A sensitivity parameter storing portion stores, as known sensitivity parameters owned by a flame sensor, reference received light quantity, reference pulse width, probability of regular discharge, and probabilities of non-regular discharge in advance. The discharge probability is calculated based on the number of drive pulses applied to the flame sensor and the number of discharges determined to have occurred in the flame sensor having received the drive pulses. The calculated discharge probability and the known sensitivity parameters are used to calculate the received light quantity per unit time received by the flame sensor.

Example embodiments relate to a burner including a control unit and an ignition and ionization electrode for igniting and monitoring the burner flame, wherein the ignition and ionization electrode is arranged in the flame area of the burner, is electrically coupled to a discharge circuit and provides an ionization signal when the flame of the burner is switched on, wherein the control unit provides an output signal for actuating the burner on the basis of the ionization signal, and wherein the discharge circuit is connected to a DC voltage source. Example embodiments further relate to a method of monitoring and igniting the flame of a burner and to a circuit arrangement for a burner.

A flame rod analysis system, methods for determining a condition of a flame and a flame rod, and circuits for determining a condition of a flame and a flame rod. The flame rod analysis system comprises energy storage connectable to a flame rod, a pulsed source connected to the energy storage and providing a voltage pulse or a current pulse, and a buffer to allow a processor to measure a buffered voltage at various time points. Flame rod analysis systems can distinguish between various flame conditions (no flame, low flame, etc.) while simultaneously characterizing the condition of the flame rod (shorted to ground, contaminated, etc.). Some flame rod analysis systems can directly measure the resistance of the flame rod.

A flame detection adjusting portion adjusts a preset reference threshold value based on a sensor output indicating disturbance light obtained from a flame sensor before an ignition attempt in combustion equipment and outputs an obtained adjusted threshold value, and a combustion flame detecting portion detects a presence or an absence of a combustion flame in the combustion equipment based on the sensor output obtained from the flame sensor during combustion in the combustion equipment and an adjusted threshold value.

A sensitivity parameter storing portion stores, as known sensitivity parameters owned by a flame sensor, reference received light quantity, reference pulse width, probability of regular discharge, and probabilities of non-regular discharge in advance. The discharge probability is calculated based on the number of drive pulses applied to the flame sensor and the number of discharges determined to have occurred in the flame sensor having received the drive pulses. The calculated discharge probability and the known sensitivity parameters are used to calculate the received light quantity per unit time received by the flame sensor.

The present disclosure relates to a method for operating a burner assembly comprising a burner (1) burning an air-fuel mixture. In a step of the method, a target value for an ionization current is specified. The burner (1) is operated in a first operating state at a first specified power level. The ionization current (9) is measured using an ionization electrode (5). The measured ionization current (9) is compared with the predefined target value and a deviation is determined. When the deviation exceeds a predefined threshold value, the burner (1) is transitioned to a second operating state at a second power level. The second power level is higher than the first power level. The second power level is determined as a function of the deviation.

A low gas pressure detection and compensation operation method of a gas water heater according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure includes an output calculation step of calculating combustion output through combustion temperature detected by a temperature sensor and comparing the calculated output with a reference output, a flame voltage comparison step of detecting flame voltage and comparing the detected flame voltage with a reference flame voltage when the calculated output is smaller than the reference output, and a correction step of adjusting a supply air amount when the detected flame voltage is smaller than the reference flame voltage.