AT..CHDE....FR....ITLI..NL......................................................J0798514EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATIONA319990421EP97301144.819970221enenen9604552 19960302GB19990421199916199710011997406 6F 23Q 3/00 AdeFunkenzündanlageenImprovements relating to spark ignitersfrAllumeur par étincelles1IMI PACTROL LIMITED00792761MJL/NP/70931/EPP.O. Box 123 10 Pit Hey PlaceSkelmersdale Lancashire, WN8 9PSGBFaulkner, Barry Peter19 Tweedsmuir Close, Cinnamon BrowWarrington, Cheshire WA2 OELGBLane, Michael Johnet al00032831IMI Plc, Patents and Licensing Department, P.O. Box 216Witton, Birmingham B6 7BAGBATCHDEFRITLINL19990421199916

A spark igniter for a gas-fired appliance, such as a boiler, comprises a pair of electrodes (11, 12) and a circuit (2), under the control of a microprocessor (3), that can generate, during each ignition process, successive bursts of sparks between the electrodes (11, 12), the duration, e.g. about 200 ms, of each burst of sparks being significantly less than the time period, e.g. about 1 second, that elapses before the next burst of sparks is generated. Generation of ignition sparks in such a way enables the igniter to comply with EU electromagnetic compatibility requirements (Fig 1).