Gas fueled heating appliance

Claim 2

A heating appliance fueled by a combustible gas comprising: a gas burner, said gas burner providing a combustion site for substantially all of the combustion; a jet for delivering the gas to said burner; a valve for controlling flow of the gas to said jet; an electrical ignition system for selectively igniting gas at the burner; a combustion chamber about said burner, said chamber having an inlet for combustion air and an outlet for burned gases; a combustion status sensor located at said combustion site for providing a signal indicative of a combustion status to be sensed; and a first controller that controls said appliance in accordance with said combustion status signal and a plurality of stored calibration parameters, said controller thereby being responsive to at least one of CO 2 /O 2 concentration, flashback, combustible gas type, or gas pressure.

Claim 3

A heating appliance according to claim 1, further comprising a second controller in two-way communication with said first controller for receiving operational status and historical data from said first controller and for providing control signals to said first controller to change said stored calibration parameters.

Claim 4

A heating appliance according to claim 1, further comprising a third controller in one-way communication with said first controller for providing control signals to said first controller to control at least one of ambient temperature to be maintained, time of day to operate, or heat mode.

Claim 5

A heating appliance according to claim 1, wherein said sensor is a combustion temperature sensor.

Claim 6

A heating appliance according to claim 4, wherein said stored calibration parameters are at least one of ODS offset voltage, ODS reference voltage, ODS trip voltage, ODS maximum out-of-range voltage, ODS minimum out-of-range voltage, flashback voltage gradient, airflow upper out-of-range value, airflow lower out of range value, or maximum first controller temperature.

Claim 7

A heating appliance according to claim 1, wherein said sensor is a combustion gas conductivity sensor.

Claim 8

A heating appliance according to claim 6, wherein said ignition system includes electrodes for providing an electrical arc and said combustion gas conductivity sensor shares said electrodes.

Claim 9

A heating appliance according to claim 6, wherein said stored calibration parameters are at least one of ODS offset voltage, ODS reference voltage, ODS trip voltage, ODS maximum out-of-range voltage, ODS minimum out-of-range voltage, flashback voltage gradient, airflow upper out-of-range value, airflow lower out of range value, or maximum first controller temperature.

Claim 10

A heating appliance according to claim 1, wherein said first controller is adapted to store a plurality of past error conditions and provide said conditions to an operator.

Claim 11

A heating appliance according to claim 1, wherein said combustion status signal is filtered to remove short term transients.

Claim 12

A heating appliance according to claim 1, further comprising: an intake for cooling air; an outlet for said cooling air and said burned gases; a cooling air fan communicating between said cooling air intake and said outlet for said cooling air and said burned gases; a first temperature sensor between said cooling air intake and said fan; a second temperature sensor between said fan and said outlet for said cooling air and said burned gases; said first controller being responsive to said first and second sensors to detect a blockage of said cooling air intake or a failure of said cooling air fan.

Claim 13

A heating appliance according to claim 1, further comprising: an intake for cooling air; an outlet for said cooling air and said burned gases; a cooling air fan communicating between said cooling air intake and said outlet for said cooling air and said burned gases; a temperature sensor between said fan and said outlet for said cooling air and said burned gases; said first controller being responsive to said sensor to detect a blockage of said cooling air intake or a failure of said cooling air fan.

Claim 14

A heating appliance fueled by a combustible gas comprising: a gas burner, said gas burner providing a combustion site for substantially all of the combustion; a jet for delivering the gas to said burner; a valve for controlling flow of the gas to said jet; an electrical ignition system for selectively igniting gas at the burner; a combustion chamber about said burner, said chamber having an inlet for combustion air and an outlet for burned gases; a thermocouple located at said combustion site for providing a first signal indicative of a combustion status to be sensed; an intake for cooling air; an outlet for a combination of said cooling air and said burned gases; a temperature sensor located near said outlet for said combined cooling air and burned gases, said temperature sensor providing a second signal indicative of the combustion status to be sensed; and a first controller that controls said appliance in accordance with said combustion status signals, wherein said combustion status is at least one of CO 2 /O 2 concentration, flashback, combustible gas type, or gas pressure.

