The present invention relates to gas powered appliances and, more particularly, to gas-powered appliances with thermally powered control circuits.
Gas-powered appliances typically have some form of control system included for controlling the operation of the appliance. In this context, a gas-powered appliance may be a water heater, a fireplace insert or a furnace, as some examples. Also in this context, “gas-powered” typically means natural gas or liquid propane gas is used as a primary fuel source. Current control systems used in gas-powered appliances typically have some form of redundant shut-off mechanism, which may be termed a safety switch, in addition to a primary shut-off mechanism.
Such shut-off mechanisms typically take the form of a replicated electrical switch in series with a primary switch, where both the replicated and the primary switch are controlled by the same electrical control signal. A programmable controller, such as a micro-controller, may generate such electrical control signals, for example. In this regard, such approaches may not function as desired in the event of failure of the controller. For example, if the controller were to fail due to a latch-up condition, the controller may cause both the primary and redundant switch to close when it is desired to have one, or both switches open. Additionally, leakage current, due to moisture condensation or other factors, in a circuit that includes such switches may result in a sufficient voltage potential being generated to close the primary and/or redundant switch when it is desired to have one, or both of those switches open. Therefore, based on the foregoing, alternative approaches for implementing such safety switches may be desirable.
A circuit in accordance with the invention includes a safety switch device coupled with, and between, a thermally activated voltage source and a primary switch. The circuit also includes a safety switch control circuit coupled with the safety switch device and a controller circuit and a voltage generation circuit for closing the safety switch device. The voltage generation circuit is coupled with the safety switch control circuit, the controller circuit and the safety switch device, such that the controller circuit substantially controls operation of the voltage generation circuit, the safety switch control circuit, and the primary switch circuit.
The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. The invention, however, as to both organization and method of operation, together with features and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings in which:
In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be understood that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components and circuits have not been described in detail, so as not to obscure the present invention.
As was previously indicated, current approaches for control of gas-powered devices, such as appliances, may have certain drawbacks. Again, in this context, gas-powered typically means natural gas or liquid propane gas is employed as a primary fuel source. For the sake of illustration, the embodiments of the invention discussed herein will be described with reference to a water heater appliance. Of course, the invention is not limited in scope to use in a water heater, and other applications are possible. For example, embodiments of the invention may be employed in a gas-powered furnace, a gas-powered fireplace, or any number of other gas-powered devices.
Referring to
For water heater 100, a gas supply line 180 and a pilot burner/pilot gas valve 190 may also be coupled with input device/control circuit 140. In this regard, burner 190 may produce a pilot flame 195. Thermal energy supplied by pilot flame 195 may be converted to electric energy by thermo-electric device 170. This electrical energy may then be used by thermally powered input device/control circuit 140 to operate water heater 100, as is described in further detail hereinafter. Water heater 100 may further include a main burner/main burner gas valve (not shown), which may provide thermal energy for heating water contained within tank 110.
Referring to
In this regard, circuit 200 may include a thermo-electric device 210 that is in thermal communication with a thermal source 220. In this context, thermal communication typically means that thermo-electric device 210 and thermal source 220 are in close enough physical proximity with each other, such that thermal energy generated by thermal source 220 may be absorbed by, or communicated to, thermo-electric device 210. In this respect, thermal energy communicated to thermo-electric device 210 from thermal source 220, in turn, may result in thermo-electric device 210 producing an electric voltage potential.
As is shown, thermo-electric device 210 may be coupled with power converter 230. Power converter 230 may modify the voltage potential produced by thermoelectric device 210. Typically, because the voltage potential produced by thermo-electric device 210 is lower than desired for operating most circuit components, power converter 230 may be a step-up power converter. Power converter 230 may be further coupled with a controller 240 and a charge storage device 250. While the invention is not limited in scope to the use of any particular controller, controller 240 may take the form of an ultra-low power microcontroller. Such microcontrollers are available from Texas Instruments, Inc., 12500 TI Boulevard, Dallas, Tex. 75243 as the MSP430 product family, though, as previously indicated, alternatives may exist. Charge storage device 250 may comprise circuit components, such as capacitors, for example, to store charge for use by controller 240, and also for stepping up the voltage potential generated by thermo-electric device 210.
