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Apparatus and method for controlling a damper in a gas-fired appliance

a technology for dampers and gas-fired appliances, which is applied in the direction of combustion process, combustion regulation, fuel supply regulation, etc., can solve the problems of increasing installation costs, many gas-fired appliances, particularly residential water heaters, do not include power sources with sufficient voltage to reliably, 10 to 30 millivolts

Inactive Publication Date: 2009-07-30
FIELD CONTROLS
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The invention is about a gas-fired appliance with a damper that can be controlled by a motor to adjust its position. The motor is connected to a pressure switch that detects the pressure of the gas during operation. The damper is connected to a pilot burner and a thermoelectric device that generates an electrical voltage when exposed to heat from the pilot burner. A magnetic pilot valve controls the gas flow to the pilot burner, and a switch circuit is used to control the transmission of the electrical voltage to the pilot valve. The motor operates a cam to control the damper position. The invention allows for precise control of the damper to regulate the gas flow and improve the performance of the gas-fired appliance."

Problems solved by technology

However, such designs typically require the routing of a power source to the location of the gas-fired appliance, potentially increasing installation costs.
However, many gas-fired appliances, particularly residential water heaters, do not include power sources having sufficient voltage to reliably operate a damper motor.
While some such water heaters may utilize a thermocouple to operate a magnetic pilot safety switch, such thermocouples typically generate only 10 to 30 millivolts, and do not supply sufficient power to drive a damper motor.
Because of such control limitations, flue dampers are often not provided on residential water heaters, thereby sacrificing potential improvements in energy efficiency.

Method used

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  • Apparatus and method for controlling a damper in a gas-fired appliance
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  • Apparatus and method for controlling a damper in a gas-fired appliance

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second embodiment

[0038]FIG. 7 illustrates a portion of a gas-fired appliance 400, such as a water heater, according to the invention. The gas-fired appliance 400 includes a control body 120 and related components similar to the gas-fired appliance 100 of FIG. 1. Such components are identified with similar reference numerals and are not described in detail with respect to this embodiment. The appliance 400 includes a pressure switch 402 connected to the gas pressure tap port 210. The pressure switch 402 is used for controlling the damper operation as well as serving as a redundant safety control to detect gas pressure leakage from the main gas valve 190. The pressure switch 402 has an inlet exposed to pressure from the pressurized gas during operation of the burner 112.

first embodiment

[0039]The appliance 400 includes a damper assembly 404 including a DC motor 406. Referring also to FIGS. 8 and 9, the motor 406 is supported on a mounting plate 408 mounted to a duct 409. Also connected to the mounting plate 408 is a cam 410 driven by the motor 406. The motor 406 also drives a rotating connector 412 on the mounting plate 408 for connecting to a damper drive shaft 414 for operating a damper plate 416 in the duct 409. Particularly, the motor 406 rotates the damper plate 416 between a closed position as shown in FIG. 8 and an open position, as shown with the first embodiment in FIG. 6. The cam 410 independently operates each of a first switch 418-1, a second switch 418-2 and a third switch 418-3. Particularly, the switches 418 are controlled by lobes 410-1, 410-2 and 410-3 on the cam 410 and operate to control motor and pilot operation, as described below. The specific design of the cam 410 will be apparent to those skilled in the art to satisfy the required operating ...

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Abstract

A gas-fired appliance is provided having a burner which is configured to receive and burn pressurized gas, such as natural gas, during operation. A control comprises a pressure switch having an inlet exposed to pressure from the pressurized gas during operation of the burner, a battery, and a motor operatively connected to the battery and the pressure switch which is operated in response to the application of pressurized gas at the inlet. A damper assembly is connected to the motor. The damper assembly comprises a damper movable between an open position and a closed position in response to operation of the motor.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE [0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 12 / 011,944 filed Jan. 29, 2008.TECHNICAL FIELD [0002]The present invention relates generally to gas-fired appliances, and, more particularly, to a damper control mechanism for a water heater or other gas-fired appliance.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003]Many gas-fired appliances, such as boilers or water heaters, include burners that fire to raise the temperature of materials, such as water, contained within a tank. In many such appliances, the burners periodically cycle on and off. When the contents of the tank fall below a desired minimum temperature, a call for heat is triggered, which initiates the firing of a main gas burner assembly. The resulting heat generated by the burner acts to raise the tank temperature. When the tank temperature reaches a desired maximum threshold, the main burner is deactivated, until such time as the tank cools and again falls below the minimum desired temperatur...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): F23N1/02F23N3/08
CPCF23L11/005F23N5/102F23N2041/04F23N2035/04F23N2035/10F23N5/242F23N2235/04F23N2235/10F23N2241/04
Inventor GUZOREK, STEVEN E.
Owner FIELD CONTROLS