Claim 15

A heating appliance fueled by a combustible gas comprising: a gas burner, said gas burner providing a combustion site for substantially all of the combustion; a jet for delivering the gas to said burner; a valve for controlling flow of the gas to said jet; an electrical ignition system for selectively igniting gas at the burner; a combustion chamber about said burner, said chamber having an inlet for combustion air and an outlet for burned gases; a thermocouple located at said combustion site for providing a first signal indicative of a combustion status to be sensed; an intake for cooling air; an outlet for a combination of said cooling air and said burned gases; a temperature sensor located near said outlet for said combined cooling air and burned gases, said temperature sensor providing a second signal indicative of the combustion status to be sensed; and a first controller that controls said appliance in accordance with said combustion status signals, wherein said combustion status is at least one of CO 2 /O 2 concentration, flashback, combustible gas type, or gas pressure.

Claim 16

A heating appliance according to claim 13, wherein said temperature sensor is a diode.

Claim 17

A heating appliance according to claim 13, wherein first and second combustion status signals are added.

Claim 18

A heating appliance fueled by a combustible gas comprising: a gas burner, said gas burner providing a combustion site for substantially all of the combustion; a jet for delivering the gas to said burner; a valve for controlling flow of the gas to said jet; an electrical ignition system for selectively igniting gas at the burner; a combustion chamber about said burner, said chamber having an inlet for combustion air and an outlet for burned gases; a combustion gas temperature sensor located at said combustion site for providing a first signal indicative of a combustion status to be sensed; a combustion gas conductivity sensor located at said combustion site for providing a second signal indicative of a combustion status to be sensed; and a first controller that for an initial period controls said appliance in accordance with said second signal and for a later period controls said appliance in accordance with said first signal, said controller thereby being responsive to flashback during either period.

Claim 19

A heating appliance fueled by a combustible gas comprising: a gas burner, said gas burner providing a combustion site for substantially all of the combustion; a jet for delivering the gas to said burner; a valve for controlling flow of the gas to said jet; an electrical ignition system for selectively igniting gas at the burner; a combustion chamber about said burner, said chamber having an inlet for combustion air and an outlet for burned gases; a combustion gas temperature sensor located at said combustion site for providing a first signal indicative of a combustion status to be sensed; a combustion gas conductivity sensor located at said combustion site for providing a second signal indicative of a combustion status to be sensed; and a first controller that for an initial period controls said appliance in accordance with said second signal and for a later period controls said appliance in accordance with said first signal, said controller thereby being responsive to flashback during either period.

Claim 20

A heating appliance according to claim 16, wherein said ignition system includes electrodes for providing an electrical arc and said combustion gas conductivity sensor shares said electrodes.

Claim 21

A heating appliance fueled by a combustible gas comprising: a gas burner, said gas burner providing a combustion site for substantially all of the combustion; a jet for delivering the gas to said burner; a valve for controlling flow of the gas to said jet; an electrical ignition system for selectively igniting gas at the burner; a combustion chamber about said burner, said chamber having an inlet for combustion air and an outlet for burned gases; a fan for providing combustion air; a combustion sensor located at said combustion site; and a first controller that provides an alert sequence if said sensor detects an ongoing combustion signal before an ignition attempt or if combustion continues after gas shutoff, said alert sequence including activating said fan for the duration of said alert sequence.

Claim 22

A heating appliance fueled by a combustible gas comprising: a gas burner, said gas burner providing a combustion site for substantially all of the combustion; a jet for delivering the gas to said burner; a valve for controlling flow of the gas to said jet; an electrical ignition system for selectively igniting gas at the burner; a combustion chamber about said burner, said chamber having an inlet for combustion air and an outlet for burned gases; a fan for providing combustion air; a combustion sensor located at said combustion site; and a first controller that provides an alert sequence if said sensor detects an ongoing combustion signal before an ignition attempt or if combustion continues after gas shutoff, said alert sequence including activating said fan for the duration of said alert sequence.

Claim 23

A heating appliance according to claim 1, 13, or 18, wherein said first controller checks for errors in a plurality of alterable optimized stored data and upon detection of an error provides an alert and substitutes unalterable non-optimized data for the optimized data.

Claim 24

A heating appliance according to claim 19, wherein said substitution is in response to an operator input.

Claim 25

A heating appliance according to claim 19, wherein said substitution is automatically performed by said first controller.

Claim 26

A heating appliance according to claim 11, 12, or 18, wherein said first controller varies the speed to said fan to control at least one of NO x and CO.

Claim 27

A heating appliance according to claim 11, 12, or 18, wherein said first controller controls the valve and the fan to control at least one of NO x and CO.

Claim 28

A heating appliance according to claim 18, wherein said first controller senses fan failure by sensing fan current.