US3139558A

US3139558A - Igniter

Info

Publication number: US3139558A
Application number: US40228A
Authority: US
Inventors: Birger A Lindberg
Original assignee: Honeywell Inc
Current assignee: Honeywell Inc
Priority date: 1960-07-01
Filing date: 1960-07-01
Publication date: 1964-06-30
Anticipated expiration: 1981-06-30
Also published as: GB979435A; AT251821B; BE605630A

Description

June 30, 1964 B. A. LINDBERG IGNITER Filed July 1, 1960 INVENTOR. BIRGER A. LINDBERG ATTORNEY 3,139,558 IGNITER 3,139,558 Patented June 30, 1964 coil supporting brackets 24 and25 and two L-

shaped terminal members

26 and 27 are electrically connected Birger A. Lindberg, Inglewood, Calif., assignor to Minne-' This invention relates to igniters'for gas burners and,

more particularly, to a hot wire type ofigniter for igniting a pilot burner for a main gas burner.

This type of igniter is generally well known in the prior art but the prior art igniters have the common fault of being short lived. Due to this fault, burner installations making use thereof have required frequent service calls to replace burned out igniters. I

It is one of the objects of this invention to provide hot wire type of igniter which will function as well as the prior art igniters yet have a muchlonger life.

Another object of the invention is to provide a hot wire type of igniter wherein the ignition coil is of much shorter length than prior art igniters. I i

A still further object of the invention is to provide an igniter for a pilot burner wherein resistance means is placed in series with the igniter coil so as to reduce the length of the igniter coil, the resistance being concealed within the support for the igniter coil.

A further object of the invention is to provide an igniter wherein the ignition coil, resistance means in series therewith and thelead wires therefrom are so balanced or proportioned that the ignition coil will operate properly with fluctuations in'the voltage ofthe source of electrical i FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a thermo electric generator embodying'theinvention, with portions thereof broken away; and

together by means of resistors 28 and 29. The resistor 28 has a resistance of .042 to .055 of an ohm and is spot Welded to the short leg of the bracket 24 and to the intermediate portion of the long leg of the terminal member 26. The resistance29 is substantially the same as that of 28 and is similarly connected to the bracket 25 and the terminal 27. The shape of the terminals, resistors, and brackets are such that they will fit in the grooves in the blocks, half of the width or thickness of the members being in one block and the other half in the other block. The outer ends of the

bracket members

24 and 25 are notched at 30 and 31, respectively, to receive one end each of an igniter coil 32. The ends of the coil are held in the notch by staking or squeezing the bracket member against the wire and/ or welding or silver soldering the ends to the bracket members. I The igniter wire, sometim'esca'lled the glow coil, is an alloy of 80% platinum and 20% rhodium and is preferably .015 of an inch in diameter. It has a resistance of .035 of an ohm to .040 of an ohm. This resistance "range for the glow coil as well as for the resistorin series therewith is based on the use of the igniter in a low voltage igniter circuit having a power source of 2.5 volts. If higher or lower power supplies are used, the resistance ranges must correspondingly be changed.

The gas deflector plate 14 has a curved and beveled projection 14a that extends laterally and downwardly into and slightly through a notch 15a in the upper surface of the burner 15 to deflect gas. issuing from the burner up over and around the glow coil 32 where it may be ignited to cause ignition of the other gas issuing from the burner 15.

FIGURE 2 is an elevational view of the igniter with one section of the housing for theigniterremoved.

The igniteris illustrated as being mounted on a sup porting bracket 11 by means of a rivet 12 extending through two molded porcelain blocks 13, through the upper portion of an arm of the bracket 11 and through a gas deflector plate 14 on the other side of the porcelain blocks from the bracket 11.

In FIGURE 2 of the drawing, the terminal 21 is schematically shown as being connected through a lead fifthor one-sixth of the total resistance of the igniter circuit to the two ends of the secondary of the transformer. By thus balancing the resistances of the igniter or glow coil, the resistance means in the housing of the igniter The bracket 11 has two spaced and apertured arms.

11a whichstraddle the base of a burner 15 so that the bracket can be clamped to the base of a pilot burner by tightening a bolt 16 extending through the two arms 11a. The burner is mounted in any suitable manner in a second bracket 17 which also supportsa thermocouple 13 in spaced relation to the burner 15 for heating thereby. The bracket 17 is adapted to be bolted or otherwise secured to a main burner.

As can be best seen in FIGURE v2 of the drawing, the two inner surfaces of the blocks 13 have L-

shaped grooves

19 and 20 formed therein which extend from the and the resistance of the lead wires, variations in the supply voltage of volts to 132 volts will not cause burning out of the igniter coil and a reduced voltage from 120 volts to 102 will give satisfactory performance.

Due to the shortness of the coil 32, its light weight and the span, between its supporting brackets, there is no chance of shortening the length of the life of the coil."

