METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING GAS CONSUMERS

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for controlling a plurality of gas consumers (20, 21), comprising the following steps: assigning priorities to the gas consumers (20, 21), and activating or deactivating the gas consumers (20, 21) as a function of the priorities assigned. The invention further relates to a control device (1) for controlling gas consumers (20, 21).

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. (canceled)

3. (canceled)

4. (canceled)

5. (canceled)

6. (canceled)

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9. (canceled)

10. A method of controlling a plurality of gas consumers, the method comprising at least the steps of: assigning priorities to the gas consumers, and activating or deactivating the gas consumers as a function of the priorities assigned, characterized in that the gas consumers are activated or deactivated as a function of a specifiable maximum value for a gas consumption, that an activated gas consumer is deactivated when a setpoint value to be reached by the activated gas consumer has been reached, that after deactivating a gas consumer, a gas consumer is activated that has a lower priority than the deactivated gas consumer, that the setpoint value is monitored, and that in the event that a change in the setpoint value has been detected and a gas consumer having a lower priority than the deactivated gas consumer is activated, either the deactivated gas consumer is activated after the activated gas consumer has been deactivated after reaching a setpoint value to be reached by the activated gas consumer, or the activated gas consumer is deactivated and the deactivated gas consumer is activated.

11. A control device for controlling a plurality of gas consumers, wherein the control device includes at least one output interface, wherein the control device outputs control data for the gas consumers via the output interface, wherein the control device generates the control data based on priorities assigned to the gas consumers, and wherein the control device is configured to carry out the method according to claim 10.

Description

[0023] In detail, there is a multitude of options to configure and further develop the method or the device. In this regard, reference is made, for one thing, to the claims subordinate to the independent claims, and, for another, to the following description of exemplary embodiments in conjunction with the drawing, in which:

[0024] FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a system with a device for controlling gas consumers and a plurality of gas consumers.

[0025] FIG. 1 shows, purely schematically, a system in which, by way of example, two gas consumers 20, 21 are controlled by a shared control device 1.

[0026] As an example, the gas consumers 20, 21 here are a water heater 20 and a heater 21. In order to perform their functions, the gas consumers 20, 21 consume combustible gas (e.g. propane or butane); a maximum and, where applicable, legally specified gas quantity per unit of time must not be exceeded.

[0027] For the control device 1 to control the gas consumers 20, 21, a priority is assigned to each gas consumer in a first step. In one variant, this is preceded by the step of making the connected gas consumers 20, 21 and/or the gas consumers 20, 21 to be controlled known to the control device 1.

[0028] The priorities may be fixed, e.g. predefined by the type of gas consumer, or they may be specified for each current case. For example, during the summer, the heating unit may be given a lower priority than in winter. The priorities are specified here via the input device 13 and by storing them in the data storage 12. Moreover, the setpoint values to be reached by the gas consumers 20, 21 are also specified here by means of the input device 13.

[0029] A sensor 30—here in the form of a thermometer for determining the room temperature—is provided to detect that a setpoint value has been reached and, based on this, to deactivate a gas consumer. The sensor signal is supplied to the control device 1 via an input interface 11.

[0030] For activating or deactivating the gas consumers 20, 21, the output interface 10 is provided, by means of which the control device 1 outputs appropriate control data to the gas consumers 20, 21.

[0031] While some aspects have been described in connection with a device, it will be appreciated that these aspects also constitute a description of the corresponding method. By analogy, aspects that have been described in connection with or as a method step also represent a description of a corresponding block or details of a corresponding device. Depending on specific implementation requirements, exemplary embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware or in software. That is, some exemplary embodiments according to the invention comprise a data carrier which contains electronically readable control signals adapted to interact with a programmable computer system in such a way as to carry out any of the methods described herein.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

[0032] 1 control device [0033] 10 output interface [0034] 11 input interface [0035] 12 data storage [0036] 13 input device [0037] 20 water heater [0038] 21 heater [0039] 30 sensor