Method For Evaluating A Sensor-Detectable Transient Pressure Difference On A Gas Boiler And Associated Gas Boiler

Abstract

A method for evaluating a sensor-detectable transient pressure difference on a gas boiler. The sensor detects a differential pressure at a measurement point upstream of the main flow restrictor (3) and downstream of the control valve (2) and a reference pressure and transmits it to the evaluation electronics. The sensor detects a differential pressure course and transmits it to the evaluation electronics, during variation of heat output and/or when the heat output is adjusted to the predetermined value. The evaluation electronics evaluates the differential pressure course over its time range and/or its frequency range. At least one characteristic value is determined and compared with a predetermined comparison value. If the characteristic value deviates from the comparison value, an error of the gas boiler is recognized.

Claims

1. A method for evaluating a sensor-detectable transient pressure difference on a gas boiler, the sensor is a differential pressure sensor or a mass flow sensor, the gas boiler comprises a mixing device, a fan, a main flow restrictor, control valve and safety valve, the mixing device mixes an inflowing fuel from a fuel inlet and inflowing air from an air inlet to form a fuel-air mixture, the fan suctions the fuel and the air through the mixing device, the main flow restrictor limits a mass flow of the fuel into the mixing device, the control valve is arranged upstream of the main flow restrictor for a closed-loop control of a mass flow of the fuel into a mixing unit, the safety valve, arranged upstream of the control valve, interrupts the mass flow of the fuel, the method comprising: detecting a differential pressure between a pressure at a measurement point upstream of the main flow restrictor and downstream of the control valve and a reference pressure at a reference measurement point and transmitting it to evaluation electronics; varying a heat output of the gas boiler according to a predetermined heat output course and/or is adjusted to a predetermined value; detecting, during the variation of the heat output and/or when the heat output is adjusted to the predetermined value, a differential pressure course and transmitting it to the evaluation electronics; evaluating, via the evaluation electronics, the differential pressure course over its time range and/or its frequency range; and determining at least one characteristic value characterizing the differential pressure course and comparing it with a predetermined comparison value, recognizing, if the characteristic value deviates from the comparison value beyond a predetermined tolerance value, an error of the gas boiler.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gas boiler furthermore comprises a burner designed to combust the fuel-air mixture, so that a thermoacoustic effect, due to the combustion, can take place in the fuel-air mixture; detecting pressure fluctuations during the combustion, with the evaluation electronics and analyzing the differential pressure course, and recognizing the occurring thermoacoustic effect as a characteristic value.

3. The method according to claim 2, comparing the thermoacoustic effect with a predetermined limit value for the thermoacoustic effect as comparison value and, if the limit value is overshot, actuating the burner and/or the fan and/or the control valve and/or a safety valve, reducing the thermoacoustic effect and in particular reducing the thermoacoustic effect below the limit value.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the fan has an impeller and the impeller, by its rotation, generating pressure fluctuations of the fuel-air mixture, detected by the sensor; and detecting the pressure fluctuations via the frequencies of the differential pressure course, and, from the frequencies of the differential pressure course, an actual speed of rotation of the impeller is determined as a characteristic value.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the fan comprises a motor that drives the impeller with a motor speed of rotation and the motor speed of rotation corresponds to a target speed of rotation of the impeller, and comparing the actual speed of rotation of the impeller as characteristic value with the target speed of rotation of the impeller as comparison value; and recognizing that the impeller is not connected in a predetermined way to the motor, if the actual speed of rotation deviates from the target speed of rotation of the impeller beyond a predetermined tolerance value.

6. The method according to claim 1, detecting the differential pressure course with the safety valve closed, so that, in the mixing device, flow separations of the air flowing in from the air inlet occur, which lead to pressure fluctuations that can be detected by the pressure sensor; and detecting the differential pressure course, and, from the frequencies of the differential pressure course, determining an actual volume flow of the air through the mixing device as a characteristic value.

7. The method according to claim 6, determining a target volume flow from the differential pressure determined by the sensor.

8. The method according to claim 7, comparing the actual volume flow and the target volume flow with one another and, in the case of a deviation beyond a tolerance value, recognizing an error.

