Patent ID: 8128003

Claim:
A burner including a fuel supply mechanism to deliver a fuel mass to the burner, an air supply mechanism to deliver an air mass to the burner, and a closed-loop control mechanism for adjusting a desired fuel/air ratio in the burner, wherein the closed-loop mechanism adjusts the fuel mass delivered from the fuel supply mechanism to the burner in response to an actual air mass delivered from the air supply mechanism to the burner, and wherein the closed-loop control mechanism holds the fuel mass delivered from the fuel supply mechanism to the burner constant, when a change occurs in the actual air mass delivered from the air supply mechanism to the burner, only upon an air number λ of the burner defined as a ratio of actual air mass to stoichiometric air mass being measured within a predetermined range, wherein when the air number λ of the burner is outside of the predetermined range, the fuel mass is adjusted based on an actual air mass.