Patent Application
20190219264
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The disclosure and prior art relates to safety switch devices and more particularly pertains to a new safety switch device for turning off an oil burner when a disruptive quantity of exhaust is detected.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising an oil burner that includes a chamber therein. The oil burner ignites oil in the chamber to define a flame when the oil burner is turned on to provide heat. An ignition is positioned in the oil burner and is in electrical communication with the chamber. The ignition is actuated to ignite the oil in the chamber. A main control switch is electrically coupled to the oil burner. The main control switch is actuated to turn on the oil burner. A shutoff is electrically coupled to the ignition. The shutoff is actuated to turn the oil burner off when the shutoff no longer detects the flame. A safeguard unit is mounted on and is in fluid communication with the oil burner. The safeguard unit is electrically coupled to the ignition and detects when the oil burner emits a disruptive quantity of opaque exhaust and turns the oil burner off when the disruptive quantity of opaque exhaust is detected. The safeguard unit is positioned to inhibit access to the safeguard unit.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
An ignition 18 is positioned in the oil burner 12 and is in electrical communication with the chamber 14. The ignition 18 is actuated to ignite the oil in the chamber 14. A main control switch 20 is electrically coupled to the ignition 18 and is actuated to turn on the ignition 18. A shutoff 22 is electrically coupled to the ignition 18 and is actuated to turn the oil burner 12 off when the shutoff 22 no longer detects the flame.
A safeguard unit 24 is mounted on and is in fluid communication with the oil burner 12. The safeguard unit 24 is electrically coupled to the ignition 18. The safeguard unit 24 detects when the oil burner 12 emits a disruptive quantity of opaque exhaust and turns the oil burner 12 off when the disruptive quantity of opaque exhaust is detected. The safeguard unit 24 is positioned to inhibit access to the safeguard unit 24.
The safeguard unit 24 comprises a control circuit 26 that is mounted on the oil burner 12. The control circuit 26 is electrically coupled to the ignition 18. The control circuit 26 is sealed within the oil burner 12 to inhibit accessibility to the control circuit 26. A light emitter 28 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 26. The light emitter 28 is positioned on and is in fluid communication with the smoke pipe 16. The light emitter 28 emits a light into the smoke pipe 16 when turned on. The light emitter 28 is turned on after the oil burner 12 is actuated to an on position.
An electric eye 30 is electrically coupled to the control circuit 26. The electric eye 30 is positioned on and extends into the smoke pipe 16. The electric eye 30 is able to detect the light emitted by the light emitter 28. The control circuit 26 turns off the oil burner 12 when the disruptive quantity of opaque exhaust inhibits the electric eye 30 from detecting the light. The electric eye 30 comprises a photoresistor 32 that has an input end 34 and an output end 36. The input end 34 is positioned within the smoke pipe 16 and detects the light through the opaque exhaust emitted by the oil burner 12. The output end 36 is positioned outwardly of the smoke pipe 16 and is electrically coupled to the control circuit 26.
In one embodiment the photoresistor 32 comprises a cadmium sulfide cell. In this embodiment the input end 34 has a resistance between 300 to 1000 ohms when the visible light is detected. The resistance of the input end 34 increases as the opaque exhaust inhibits the electric eye 30 from detecting the light wherein the disruptive quantity of opaque exhaust is defined when the input end 34 has a resistance of at least 1600 ohms.
In use, the main control switch 20 is actuated to turn on the ignition 18 and ignite the oil within the chamber 14. The oil burner 12 then releases heat outwardly. The opaque exhaust produced by the flames flows outwardly through the smoke pipe 16. The electric eye 30 detects the light emitted by the light emitter 28 through the opaque exhaust. As the quantity of the opaque exhaust released increases the less light is detected by the electric eye 30 thereby increasing the resistance of the electric eye 30. The control circuit 26 detects the high resistance and shuts down the ignition 18 to turn off the oil burner 12. The control circuit 26 is sealed to inhibit access and require a user to seek out a certified technician to restart the oil burner 12 as well as check for issues that caused the release of the disruptive quantity of opaque exhaust
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
