GB2273558A

GB2273558A - Simulated solid fuel effect gas fire with fragrance supply means

Info

Publication number: GB2273558A
Application number: GB9226326A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David James Izzard
Original assignee: GRATE GLOW FIRES
Current assignee: GRATE GLOW FIRES
Priority date: 1992-12-17
Filing date: 1992-12-17
Publication date: 1994-06-22
Also published as: GB9226326D0

Abstract

A simulated solid fuel effect gas fire 10 is provided with fragrance supply means 36, preferably supplying fragrance to a convected air path substantially (66, figure 4) completely 28 separate from a flue/combustion gas path 22, (72). Various means 38, 40 may be provided for manual and/or automatic initiation and/or termination of release of fragrance. The fragrance will preferably resemble burning wood but may be some other fragrance e.g. roses. In the preferred embodiment the supply means comprises a jar having a cap (48, figure 2) on which slides a control member (54) having apertures (58) which can register with corresponding apertures in the cap to allow release of the fragrance held in the jar. <IMAGE>

Description

SIMULATED SOLID FUEL EFFECT GAS FIRES FIELD OF INVENTION This invention relates to simulated solid fuel effect gas fires.

BACKGROUND In an attempt to make such fires more realistic, there have been proposals to supply such a fire with a fragrance resembling, for example, burning logs, e.g. in the form of pellets of fragrance material which are thrown onto the simulated solid fuel elements when glowing hot so that the required fragrance is given off by the fire. This is rather crude and inefficient, and has therefore not been successful.

THE INVENTION According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fire as claimed in claim 1. This has the advantage that a suitable fragrance material (solid, or more usually liquid) can be included in a self-contained fire, with the concomitant advantages of convenience and ease of use. As appreciated by the present inventor, with a fire as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 5, the efficiency can be greatly improved since the majority of supplied fragrance does not immediately disappear up the flue, as was the case, for example, with the attempts to throw a fragrance pellet onto glowing simulated solid fuel elements of a so-called "decorative" gas fire.

The invention can be embodied in a fire as claimed in claim 4, e.g. a "decorative" gas fire, in which the flue gases exit directly to the flue and the majority of heat that transfers to the room does so by radiation, there being little spillage of combustion gases into the room.

Such a fire has the advantage that there is provided a separate convection stream of air to carry the fragrance into the room, regardless of, and separate from, the combustion gases going to the flue. The efficiency of such an arrangement in transferring fragrance into the room is thereby greatly enhanced.

In a fire as claimed in claim 5, advantage can be taken of the already existing separate flow of convected gas which obtains its heat through a heat exchanger from the flue gases, to transmit the fragrance into the room in a particularly economical manner.

With either kind of fire, the fragrance supply means may be manually operable to release fragrance (which term "to release fragrance" includes "to release a metered quantity of fragrance" and "to start a continuing release of fragrance" as the case will allow), which has the advantage of allowing full control by the person operating the fire. The fire may comprise means to operate said supply means in functional relationship to switching on a gas supply to the fire, e.g. said operating means comprising an operative connection of said supply means to a gas tap for said supply, with the advantage of being able to start the release of fragrance somewhat earlier than the flame is actually ignited.Again, the supply means can be operatively connected to e.g. a piezo-electric starter member operable to ignite the gas, which has the advantage that the fragrance is only released at the time when the flame is actually ignited. Yet again, the supply means can have an operative connection to a heat-responsive element arranged to detect when the fire is alight, e.g. a thermistor or a mechanical such device, e.g. a bimetallic strip, which will further delay operation of the supply means until the temperature has risen to a pre-determined level at a chosen point in or near the fire. The bimetallic strip may serve directly as a closure for the supply means, which opens the latter upon temperature reaching a pre-set or otherwise desired level.

Alternatively, a solenoid valve may be used to open the supply means to release the fragrance. It is also possible to have a heat sensor for this purpose located at a remote point, e.g. at the opposite side of the room containing the fire, so as to operate the supply means only at the required temperature being reached at that place.

