| 摘要 |
Methods of determining the likelihood of the existence of a dry fire condition in a hot water heater without requiring energization of any of the heating elements are presented. Such methods utilize only the sensor inputs required for normal operation of the hot water heater. Such sensory inputs are characterized in a process of fuzzification to enable the utilization of fuzzy logic rules to determine the likelihood of a dry fire condition before any energization of a heating element occurs. Alternatively, the sensory inputs are assigned logical values and are processed using Boolean logic to determine if a dry fire condition exists, prior to the energization of any electrical heating element within the hot water heater. Upon the determination that a dry fire condition is likely, the controller may perform a soft or hard lockout, may allow reset(s), and may provide an indication to the user of the condition. |
