GB2231949A

GB2231949A - Gas burner

Info

Publication number: GB2231949A
Application number: GB8912218A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Arthur Selwyn Kay
Original assignee: BURCO DEAN APPLIANCES Ltd
Current assignee: BURCO DEAN APPLIANCES Ltd
Priority date: 1989-05-26
Filing date: 1989-05-26
Publication date: 1990-11-28
Also published as: GB8912218D0

Abstract

A gas burner, for a water heater for example, has outlet ports for a combustible gas/air mixture defined either by (A) a ceramic plate formed with a multiplicity of holes; or (B) alternate plain and corrugated elements defining spaces therebetween for the mixture egress; the elements either being plain (flat) and corrugated rings to provide axial egress from the gas burner, or plain (flat) and corrugated annular discs to provide radial egress from the gas burner. <IMAGE>

Description

GAS BURNER ASSEMBLIES This invention relates to gas burner assemblies and to applications thereof in the fields of water and air (hereinafter and referred to generally as "fluid") heating.

It is an object of this invention to provide a gas burner assembly which produces a short length, stable, high efficiency flame, which is compact is size and which is of simple construction.

The present invention also takes within its scope a gas burner for use in a gas burner assembly.

According to one aspect of the present there is provided a gas burner comprising gas/air mixture outlet porting defined by a plate of ceramic material formed with a multiplicity of holes constituting outlet ports.

Preferably the plate is associated with ducting connected to a gas/air mixture supply.

Preferably the gas burner is connectible into a combustion chamber of a heat exchanger.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a gas burner comprising alternate plain (flat) and corrugated coaxial and concentric rings defining a multiplicity of axially extending outlet ports for a combustible gas/air mixture.

Preferably these rings are narrow in width, i.e.

the distance between the gas/air inlet and the gas/air outlet is relatively small.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a gas burner comprising a stack of alternate plain (flat) and corrugated annular discs defining a multiplicity of radially extending outlet ports for a combustible gas/air mixture.

Preferably the gas burner has associated with it a spark ignition electrode with a flame sensing probe to provide control of the gas burner from full flame" to "off".

Any one of the above gas burners is preferably fan assisted, a blower fan and/or a suction fan being duct-connected thereto. The gas burner is preferably duct-connected to an air blower fan at one end and connected to a heat exchanger at another end.

Alternatively the gas burner is connected to a heat exchanger to which is connected at a location remote from the gas burner a suction fan.

It is to be clearly understood that the fan assistance applied to the gas burner, in any of its applications, may be blowing and/or suction fan assisted.

The gas flow into the air flow is preferably such as to create a swirling effect to ensure uniform mixing of the gas/air mixture delivered to the burner. This may be effected by a tangential infeed of gas to an axially flowing stream of air between the fan and the gas burner.

Alternatively, there may be fitted to ducting between the fan and the gas burner a device, such for example, as a baffle device which will ensure that a thorough mixing of the gas and air is effected prior to the mixture reaching the gas burner.

A fan assisted gas burner constituting a gas burner assembly according to the present invention may, in a most general sense, be considered a fan powered gas convector heater which can be applied to any appropriate gas fired equipment.

The primary, but not exclusive application of the fan assisted gas burner, i.e. the gas burner assembly according to the present invention, is in the field of water heating, especially but not exclusively for central heating and/or domestic hot water heating purposes. In the latter instance it is particularly suitable for heating substantial quantities of domestic hot water quickly.

A gas burner according to the present invention may fire upwardly or laterally into a combustion chamber forming part of a heat exchanger.

The gas burner assembly is preferably connected to a water tank with the heat exchanger disposed within the water tank and connected to an exhaust flue system.

The heat exchanger may be surrounded by a pipe connected to mains water supply whereby water from the mains passes into and out of the hot water tank, being heated by the water surrounding the heat exchanger before passing to a domestic supply facility.

The hot water tank preferably also forms part of a central heating system.

It should be manifest that the assembly of hot water tank, heat exchanger and gas burner assembly according to the present invention may be used to heat only domestic supply water or central heating water.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a plan view of a first gas burner according to the present invention; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the gas burner; Fig. 3 is a side view of a hot water tank incorporating a heat exchanger and a gas burner assembly according to the present invention; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side view of a hot water tank showing a different disposition of the gas burner assembly; Fig. 5 is a plan view of a second gas burner assembly according to the present invention; and Fig. 6 is a- perspective view of a third gas burner according to the invention.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 the gas burner comprises an open-topped casing 10 having a laterally extending gas/air mixture inlet duct 11 flanged as indicated at 12 at its free end for connection to a gas/air mixture supply.

The open-top of the casing 10 is closed by a ceramic plate 13 formed with a multiplicity of holes 14 forming gas/air outlet ports.

The ceramic plate 13 is of unitary construction, but may be constituted by two or more interconnected sections, for example sections cemented together.

The ceramic porting plate 13 is surrounded by an annular metal wall 16 with an upstanding flange 17 whereby the gas burner can be connected in any convenient manner to a combustion chamber of a heat exchanger.

Reference is now made to Fig. 3 where the gas burner as illustrated and described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 is generally indicated by the reference 20.

