Patent ID: 6280180
Filing Date: 2001-08-28
Classification: F23N,F23Q

Abstract:
An electronic ignition system for igniting a plurality of gas burners, which comprises, a spark generating circuit to produce sparks for igniting each of said plurality of gas burners; a plurality of electrodes, each one of said plurality of electrodes being connected with said spark generating circuit by a separate connection, said separate connection conducting a portion of said sparks to one of said plurality of electrodes, each one of said plurality of electrodes being mounted adjacent to a different one of said plurality of gas burners than the remainder of said plurality of electrodes, said one of said plurality of electrodes emitting said portion of said sparks for the ignition of the one of said plurality of gas burners to which said one of said plurality of electrodes is mounted adjacent; and, a flame sensor circuit (12) connected between the spark generating circuit (14) and at least one of the plurality of electrodes, said flame sensor circuit being of the type that comprises a flame rectifying circuit (96), said flame sensor circuit (12) being operated in a first period and once the spark generating circuit (14) has been activated for producing said sparks, said flame sensor circuit (12) is operated to detect the absence of flame on any of at least one of said plurality of burners, each of said at least one of the plurality of electrodes being mounted adjacent to one of said at least one of said plurality of gas burners, by means of said least one of the plurality of electrodes, and in a second period and once each of said plurality of gas burners has been ignited, said at least one of the plurality of electrodes and said flame sensor circuit (12) are operated for sensing the presence of flame on each of said at least one of said plurality of gas burners; a transitory voltage protector circuit (92) connected to a power supply circuit (88); a filter for a power source circuit for avoiding the perturbations in a power conductor line; and, a power source circuit for limiting the entrance voltage toward the flame sensor circuit, the improvement comprising:control means (86) connected between the flame rectifying circuit (96) and a protecting circuit for low-voltage (90), said control means being programmed for generating first activation signals for the ignition of the burner, for monitoring the presence of flame on the burner, for sending first alarm signals to indicate that the burner has been ignited, for generating second activation signals if the presence of the flame is not detected on the burner in order to re-ignite the burner until a maximum time for the ignition of the burner has been exceeded, and for sending second alarm signals once the maximum time for the ignition of the burner has been finished, wherein the protecting circuit for low-voltage (90) is connected to the power supply circuit (88) for monitoring the voltage in the control means and to synchronize the control means when the system has been started;a first solid-state circuit (98) connected between spark generating circuit (14) and the control means (86) for receiving signals of the control means and for sending current signals for energizing the spark generating circuit (14), said first solid-state circuit being closed in a first operating period when the first solid-state circuit is activated and the presence of a flame is not detected in the burner and, in a second operating period, said first solid-state circuit is deactivated to avoid generating sparks when the flame in the burner is detected;alarm means connected between the control means (86) and the protecting circuit for low-voltage (90) for receiving the first alarm signals of the control means for emitting first sounds to indicate that the burner has been ignited, and for receiving the second alarm signals of said control means, for emitting second sounds after a maximum time for the ignition of the burner has been exceeded; and,a second solid-state circuit (100) connected to the control means (86) to receive the second alarm signals from the control means (86), said second solid-state circuit including illumination means, said alarm means and said illumination means being activated for simultaneously emitting visual signals and sounds to indicate that the maximum time for the ignition of the bumer has been exceeded.