Patent Grant
12135134
This application is the National Stage Patent Application of International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2019/000297 filed Oct. 25, 2019, which claims priority to and all the benefits of German Patent Application No. 102018008693.4 filed Nov. 6, 2018, which are both hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
The disclosure relates to a regulation function for a gas-operated heating device according to the preamble to the first claim.
In the field of commercial kitchen technology two or more preparation areas are often separately regulated in an application. This operation requires the use of several gas valves, each fitted with a thermoelectric ignition fuse and thermostat, as well as the same number of pilot burners.
For example, an application is known from U.S. Pat. No. 8,065,998B2, which relates to the regulation function for a griddle. Three valves are used in this application to regulate two preparation areas. A valve for closing the main gas flow with a thermoelectric ignition fuse and two thermostats are used. An additional disadvantage, apart from the high cost of at least three valves, and the complicated design, is that a separate device is required to switch the griddle off, which entails additional expenditure on design and operation.
For example, an application is known from U.S. Pat. No. 8,065,998B2, which relates to the regulation function for a griddle. Three valves are used in this application to regulate two preparation areas. A valve for closing the main gas flow with a thermoelectric ignition fuse and two thermostats are used. An additional disadvantage, apart from the high cost of at least three valves, and the complicated design, is that a separate device is required to switch the griddle off, which entails additional expenditure on design and operation.
The disclosure addresses the problem of developing a universally applicable regulation function for a gas-operated heating device with more than one burner, said regulation function facilitating a start-up, regulation function and deactivation process. Each burner is to be capable of being regulated and switched on and off independently. The design and manufacture of the device are to be as simple and inexpensive as possible.
The problem is solved according to the disclosure in that two valves are connected together in a gas-tight manner.
The first valve has an ignition lock which closes the main gas flow in the event of an ignition, a thermoelectric ignition fuse, a thermostat and, optionally, an integrated pressure regulator.
The start-up of the first valve allows the activation and deactivation of the gas flow, and has optionally an integrated piezo igniter or, alternatively, a switch for activating an electric igniter.
The first valve has two gas outlets, a first gas outlet for connecting the second valve, wherein the first gas outlet is located downstream of the ignition fuse and the optional pressure regulator, and upstream of the thermostat, and a second gas outlet is located downstream of the thermostat, said second gas outlet leading to the first burner.
The second valve is a thermostat. The first outlet of the first valve is connected to the inlet of the second valve. The outlet of the second valve is connected to the second burner.
A solution has therefore been found which enables the disadvantages of the prior art set out above to be eliminated.
At the same time the solution is characterised by its simple design and simple mode of operation.
Advantageous embodiments of the disclosure are set out in the dependent claims.
In one embodiment both valves have approximately the same pressure drop between the inlet of the first valve and the outlets of both valves, enabling two identical burners to be operated.
In an additional advantageous embodiment of the device both thermostats have a cut-out function.
The disclosure is described in more detail below by means of execution examples which show the following:
For the first example:
For the second example:
The first valve of the device according to the disclosure exemplified in
The first valve (1) comprises a lower housing part (3) and an upper housing part (4), which has a gas inlet (5), a first gas outlet (6), a second gas outlet (7) and a pilot gas outlet (10). The following functional units are accommodated in the housing (3;4) in the direction of flow of the gas:
Start-up with associated control element (14), optionally with piezo igniter (16) or with switch for an electric ignition (17);
Safety pilot valve (12) safety pilot magnet (13) and ignition lock (11), optionally with pressure regulator (18); and
Thermostat 1 (19) comprising temperature travel sensor 1 (37), snap-action switch 1 (35), valve closing body 1 (21) and temperature adjuster 1 (23) for regulating the amount of gas flowing to the burner 1 (26).
The structure and mode of operation of the start-up, the safety pilot valve (12), the ignition lock (11), the pressure regulator (18) and the thermostat 1 (19) are known to those skilled in the art. A more detailed depiction and explanation of the individual components has therefore not been provided in this execution example.
The second valve of the device according to the disclosure exemplified in
The second valve (2) comprises a housing (25), a gas inlet (8) and a gas outlet (9). A thermostat 2 (20) is arranged in the housing (25) in the direction of the gas flow, comprising a temperature travel sensor 2 (38), a snap-action switch 2 (36), a valve closing body 2 (22) and a temperature adjuster (24) for regulating the amount of gas flowing to the burner 2 (27).
Valve 1 (1) and valve 2 (2) are connected together by a pipe (28) in a gas-tight manner according to the disclosure. At the same time, the gas outlet 1 (6) of valve 1 is connected to the gas inlet (8) of valve 2.
