is conveyed;
- an electrode configured to ignite the air-gas mixture to produce a flame and to measure a flame ionization current associated with the flame;
- a metal burner deck in which a plurality of aeration holes are formed, through which the air-gas mixture is forced by a variable-speed forced-air device, wherein the plurality of aeration holes consists of 33 aeration holes having a diameter of between 1.9 and 2.1 mm;
- wherein the plurality of aeration holes comprises a first group of three holes that are spaced equidistant from each other and surrounded by a second group of eleven holes that are spaced equidistant from each other and surrounded by a third group of nineteen holes that are spaced equidistant from each other, wherein a metal burner skin is located in the flame tube and is attached to an inside surface of the metal burner deck so that the metal burner skin covers the plurality of aeration holes;
- a variable-speed forced-air device that forces air through the flame tube;
- a control valve that controls a supply of gas for mixture with the air to thereby form the air-gas mixture according to a plurality of discrete power settings;
- wherein the electrode is further configured to measure an actual flame ionization current associated with the flame;
- and
- a controller comprising a memory storing a minimum speed of the variable-speed forced-air device for each of the plurality of discrete power settings and a target flame ionization current for each of the plurality of discrete power settings, wherein for each discrete power setting a combination of minimum speed and target flame ionization current avoids a flame harmonic mode of the gas burner system,
- wherein the controller is configured to actively control the variable-speed forced-air device based on a comparison of the actual flame ionization current measured by the electrode with the target flame ionization current of a selected discrete power setting so as to automatically avoid a flame harmonic mode of the gas burner system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.