Spark tester for a gas cooking appliance
AssigneeMaytag Corporation
InventorsPrabhat Kumar Tekriwal, Jimmy D. Burger, James Baynham
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A portable spark tester for a gas cooking appliance includes a housing having a non-conductive base assembly, and a plurality of electrical conductive cables each having a first end adapted to be attached to an ignition wire for a respective gas burner of the appliance, and a second end which is secured within the housing at a position spaced from a central electrode. This spaced relationship defines a spark gap across which an electrical charge can jump. In use, the spark tester provides a technician with the ability to correctly identify certain non-functioning components of a spark ignition system of the gas appliance.
Claims20
A gas cooking appliance comprising:
- a cooktop;
- a plurality of gas burners removably mounted to said cooktop;
- a plurality of electronic igniters, each of said igniters being adapted to create a spark for an associated one of the plurality of gas burners;
- a plurality of electrical conductive wires, each of said plurality of wires being adapted to provide an electrical current to a respective one of said plurality of electronic igniters;
- and
- a portable spark tester, said spark tester including a non-conductive housing defining a transmission zone, a plurality of electrical conductive cables each having a first end adapted to be attached to a respective one of the plurality of wires and a second end terminating in an electrode secured to the housing, each of the electrodes being separated from the transmission zone by a gap, across which an electrical spark is adapted to jump when testing ignition components of the gas cooking appliance.
A portable spark tester for testing ignition components in a gas cooking appliance having a plurality of gas burners removably mounted to a cooktop, a plurality of ignitors for creating a spark for an associated one of the gas burners, and a plurality of electrical conductive wires for providing current to a respective one of the plurality of ignitors comprising:
- a non-conductive housing defining a transmission zone;
- and
- a plurality of electrical conductive cables each having a first end adapted to be attached to a respective one of the plurality of electrical conductive wires and a second end terminating in an electrode secured to the housing, each of the electrodes being separated from the transmission zone by a gap, across which an electrical spark is adapted to jump, when testing ignition components of the gas cooking appliance.
A method of checking a spark ignition system in a gas cooking appliance having a cooktop supporting a plurality of gas burners adapted to be actuated through respective control members comprising:
- disconnecting the plurality of gas burners from the cooktop to expose igniters of the gas burners;
- disconnecting ignition wires connected to the igniters;
- interconnecting the ignition wires to a spark tester;
- operating at least one of the control members in order to send an electrical current through a respective said wire;
- and
- viewing the spark tester for an indication of a potential fault in the spark ignition system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.