9. The method according to claim 1, detecting and evaluating a frequency of a pressure fluctuation detected by the sensor as a function of a mass flow through the control valve, wherein the evaluation electronics, in the case of a linear variation of the frequency with, at the same time, a linear variation of the mass flow, recognizing a fluctuation of a fuel supply pressure (pg) as an error.

10. The method according to claim 1, detecting the pressure fluctuations via the frequencies of the differential pressure course, comparing them with the heat output course of the gas boiler, and, if pressure fluctuations are independent of the heat output of the gas boiler; recognizing a fluctuation of an air volume flow (p1), caused by wind gusts, which can be an error.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gas boiler further comprises a burner designed to combust the fuel-air mixture, so that, when the fuel-air mixture is ignited, a pressure surge in the fuel-air mixture can occur, which, after the ignition, can be detected by the sensor as pressure fluctuations, and detecting the pressure fluctuation and the occurring pressure surge as a characteristic value by analysis of the differential pressure course determined by the pressure fluctuations.

12. A gas boiler designed to carry out a method according to claim 1.

Description

DRAWINGS

[0051] The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0052] FIG. 1 is an exemplary diagrammatic representation of a gas boiler.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0053] Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0054] FIG. 1 diagrammatically shows a portion or a section of a gas boiler. A venturi mixer is represented as mixing device 4. Air at an air pressure p0 is suctioned from the environment through an air inlet L by a fan 5. In the mixing device 4, the inflowing air and a fuel (gas) flowing in through the fuel intake G are mixed to form a fuel-air mixture.

[0055] The fuel flowing in from the fuel intake G, which is in particular a gas, flows through a safety valve 1, a control valve 2 as well as the main flow restrictor 3. The safety valve 1 preferably comprises a passage position and a blocking position where the flow of the fuel through the safety valve 1 is blocked. The control valve 2 is designed for the closed-loop control of the volume flow of the fuel. Thus, the volume flow of the fuel through the control valve 2 to the mixing device 4 can be adjusted. By the adjustment or closed-loop control of the volume flow of the fuel through the control valve 2, the mixing ratio of the fuel-air mixture can thus be adjusted.

[0056] At least one differential pressure sensor is provided. It is designed to determine the differential pressure between the pressure p2 of the fuel upstream of the main flow restrictor 3 and downstream of the control valve 2 and a reference pressure. The reference pressure preferably is the environmental pressure p0 or a pressure p1 of the air in a supply line carrying air to the mixing device 4. For this purpose, the differential pressure sensor can include, for example, a respective pressure sensor or pressure transducer for detecting a respective pressure p0, p1, p2. Furthermore, additional pressure sensors for detecting the additional pressures pg, p3 and p4 can be provided. They can be used as reference pressure sensors to detect a reference pressure or for checking the plausibility of the pressures p0, p1, p2.

[0057] The fuel-air mixture is conveyed by the fan 5 to a burner of the gas boiler, which is not represented, where the fuel-air mixture is combusted.

[0058] By the method according to the disclosure, for example, the following functionalities can be implemented independently of one another or in combination with one another:

[0059] 1. Detecting a thermoacoustic effect;

[0060] 2. Detecting or checking the plausibility of a speed of rotation of an impeller of the fan;

[0061] 3. Detecting a volume flow of the air through the mixing device when no fuel is flowing into the mixing device (flushing of the gas boiler with air);

[0062] 4. Recognizing a fluctuating fuel supply pressure; and

[0063] 5. Recognizing wind fluctuations.

[0064] Here, as described above, in each case a characteristic value can be detected and compared with a target value or limit value, wherein in each case a tolerance value can be taken into consideration. Depending on the comparison or when the characteristic value as actual value deviates excessively from the target value or exceeds or undershoots the limit value, an error can then be recognized or the conclusion that there is an error can be drawn.

[0065] The disclosure is not limited in its design to the preferred embodiment examples indicated above. Instead, a number of variants are conceivable, which use the represented solution even in designs of fundamentally different type.

[0066] The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.