The burners 1 (26) and burner 2 (27) are connected together in a gas-tight manner by means of pipes, with burner 1 (26) connected to gas outlet 2 (7) of valve 1 and burner 2 (27) connected to gas outlet (9) of valve 2. The pilot gas outlet (10) of valve 1 serves to connect the pilot burner (29). The thermocouple (30) is electrically conductively attached to the connection thread of the safety pilot magnet (13), as is known to those skilled in the art. The pilot burner (29), which is not shown, with thermocouple (30), is preferably positioned such that the pilot flame safely reaches both burners and the thermocouple. This ensures that, if required, either burner 1 alone or burner 2 alone can be put into operation, or that burner 1 and burner 2 can be put into operation simultaneously by means of the pilot flame. Sufficient flame control is also provided by this means. The device according to the disclosure is connected to the gas network via the gas inlet (5) of valve 1.
The device is started up via valve 1 as shown in
The standby position shown in
As shown in
As described above, other operations of the burners are also possible as an option, whereby burner 2 alone is put into operation or both burners are put into operation simultaneously. To that end the respective temperature adjusters of the valves are moved to a control position.
It has proved to be advantageous as an option to integrate the pressure regulator (18) in valve 1. This compensates for pressure fluctuations in the gas network and maintains a stable burner pressure. A suitable geometric design in the housings makes possible an approximately equal pressure drop across both valves between the inlet (5) of the first valve (1) and the outlets of both valves (7;9), enabling two identical burners (26;27) to be used in a cost-effective manner.
Starting from a standby position, with pilot flame on, safety pilot magnet (13) applied and ignition lock (11) in open position, the user has alternatively the option of switching off burner 1 or burner 2 independently of each other, or of switching both burners off by means of the respective temperature adjusters. Moving the respective temperature adjuster to a control position suffices to restart the device. The burner is ignited immediately by the pilot flame.
Many users of kitchen equipment would like such equipment to be even easier to operate.
A start-up via valve 1 by means of a pushbutton and battery ignition is therefore described in the second execution example.
Valve 1 of execution example 2 has a different structure from that of valve 1 of execution example 1 in that it has a different start-up.
The connection of both valves according to the disclosure as well as the arrangement of the temperature travel sensors has been adopted in this second application example.
Simply pressing the button (31) of the start-up triggers the following sequence, which is performed via the operating rod (15) at the same time as the application of the safety pilot magnet (13): the overflow of gas through the pilot gas outlet (10) to the pilot burner (29) is released, a switch (17) is activated, which generates a clock ignition spark via an electric ignition spark generator (32), and the pilot gas is ignited.
At the time of the ignition of the pilot gas, the closed main valve (33) prevents an over-ignition at the burner(s).
The thermocouple (30) is heated by the ignited pilot flame and a voltage is generated which holds the safety pilot magnet in the open position.
As shown in
The gas can now flow in a similar way to execution example 1 via gas outlet 1 (6) to valve 2 and thus to burner 2) and/or via gas outlet 2 (7) to burner 1. The burners are ignited by the pilot burner (29) which is in operation and is optimally positioned in relation to the burners.
The state of deactivation is shown in
The thermocouple (30) which is arranged in sufficient proximity to the pilot burner and the burners is used as a monitoring device as is also described in application example 1. In the event of faults causing the pilot flame to go out, the thermocouple cools down and the thermocurrent breaks down. The safety pilot valve (12) interrupts the gas supply.
The burners are switched on and off and the temperature is set by the thermostats 1 and 2 in the same way as in application example 1.
In contrast to application example 1, the device is completely shut down by an upstream shutdown device (34) which is not shown.
The device for regulating the gas supply according to the disclosure is not, of course, limited to the execution examples described. On the contrary, modifications, variations and combinations are possible without departing from the scope of the disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2018 008 693.4 | Nov 2018 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2019/000297 | 10/25/2019 | WO |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2020/094245 | 5/14/2020 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3386656 | Bergquist | Jun 1968 | A |
| 8065998 | Espina et al. | Nov 2011 | B2 |
| 20090039223 | Arnold | Feb 2009 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1494853 | Sep 1967 | FR |
| 2016189500 | Dec 2016 | WO |
| Entry |
|---|
| International Search Report for Application No. PCT/EP2019/000297 dated Feb. 27, 2020, 2 pages. |
| Machine-Assisted English translation for FR 1 494 853 A extracted from the espacenet.com database on Apr. 26, 2021, 5 pages. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20210356133 A1 | Nov 2021 | US |
