Magnet-thermocouple for the fail-safe safety supply of gas to burners or the like, in particular of fail-safe safety control for domestic cooking devices, comprises: at least one gas burner, which gas burner is connected to a gas supply source by flame-regulating means and by means of a safety valve driven by a flame presence sensor consisting of a thermocouple, said safety valve having an open condition, wherein said supply source supplied said burner, and a closed condition, wherein the gas passage is interrupted and wherein the thermocouple, in the presence of a flame, generates an electrical signal constituting the drive signal for the passage of said safety valve from an open condition to a closed condition, and vice-versa, of said safety valve, whereas a further drive signal generator and power supply of said safety valve is provided, for the temporary and alternative supply of the safety valve during the flame ignition step heating the thermocouple, to the temperature generating the drive signal. According to the invention, the signal generator and power supply comprise power limiters to limit the signal generated and an automatic deactivating unit whenever the power supply is overloaded for a predefined amount of time, the power necessary for the drive signal of the safety valve being greater than the one determined by the limiters.

A fuel sub-metering mechanism for appliances that consume fuel. Each appliance may have a firing rate indicator. An individual fuel line may be connected to each appliance. A main fuel line may be connected to individual fuel lines. A meter may be connected to the main fuel line. A processor may be connected to the firing rate indicators and to the meter. The meter may measure total fuel consumption by the appliances. The processor may provide a sub-meter estimate of fuel consumed by each appliance. The sub-meter estimate may be based at least in part on a firing rate of the respective appliance and the total fuel consumption as indicated by the meter.

The present invention relates to a method for controlling a heating unit comprising a burner (1) with a burner housing (2), an ionization electrode (7) associated with the burner (1), and a voltage supply (8) for applying an alternating voltage between the ionization electrode (7) and the burner housing (2), said method comprising the method steps: applying an alternating voltage between the ionization electrode (7) and the burner housing (2) by means of the voltage supply (8) and correcting the output of the voltage supply (8) in the event of parasitic leakage flows. The object of the present invention is in particular to improve the reliability when ascertaining the air-fuel ratio via the ionization current.

The invention proposes a method for the flame signal detection by means of an ionization electrode (15) protruding into a combustion zone of a burner, comprising the steps: detecting a first signal, which is dependent on an ionization current flowing off the ionization electrode (15), generating a second signal which has a predetermined periodic course, generating a third signal by adding the first signal and the second signal, comparing the third signal with a first threshold value and generating a fourth signal on the basis of the comparison of the third signal with the first threshold value, comparing the third signal with a second threshold value different from the first threshold value and generating a fourth signal on the basis of the comparison of the third signal with the second threshold value, and determining an operating variable of the burner on the basis of at least one of the fourth signal and the fifth signal. The invention additionally proposes a corresponding device for the flame signal detection.

A method of regulating a burner which is supplied with an air-fuel mixture includes: determining a regulating variable based on an ionization signal, the air-fuel mixture being set depending on the regulating variable and a setpoint value; obtaining a spectrum from the ionization signal, from which a measure for a surface area is determined; and adjusting the setpoint value depending on the measure for the surface area. Also described is a burner arrangement including a burner.

A flame sensing system, a flame sensing unit, and a method for sensing a flame are described. The flame sensing system includes a flame sense probe and a power regulating device. The power regulating device is configured to generate a regulated voltage from an input voltage received from a power source and to output the regulated voltage to the flame sense probe such that a flame current along a flame can be measured. The flame sensing system also includes a flame current detector to measure the flame current and generate an output voltage corresponding to the flame current, and a first level detector to generate a flame strength output signal based on the output voltage, where the flame strength output signal is indicative of a strength of a flame.