This is due to the fact that there is nochance that the Weight of the coil will cause sagging thereof so as to cause the upper portions of theloops to come together and reduce the resistance of the coil and, thereby, cause burning out of the coil. I

While I-have described the preferred embodiment of the invention above, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is to be determined from the appended claims, it being obvious that modificationsmay be made in the invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

grooves 22 and 23 extend in spaced relationship with each other and the

grooves

19 and 20 from the base of the groove 21 to a point near the lower end of the blocks,

at which point, they converge and join with grooves 19 I claim as my invention:

1. In a low voltage igniterfor a gas burner, the combination comprising lead Wires of approximately 3 of the igniters total resistance, an igniter coil of approximately of the igniters total resistance and resistance means of approximately of the igniters total resistance in series with said leads and coil, the eflective length of the wire of said coil being less than one inch and the effective length of the coil being less than /2 inch.

2. In a low voltage igniter system for a gas burner, the combination comprising lead Wires of from .025 to .040 of an ohm, an igniter coil offrom .035 to .040 ohm, resistance means of from .085 to 0.1 of an ohm in series with said leads and coil, the effective length of the wire of said coil being less than one inch and the effective length of the coil being less than /2 inch, and means for supporting said lead wires and ignition coil and resistance. means on a pilot burner and for deflecting gas from the burner to said igniter coil.

3. A gas igniter, for use in a 2.5 volt ignition system,

comprising a pair of abutting insulation blocks, grooves extending in a tortuous path in at least one of the abutting surfaces of said blocks, a pair of conductor brackets of negligible resistance extending into and beyond one end of said grooves, a glow coil of platinum-rhodium wire having an effective length of less than one inch and extending between and secured to the projecting ends of said brackets, said coil having a resistance between 0.035 ohm and 0.040 ohm, a pair of terminals extending into and beyond the other end of said grooves of said blocks, and resistance means of between 0.085 ohm and 0.11 ohm electrically connecting said coil and terminals, the total resistance between the terminals being between 0.135 and 0.145 ohm. i 4. A gas igniter, for use in a low voltage ignition system, comprising an insulation block, a pair of conductor brackets of negligible resistance extending into and projecting out of said block, a glow coil extending between and secured to the projecting ends of said brackets, said coil having a resistance between 0.035 ohm and 0.040 ohm, a pair of negligible resistance leads extending into and projecting from said block, and resistance means of between 0.085 ohm and 0.11 ohm positioned within said block and electrically connecting said coil and leads.

5. The combination defined in claim 4, wherein the effective length of the wire of said coil is less than one inch.

6. The combination of claim 5, wherein the effective length of said coil is less than /2 inch.

7. A gas igniter, for use in a 2.5 volt ignition system, comprising a. pair of abutting insulation blocks, a pair of complementary grooves extending in a tortuous path in the abutting surfaces of said blocks from one end thereof to the other, a pair of conductor brackets of negligible resistance extending into and beyond one end of said grooves, a glow coil of platinum-rhodium material extending between and secured to the projecting ends of said brackets, said coil having a resistance between 0.035 ohm and 0.040 ohm, resistance means of between 0.085 ohm and 0.11 ohm in said grooves and electrically connected to said coil, the total resistance across said glow coil and said resistance means being between 0.135 ohm and 0.145 ohm, and a pair of lead wires electrically connected to said resistance means and glow coil and having a combined resistance between /5 and /5 of the total resistance of the combination.

8. A gas igniter as defined in claim 7 in combination with means for supporting said igniter adjacent a burner and means for deflecting a portion of a gas issuing from said burner to said igniter coil. 9. The combination defined in claim 8 wherein said means for supporting said igniter adjacent a burner and said means for deflecting gas are secured to said igniter on opposite sides thereof by means of a single fastening means extending through both of said means and said igniter.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,026,848 Brown May 21, 1912 1,118,942 Lyon Dec. 1, 1914 1,639,258 Cohen Aug. 16, 1927 2,360,607 Kautiman et a1 Oct. 17, 1944 2,384,797 Cerny et al Sept, 18, 1945 2,487,753 Cohn Nov. 8, 1949 2,487,754 Cohn Nov. 8, 1949 2,492,755 McCollurn Dec. 27, 1949 2,530,827 Lakota et al Nov. 21, 1950 2,625,990 Smith Jan. 20, 1953 2,744,569 Hoff May 8, 1956 2,751,973 Meusy June 26, 1956 2,761,947 Rice et'al. Sept. 4, 1956 2,850,084 Kunzler Sept. 2,- 1958 2,912,623 Tuttle Nov. 10, 1959

Claims

1. IN A LOW VOLTAGE IGNITER FOR A GAS BURNER, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING LEAD WIRES OF APPROXIMATELY 2/12 OF THE IGNITER''S TOTAL RESISTANCE, AN IGNITER COIL OF APPROXIMATELY 3/12 OF THE IGNITER''S TOTAL RESISTANCE AND RESISTANCE MEANS OF APPROXIMATELY 7/12 OF THE IGNITER''S TOTAL RESISTANCE IN SERIES WITHSAID LEADS AND COIL, THE EFFECTIVE LENGTH OF THE WIRE OF SAID COIL BEING LESS THAN ONE INCH AND THE EFFECTIVE LENGTH OF THE COIL BEING LESS THAN 1/2 INCH.