Gas valve with communication link

A valve assembly for controlling flow of a fuel to a combustion appliance, wherein the combustion appliance includes a combustion appliance controller located remotely from the valve assembly, the valve assembly comprising:

• a valve body having an inlet port and an outlet port, with a fluid path extending between the inlet port and the outlet port;
• a first valve situated in the fluid path between the inlet port and the outlet port;
• a first valve actuator, secured relative to the valve body, for selectively moving the first valve between a closed position, which closes the fluid path between the inlet port and the outlet port, and an open position;
• one or more sensors in communication with the fluid path for sensing one or more parameters within the fluid path of the valve body, the one or more sensors including at least one pressure sensor;
• a controller secured relative to the valve body and in communication with the one or more sensors, the controller determining one or more valve conditions based on the one or more sensed parameters;
• and
• the controller having a communications interface that is compatible with a predetermined communication bus protocol, the communication interface for communicating one or more of the valve conditions determined by the controller to the combustion appliance controller using the predetermined communication bus protocol.

A method for communicating information from a valve assembly to a combustion appliance controller that is located remotely from the valve assembly, wherein the combustion appliance controller is associated with a combustion appliance for which the valve assembly controls the flow of fuel, the method comprising:

• sensing one or more sensed parameters within the valve assembly;
• transferring the one or more sensed parameters to a controller of the valve assembly;
• using the controller of the valve assembly to determine one or more valve conditions based on the one or more sensed parameters;
• sending information that is related to the one or more valve conditions from the controller of the valve assembly to the combustion appliance controller across a communications bus that operates in accordance with a predetermined communication bus protocol.