Circuit 200 may also include a safety switch circuit 260 in accordance with the invention. Such safety switch circuits will be discussed in more detail below with reference to
Circuit 200 may still further include one or more sensing devices 280 and an input selection device 290, which may be coupled with controller 240. Sensing devices 280 may take the form of negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors, which, for the embodiment illustrated in
Referring now to
Referring now to
Circuit 400 comprises a safety switch circuit that includes safety switch device 360, which is coupled with safety switch control circuit 362, voltage generation circuit 464 and valve control circuit 270. Circuit 400 further comprises controller 240, which, for this particular embodiment, takes the form of micro-controller 440. As was previously indicated, micro-controller 440 may be an ultra-low power micro-controller. Circuit 400, additionally comprises power converter 230, which may be a DC/DC converter including one or more stages. As is shown in
As shown in
For the particular embodiment illustrated in
For circuit 400, safety switch device 360 may be further coupled with safety switch control circuit 362, which, in turn, may be coupled with micro-controller 440. In this respect, micro-controller 440 may apply a positive voltage potential to safety switch control circuit 362. This applied voltage would charge a capacitor 470 via resistors 460 and 480, resulting in pnp-type transistor 455 being off while such a voltage is applied. Once capacitor 470 is charged, micro-controller 440 may apply electrical ground to safety switch control circuit 362, which would result in the voltage across capacitor 470 turning on pnp-type transistor 455. This would allow pnp-type transistor 455 to conduct and discharge the gate of p-type FET 405 and capacitor 415, causing safety switch device 360 to turn off. Turning off safety switch device 360 may result in gas valve 475 closing, regardless of the state of valve picking driver 485. Such a sequence of events may be the result of executing a series of machine executable instructions using micro-controller 440. For example, such a sequence may be part of a controlled shut down process and/or a user initiated diagnostic software routine for a gas-powered appliance.
Circuit 400 may further comprise a voltage generation circuit, as was previously discussed. For this embodiment, the voltage generation circuit takes the form of a charge pump circuit 464. Charge pump circuit 464 comprises diodes 420, 425, 430 and 450, and capacitors 415, 435, 440 and 445. Charge pump circuit 464 may be coupled with safety switch device 360, specifically the gate of p-type FET 405, and with micro-controller 440. Micro-controller 440 may pump charge pump circuit 464 by toggling an electrical signal between electrical ground and a positive voltage potential. In such a situation, a negative voltage potential may be applied to the gate of p-type FET 405 by charge pump circuit 464, resulting in safety switch device 360 being turned on. For this particular embodiment, the use of a p-type FET as part of safety switch device 360 may have certain advantages. In this regard, because the negative voltage produced by charge pump circuit 464 is typically the only negative DC voltage produced in circuit 400, parasitics, such as leakage, typically will not cause safety switch device 360 to close as a result of such parasitics.
Toggling such an electrical signal to pump charge pump circuit 464 may be achieved using machine executable instructions executed by micro-controller 440. For example, a main program loop of a control program being executed by micro-controller 440 may cause such an electrical signal to be transitioned to a positive voltage potential, while an interrupt service routine of such a control program may cause such an electrical signal to be transitioned to electrical ground. For such a scenario, should micro-controller 440 cease to execute either the main program loop, or the interrupt service routine, charge pump circuit 464, as a result, may not produce a negative voltage potential on the gate of p-type FET 405. Charge pump 464 not producing a negative voltage potential may then cause the gate of p-type FET 405 to discharge via resistive element 410, causing safety switch device 360 to turn off, which, in turn, would cause gas valve 475 to close. Because such a situation may occur due to failure of micro-controller 440, gas valve 475 closing may be a desirable outcome. Alternatively, ceasing to toggle such an electrical signal may also be part of a controlled shut down process and/or a user initiated diagnostic software routine for a gas-powered appliance, as was previously described.
As is also depicted in
While certain features of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, many modifications, substitutions, changes and equivalents will now occur to those skilled in the art. It is, therefore, to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit of the invention.
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