Task 1:

Gas-Powered Room Heater

Introduction: A gas-powered room heater uses gas as a heat energy source to increase the temperature of a room. We use these gas-powered heaters without having any idea about how they are designed and modified to be more efficient. Now we are taking a look at the control system in a gas-powered room heater. Gas-Powered Room Heater: A gas-powered room heater is made of four basic units, which are combustion chamber, fuel valve, blower and thermostat. Combustion chamber is the place that the fuel burns to make heat. Blower is a fan that blows the heat and helps to transfer the heat faster to the ambient. And fuel valve manages the fuel flow to the combustion chamber. A thermostat controls the system while the temperature set point for the thermostat is entered. Thermostat: A thermostat triggers the heat flow to the gas burner while it senses that the temperature is lower than the temperature in which the thermostat is set. It is made of three components: Sensor to detect temperature. Trigger moves while the temperature reaches the set point temperature of Thermostat. Switch that controls the fuel flow to the system.
Figure 1 - Thermostat Components (ref1)

Thermostats are in two major groups: Mechanical Thermostats: This type of thermostats uses mechanical ways to transfer data. Bimetallic strip is a mechanical ways to transfer data in thermostats. It consists of two different metal strips that react different to heat which results in bending the strip while heating the strip. It is used to switch on/off fuel valve in heating and cooling units. As shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 - Bimetallic Strip

Electrical Thermostats: In this type of thermostats, the room temperature measured by a temperature sensor is converted to voltage, and the temperature value that is given to the thermostat is converted to the voltage as well. If the input voltage is less than the set voltage then the thermostat triggers and opens fuel valve, however if the voltage is equal to Figure 3 - Electrical Thermostat for Room Heater or more than the voltage in which thermostat is set, thermostat changes the electrical flow direction and closes turns the valve off.

Control System: The control system unit in a gas-powered room heater manages the fuel flow rate to the combustion chamber. Measuring the room temperature with a sensor does it.

Close

Fuel Valve

Open

Combustion Blower Chamber Room

Temperature Set Point

Temperature Sensor

Room Temperature

Thermostat
Figure 3 Block Diagram of A Gas-Powered Room Heater

As shown in Figure 3, the room temperature is measured by thermostat as an input data. If the room temperature is equal or more than the temperature that the thermostat is set on, then the thermostat triggers the fuel valve to stop fuel flow to the combustion chamber. However if the room temperature was not equal to the temperature that the thermostat is set on, it triggers the fuel valve to switch on fuelflow to combustion chamber to obtain heat to transfer to room. This operation will continue till the room temperature reaches the thermostat set temperature.

Conclusion: In order to control room temperature, it is common to use room heaters and to have a high efficient device, we need a control unit to switch on/off the fuel flow to the combustion chamber of the unit. This control unit in a gas-powered room heater is a thermostat, which senses the temperature and based on the thermostat temperature setup manages the fuel flow to the combustion chamber.

References: 1. Solahart 2. http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/io/io_3.html

Task 2: