GAS BURNER ARRANGEMENT AND HOB COMPRISING A GAS BURNER ARRANGEMENT

Abstract

The invention relates to a gas burner arrangement comprising: a gas burner (2) with at least three burner sections (2.1, 2.2, 2.3); a gas tap (3) comprising at least one gas inlet (3.1) coupled with a gas supply line (4) and two gas outlets (3.2, 3.3); a divider entity (5) comprising a divider inlet (5.1) and two or more divider outlets (5.2, 5.3); an on/off valve (6) adapted to open/close a gas line; wherein a first burner section (2.1) is coupled with a first gas outlet (3.2) of the gas tap (3), wherein the second gas outlet (3.3) of the gas tap (3) is coupled with the divider inlet (5.1), wherein a first divider outlet (5.2) is coupled with a second burner section (2.2), wherein the second divider outlet (5.3) is at least indirectly coupled with an inlet (6.1) of the on/off valve (6) and the outlet (6.2) of the on/off valve (6) is coupled with the third burner section (2.3).

Claims

1. Gas burner arrangement comprising: a gas burner with at least three burner sections; a gas tap comprising at least one gas inlet coupled with a gas supply line and two gas outlets; a divider entity comprising a divider inlet and two or more divider outlets; an on/off valve adapted to open/close a gas line; wherein a first said burner section is coupled with a first said gas outlet of the gas tap, wherein a second said gas outlet of the gas tap is coupled with the divider inlet, wherein a first said divider outlet is coupled with a second said burner section, wherein a second said divider outlet is at least indirectly coupled with an inlet of the on/off valve, and an outlet of the on/off valve is coupled with a third said burner section.

2. Gas burner arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the first gas outlet of the gas tap is a secondary gas outlet and the second gas outlet of the gas tap is a main outlet.

3. Gas burner arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the gas tap comprises a safety valve coupled with a flame control entity arranged at the gas burner.

4. Gas burner arrangement according to claim 2, wherein the safety valve is adapted to shut off a gas connection between the gas inlet and the gas outlets of the gas tap based on information provided by the flame control entity.

5. Gas burner arrangement according to claim 3, wherein the safety valve is a magnetic valve.

6. Gas burner arrangement according to claim 1, said burner sections being concentric, ring-shaped burner sections.

7. Gas burner arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the first burner section is an inner burner section, the second burner section is a middle burner section and the third burner section is an outer burner section.

8. Gas burner arrangement according to claim 7, wherein sizes of the burner sections increase from the first to the third burner section.

9. Gas burner arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the first burner section is directly coupled with the first gas outlet of the gas tap.

10. Gas burner arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the second burner section is coupled via the divider entity without passing the on/off valve with the second gas outlet of the gas tap.

11. Gas burner arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the third burner section is coupled via the divider entity and the on/off valve with the second gas outlet of the gas tap.

12. Gas burner arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the on/off valve is adapted to be controlled independently from the gas tap.

13. Gas burner arrangement according to claim 1, wherein the burner sections are integrated in a burner crown or burner crown assembly of the gas burner.

14. Cooking hob comprising the gas burner arrangement according to claim 1.

15. Method for controlling a gas burner with at least three burner sections using a gas tap assembly comprising at least a gas tap with at least one gas inlet and two gas outlets, a divider entity and an on/off-valve, the method comprising the steps of: controlling first and second said burner sections of the gas burner using a control element of the gas tap; and controlling a third said burner section using a control element of the on/off-valve.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] The various aspects of the invention, including its particular features and advantages, will be readily understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0031] FIG. 1 shows a schematic functional diagram of a gas burner arrangement according to a first embodiment; and

[0032] FIG. 2 shows a schematic functional diagram of a gas burner arrangement according to a second embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0033] The present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which example embodiments are shown. However, this invention should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Throughout the following description similar reference numerals have been used to denote similar elements, parts, items or features, when applicable.

[0034] FIG. 1 illustrates a first embodiment of a gas burner arrangement 1. The gas burner arrangement 1 comprises a gas burner 2 comprising multiple burner sections, in the present embodiment three burner sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3. The burner sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 are provided at a burner crown 2a, which may be a burner crown 2a which can be disassembled in multiple burner crown parts. More in detail, the burner sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 may be formed by different sized flame rings which can be superimposed or stacked on top of one another in order to build a multi-section burner crown 2a. In order to provide gas to one or more of said burner sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, a gas tap assembly is used, which is described in the following in closer detail.

[0035] The gas tap assembly comprises a gas tap 3, a divider entity 5 and an on/off-valve 6. The gas tap 3 may be a dual gas tap comprising at least one gas inlet 3.1 and two gas outlets 3.2, 3.3. The gas inlet 3.1 may be coupled with a gas supply line 4 which provides gas to the gas tap 3 (e.g. from a gas bottle or a central gas supply line). The gas tap 3 may comprise a control element (not shown in the figures). By actuating said control element a user is able to control the gas tap 3. According town example, a user may be able to control whether gas is supplied to the first, to the second or both gas outlets 3.2, 3.3 or both gas outlets 3.2, 3.3 are closed (i.e. switched off).

[0036] In addition, the gas tap 3 may comprise a safety valve 3.4 adapted to shut off the gas flow through the gas tap 3 if the flame at the gas burner 2 is extinguished. Said safety valve 3.4 may be, for example, a magnetic valve. In order to receive information if at least one burner section provides a flame, the gas burner 2 may comprise at least one flame control entity 2.5. Said flame control entity 2.5 may be, for example, a thermocouple.