The gas burner 20 forms part of a gas burner assembly 21, the other part of which is a blower fan 22. The blower fan 22 being connected to the gas burner 20 by suitable ducting 23.

The blower fan 22 is driven by a motor 24 external to the casing 23 within which the impellor 25 of the blower fan 22 is mounted.

Air enters the casing 23 at location 26 and a gas inlet pipe is indicated at 27.

The gas inlet pipe 27 delivers gas to the centre of the fan impellor 25 although it may deliver gas to the top or bottom of the fan impellor 25 where a low or high gas pressure situation prevails respectively.

The gas inlet pipe 27 may deliver gas into the casing 23 at a location between the blower fan 22 and the gas burner and the pipe 27 may be disposed tangentially or offset from the central longitudinal axis of the casing 23 whereby the inflowing gas creates a swirling effect with the axially flowing air thus ensuring thorough mixture prior to reaching the gas burner 20.

The gas burner assembly 21 is connected, in this instance, to the side of a hot water tank 28 and the gas burner 20 is housed within a combustion chamber 29 forming part of a heat exchanger 30.

Water inlet and outlet connections to the tank are indicated at 31 and these may be connected to water supply mains (not shown), domestic water supply piping and/or a central heating system.

An exhaust for waste gas products from the heat exchanger is indicated at 32 for connection to any suitable flue system.

The blower fan 22 may be disposed remote from the gas burner 20, for example it may be fitted to the top of the hot water tank 28, and be connected to the gas burner 20 by any suitable form of ducting or piping.

Alternatively, a suction fan is connected to the flue system or the flue connection 32 of the heat exchanger 31 to provide suction fan assistance to the gas burner 20 as opposed to a blower fan assistance as shown and described with reference to Fig. 3.

It will be seen from Fig. 3 that the gas burner 20 fires upwardly into the combustion chamber 29 and the heat exchanger 30, but it can be disposed so that it fires laterally or sideways into the combustion chamber 29 (see Fig. 4 where like parts have the same reference with the suffix "A").

The gas burner 20 will normally have associated with it, for example, a spark ignition device and a temperature sensitive probe connected to gas flow control means for switching the gas burner 20 from half flame" to "full flame" or to "off". This ignition and control system is generally indicated in Fig. 3 at 33.

A first alternative construction of gas burner is indicated in Fig. 5 and, in this instance the gas/air outlet porting is defined by a series of coaxial and concentric plain (flat) and corrugated discrete rings 40 and 41 which are relative narrow in depth and which close the open top of a casing 42 which is connected by a duct 43 to a blower fan 44 having a central gas/air mixture supply port 45.

The centre of the gas burner has a non-ported area 46 and the gas ports are indicated at 47.

The assembly of rings 40, 41 is surrounded by a wall 47 with an upstanding flange 48 which permits the gas burner of Fig. 5 to be suitably connected to a combustion chamber such as 29 of a heat exchanger such as 30.

A second alternative gas burner is shown at Fig.

6 and comprises a stack 50 of alternately-disposed plain (flat) and corrugated annular discs (washers) 51, 52 which define a multiplicity of radial ports 53.

One end of the gas burner is closed by a plate or solid disc 54 while the other end is fitted with an annular flanged plate 55 allowing the burner to be fitted to ducting to which a blower fan, such as 20, may be fitted.

Claims

1. A gas burner comprising gas/air mixture outlet porting defined by a plate of ceramic material formed with a multiplicity of holes constituting outlet ports.

2. A gas burner comprising alternate plain (flat) and corrugated coaxial and concentric rings defining a multiplicity of axially extending outlet ports for a combustible gas/air mixture.

3. A gas burner as claimed in claim 2, in which the rings are narrow in width, i.e. the distance between the gas/air inlet and the gas/air outlet is relatively small.

4. A gas burner comprising a stack of alternate plain (flat) and corrugated annular discs defining a multiplicity of radially extending outlet ports for a combustible gas/air mixture.

5. A gas burner as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 having associated therewith ducting connectible to a gas/air mixture supply.

6. A gas burner as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 which is connectible into a combustion chamber of a heat exchanger.

7. A gas burner as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 having associated with it a spark ignition electrode with a flame sensing probe to provide control of the gas burner from "full flame" to "off".

8. A gas burner as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 which is fan assisted.

9. A gas burner as claimed in claim 8 in which there is connected thereto by ducting a blower fan and/or a suction fan.

10. A gas burner as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9 ductconnected thereto. The gas burner is preferably duct-connected to an air blower fan at one end and connected to a heat exchanger at another end.

11. A gas burner as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 9 connected to a heat exchanger to which is connected at a location remote from the gas burner a suction fan.

12. A gas burner, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

13. A water heater incorporating a heat exchanger to which is fitted a gas burner as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. A water heater as claimed in claim 13 in which the gas flow into the air flow to form the gas/air flow mixture to the gas burner is such as to create a swirling effect to ensure uniform mixing.

15. A water heater as claimed in claim 14, in which the gas is fed tangentially into an axially flowing air stream directed towards the outlet ports.

16. A water heater as claimed in claim 13 comprising within the gas/air stream directed towards the outlet ports a baffle or similar device for ensuring uniform mixing.

17. A water heater, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.