Patent ID: 6429410
Filing Date: 2002-08-06
Classification: G01N,G05D,H05B

Abstract:
A circuit for heating a component and generating an operational readiness signal when the component reaches a predefined operational temperature, comprising:a resistance heating element thermally coupled to the component, the heating element having an actual temperature; an electrical energy source for powering the resistance heating element; a temperature controller for regulating the actual temperature of the resistance heating element by controlling an amount of energy supplied to the resistance heating element by the energy source, the controller producing a heating signal as a function of at least the actual temperature of the resistance heating element and the predefined operational temperature; and an analysis device configured to determine an average amount of energy delivered to the resistance heating element over at least one observation time interval and to generate the operational readiness signal in accordance with the average amount of energy delivered to the resistance heating element over the at least one observation time interval being below a predefined threshold.