Again, for both kinds of fire, a particularly simple and efficient arrangement can be obtained by locating the supply means, or at least a fragrance release part thereof, towards the front of the fire and at a level below the simulated solid fuel elements thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS Reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic, vertical, side crosssectional view of a simulated solid fuel effect gas fire embodying the invention and having a heat exchanger and a separate convected air system; Figure 2 is a plan view of a fragrance supply means, e.g. for use in the Figure 1 embodiment; Figure 3 is a side elevation of the Figure 2 supply means; and Figure 4 is a view corresponding to Figure 1 of a decorative effect gas fire of a kind without a heat exchanger.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly Figure 1, a gas fire 10 has simulated solid fuel elements 12 in the form of a log fuel bed resting on spacers 14 on a burner 16 supplied with gas from a supply 18 under the control of a gas tap 20. The combustion gases follow a flue path 22 through a heat exchanger 24, exiting to a flue 26. A convected air passage 28 receives air through an inlet means 30 and this convected air is heated in passing through heat exchanger 24 and eventually exits through an outlet 32 to the room. Some air entering through inlet 30 passes along passages 34 to form primary and secondary air supplies for the combustion. Fragrance supply means 36 is located in convected air passage 28 towards the front of the fire and below the level of the elements 12.A control member 38 for operating supply means 36 may be manually operable or, as indicated by a dotted line in Figure 1, connected by an operative connection 40 to gas tap 20 or to a piezo-electric starter 42 arranged to ignite the gas to start the combustion or a heat-sensitive device 42, as appropriate. A cover 44 is removable to allow access to the various control elements or members 20, 38, 42. In different embodiments, various means may be provided for manual and/or automatic initiation and/or termination of release of fragrance.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, supply means 36 comprises a circular glass jar 46, the top of which threadedly engages a cap 48 to effect a seal therewith and contains fragrance source material 50, which may for example provide a wood-burning fragrance such as oak, ash, pine, cherry, apple etc., but could also provide such fragrances as a floral scent, e.g. roses. Cap 48 is provided with a pair of guides 52 in which slide a control member 54, reciprocable by means of a handle 56 and having apertures 58 which register with corresponding apertures in cap 48 in one position of member 54 to release fragrance, and in the opposite position of member 54 are out of register with the corresponding holes in cap 48 so as to seal the supply means 36.

As illustrated in Figure 4, a decorative fuel effect fire 60 has many parts similar to the fire 10 but no heat exchanger corresponding to 24 nor any independent convected air passage corresponding to 28 and obtaining heat by means of a heat exchanger. Air through inlet 30 flows along a passage 62 and then splits into one stream 64 which supplies primary and secondary air for combustion and another stream 66 which passes fragrance supply means 36 and is convected through a passage 68 to escape at outlet 70 to carry the fragrance into the room. As can be seen from Figure 4, this gas path 66 is substantially separate from the flue gas path 72 (for the combusted gases) which exits at outlet 74 to the flue.Again, supply means 36 is located towards the front of the fire and below the level of the simulated solid fuel elements 12, so that it is readily accessible through cover 44 and the container 46 can thereby be easily removed from cap 48 so that the user can reload it with the fragrance essence 50 whenever required. Also, it can usefully be made of glass so that it can easily be cleaned from one fragrance if required subsequently to contain another fragrance. The apertures 58 are typically 2mm in diameter, as also their cooperating apertures in cap 48, although any of said apertures can be suitably shaped to facilitate releasing fragrance at different rates according to the position of control member 54 (instead of this simply being able to be moved from an open to a closed position and vice versa).

Control means can be provided to enable the supply means to terminate release of fragrance at any desired time, e.g. by use of a manual override. Such a feature is implicit in the manual control means 38 mentioned above.

It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that any features of any embodiments may be suitably combined or omitted, in various combinations, as appropriate, whether these are features described with reference to the drawings or described in the earlier part of this specification.

Any new and unobvious combination of the aforesaid features may be considered to be an example within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1.- A simulated solid fuel effect gas fire, characterised in that it comprises fragrance supply means for storing a fragrance source material and supplying fragrance from said material when required.

2. A simulated solid fuel effect gas fire, characterised in that it comprises fragrance supply means arranged to release a fragrance to exit from the fire substantially separate from the combustion and flue gases.

3. A simulated solid fuel effect gas fire, characterised in that it comprises a path for convected air heated by the fire, at least a portion of said path being substantially separate from the combustion and flue gases to a point where said path leaves the fire, and fragrance supply means arranged to release a fragrance into said portion.

4. A fire as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that it comprises a path for convected air heated by the fire, said path being substantially separate from the combustion and flue gases, said supply means being arranged to release said fragrance into said separate path.

5. A fire as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that it comprises a convected air system separate from the combustion and flue gases, and heat exchanger means to exchange heat between said system and the combustion and/or flue gases, and said supply means are arranged to release said fragrance into said convected air system.

6. A fire as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, characterised in that said supply means or at least a fragrance release part thereof is arranged towards the front of the fire and at a level below the simulated solid fuel elements thereof.

7. A fire as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that it comprises means for manually operating said supply means to release said fragrance.

8. A fire as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that it comprises means to operate said supply means in functional relationship to switching on a gas supply to the fire.

9. A fire as claimed in claim 8, characterised in that said operating means comprises an operative connection of said supply means to a gas tap for said supply.

10. A fire as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that it comprises a member operable to ignite the gas and said supply means comprises an operative connection to said member.

11. A fire as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterised in that it comprises a heat-responsive element arranged to detect when the fire is alight and said supply means comprises an operative connection to said element.

12. A simulated solid fuel effect gas fire, substantially according to any example hereinbefore described.

13. A simulated solid fuel effect gas fire, substantially according to any example hereinbefore described with reference to and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.