Apparatus and method for controlling a drying cycle of a clothes dryer

In a clothes dryer of the type having a burner for supplying a source of hot air for drying clothes while said clothes are tumbled, apparatus for generating a drying cycle for said clothes dryer, comprising:

• (a) a temperature sensor positioned in said clothes dryer to measure the temperature of said hot air;
• (b) burner controller means for enabling and disabling heating of said hot air;
• (c) a microprocessor connected to read a signal from said temperature sensor, said microprocessor programmed to provide an enabling signal to enable a burner to supply said hot air when said hot air temperature is below a predetermined temperature, and disable said burner when said temperature is at or above said predetermined temperature, whereby said burner is continuously cycled to maintain said hot air at a predetermined temperature, said microprocessor being programmed to periodically compute an average on time and off time for said burner, and computing the dryness of said clothes as a function of the difference between said average on time and off time, and generating a signal indicating the end of said drying cycle when a predetermined dryness is computed which disables said burner.