[0037] The first gas outlet 3.2 of the gas tap 3 is coupled, preferably directly coupled (i.e. without any intermediate entities) with a gas inlet of the gas burner 2 through which gas is provided to the first burner section 2.1. So, in other words, the first burner section 2.1 is directly supplied with gas by the first gas outlet 3.2 of the gas tap 3. Said first gas outlet 3.2 may be, for example, a secondary outlet of the gas tap 3. Said secondary outlet may comprise a smaller outlet cross section than the second gas outlet 3.3 which may be a main outlet.

[0038] As shown in FIG. 1 the second gas outlet 3.3 of the gas tab 3 is coupled with a divider entity 5. Said divider entity 5 comprises a divider inlet 5.1 and at least two divider outlets 5.2, 5.3. Said divider entity 5 may be a passive entity providing a gas path splitting from a single gas path to at least two gas paths. Said divider entity 5 may be, for example, a T-splitter or Y-splitter. So, by means of said divider entity 5, gas can be provided to two or more burner sections 2.2, 2.3 using separate gas pipes. In the present embodiment, the divider inlet 5.1 is coupled, preferably directly coupled (i.e. without any intermediate entities) via a gas pipe with the second gas outlet 3.3. The first divider outlet 5.2 is coupled, preferably directly coupled (i.e. without any intermediate entities) via a gas pipe with a further burner section, e.g. the second burner section 2.2. The provision of gas to the second burner section 2.2 can be controlled using control means included in the gas tap 3. If gas is provided at said second gas outlet 3.3, said gas flows via the divider entity 5 towards the second burner section 2.2 and is provided at the flame ports of said second burner section 2.2.

[0039] The second divider outlet 5.3 is coupled via said on/off valve 6 with yet a further burner section, e.g. the third burner section 2.3. The inlet 6.1 of the on/off valve 6 is coupled with the second divider outlet 5.3 of the divider entity 5 and the outlet 6.2 of the on/off valve 6 is coupled, preferably directly coupled (i.e. without any intermediate entities) with the third burner section 2.3. By means of said on/off valve 6 it is possible to enable or disable a flow of gas from the divider entity 5 to the third burner section 2.3.

[0040] By means of upper-described gas burner assembly 1 the following operation modes may be possible: [0041] providing gas to a single burner section, namely the first burner section 2.1. Said first burner section 2.1 may be the smallest burner section with the lowest heating power (e.g. providing heating power in the range of approximately 0.3 KW to 1 KW); [0042] providing gas to a pair of burner sections, namely the first and the second burner section 2.1, 2.2. Said pair of burner sections may provide heating power in the range of approximately 1 KW to 2.5 KW). The gas tab 3 may be configured such that gas can only be provided at the second gas outlet 3.3 if gas is simultaneously provided at the first gas outlet 3.2 (i.e. the second burner section 2.2 can only be activated when also the first burner section 2.1 is active); [0043] providing gas to three burner sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 by opening the on/off valve 6. Said triple of burner sections may provide heating power in the range of approximately 1.6 KW to 4 KW). The gas tab 3 may be configured such that gas can only be provided at the second gas outlet 3.3 if gas is simultaneously provided at the first gas outlet 3.2 (i.e. the third burner section 2.3 can only be activated when also the first and the second burner sections 2.1, 2.2 are active).

[0044] FIG. 2 shows a further embodiment of a gas burner arrangement 1 which comprises more than three burner sections. In the present embodiment, the gas burner 2 comprises four burner sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4. In the following, the additional or differing features of the embodiment according to FIG. 2 with respect to the embodiment of FIG. 1 are explained. Apart from that the features and the interaction of features described before with respect to the embodiment of FIG. 1 do also apply to the embodiment of FIG. 2.

[0045] The main difference is that the second divider outlet 5.3 is not directly coupled with the on/off valve 6 but said second divider outlet 5.3 is coupled with a further divider entity 7, namely the inlet 7.1 of said further divider entity 7. Said further divider entity 7 may be configured identical or different to the divider entity 5. Said further divider entity 7 is adapted to split the gas stream provided by the second divider outlet 5.3 in two or more partial gas streams. A first partial gas stream is provided at the first divider outlet 7.2 and a second partial gas stream is provided at a second divider outlet 7.3. Both divider outlets 7.2, 7.3 are coupled via on/off valves 6, 8 with burner sections 2.3, 2.4, namely the first divider outlet 7.2 via on/off valve 6 with the third burner section 2.3 and the second divider outlet 7.3 via on/off valve 8 with the fourth burner section 2.4. On/off valves 6, 8 can be controlled independently from each other and independently from the gas tap 3 in order to activate/deactivate the burner sections 2.3, 2.4 independently.

[0046] Different to the upper-described embodiment according to FIG. 2, the pair of divider entities 5, 7 can be substituted by a single divider entity which comprises three divider outlets. One of said outlets is directly coupled with a burner section and the other two outlets are coupled with different burner sections via on/off valves.

[0047] It should be noted that the description and drawings merely illustrate the principles of the proposed gas burner arrangement. Those skilled in the art will be able to implement various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the invention.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0048] 1 gas burner arrangement [0049] 2 gas burner [0050] 2a burner crown [0051] 2.1 first burner section [0052] 2.2 second burner section [0053] 2.3 third burner section [0054] 2.4 fourth burner section [0055] 2.5 flame control entity [0056] 3 gas tap [0057] 3.1 gas inlet [0058] 3.2 first gas outlet [0059] 3.3 second gas outlet [0060] 3.4 safety valve [0061] 4 gas supply line [0062] 5 divider entity [0063] 5.1 divider inlet [0064] 5.2 first divider outlet [0065] 5.3 second divider outlet [0066] 6 on/off valve [0067] 6.1 inlet [0068] 6.2 outlet [0069] 7 further divider entity [0070] 7.1 inlet [0071] 7.2 first divider outlet [0072] 7.3 second divider outlet [0073] 8 on/off valve