Oxygen Sensors for Domestic Gas Boilers

摘要

An amperometric oxygen sensor was constructed and tested in the combustion products of a gas-burning domestic boiler. The measured oxygen concentration values correlated, as expected, with carbon dioxide values. Oxygen values provide a measure of the air-to-fuel ratio of the system which is virtually independent of the composition of the fuel gas. As a result, a system with closed-loop oxygen control would automatically compensate for variations in composition of the input fuel gas and enable a single appliance to be sold into markets with varying natural gas compositions without requiring modifications for each region and so generate significant cost savings. This advantage is in addition to the expected substantial savings to customers via high achievable thermal efficiency of operation.