IES86792B2

IES86792B2 - Fuel delivery for external wood pellet boiler

Info

Publication number: IES86792B2
Application number: IES20150385A
Authority: IE
Inventors: Crosse Declan
Original assignee: Suirvale Dev Ltd T/A Wood Energy Solutions
Priority date: 2015-10-23
Filing date: 2015-10-23
Publication date: 2017-04-05
Also published as: GB2545071B; IES20150385A2; GB201618093D0; IE20160249A1; GB2545071A; IE87196B1

Abstract

The invention relates to an external wood pellet boiler comprising a boiler, a hopper for wood pellets, an auger for delivering wood pellets from the hopper to the boiler and a fuel delivery means for delivering wood pellets into the hopper, the fuel delivery means comprising a vacuum generator means for transporting wood pellets from a separate bulk fuel store to the external wood pellet boiler, wherein the vacuum generator transport means comprises a cyclone means, wherein the boiler includes a lid which incorporates the cyclone means and wherein the cyclone means is attached to the underside of the lid. <Figure 9>

Description

FUEL DELIVERY FOR EXTERNAL WOOD PELLET BOILER The present invention relates an external wood pellet boiler and to a fuel delivery system for such a boiler.

Wood pellet boilers provide an economic alternative to oil and gas fuel boilers for domestic and commercial heating installations and result in a much reduced heating bill for domestic houses and offices.

The big disadvantage associated with wood pellet boilers is that the supply of fuel in the form of wood pellets is more difficult to keep topped up than it is with oil or gas fuel boilers.

The object of the invention is to alleviate the above disadvantage.

The present invention provides an external wood pellet boiler comprising a boiler, a hopper for wood pellets, an auger for delivering wood pellets from the hopper to the boiler and a fuel delivery means for delivering wood pellets into the hopper, the fuel delivery means comprising a vacuum generator means for transporting wood pellets from the bulk fuel store to the boiler.

Preferably, the vacuum generator means comprises a cyclone means for delivering the fuel.

Advantageously, the boiler includes a lid which incorporates the cyclone which is attached to the underside of the lid.

The main advantages of this invention are: 1. It allows for a vacuum fuel transport system to be fully integrated into the external casing of the boiler. 2. The standard lid is interchangeable with a spigot lid (for external auger fuel feed) or a Vacuum Lid (for vacuum fuel feed). 3. The lid is hinged so that manual filling with bagged fuel can still take place while the vacuum system is still connected. 4. There is no requirement for an additional external housing to weather the cyclone system on the lid of the hopper as it is mounted underneath.

. The lid surface is profiled to allow for rainwater runoff. 6. The cyclone system can be connected to a dust extraction filter to extract dust from the fuel. 7. The vacuum system is controlled by the boiler controller which manages the operation of automatic filling.

The invention will hereinafter be more particularly described with reference to, and as shown in, the accompanying drawings which show, by way of example only, one embodiment of an external wood pellet boiler according to the invention. In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of the external wood pellet boiler from the front and a first side; Figure 2 is a perspective view of the wood pellet boiler from the rear and the first side; Figure 3 is a perspective view of the wood pellet boiler from the front and the first side with the inlet cover raised; Figure 4 is a perspective view of the wood pellet boiler from the rear and the front side with the inlet cover raised; Figure 5 is an enlarged view of the area marked “A in Figure 4; Figure 6 is a side view of the wood pellet boiler and Figure 7 is a front view thereof; Figure 8 is a further side view of the wood pellet boiler; Figure 9 is a cross-sectional front view of the wood pellet boiler taken along to lines “B-B” of Figure Θ; Figure 10 is a side view of the wood pellet boiler showing the lid in a raised position and; Figure 11 is a front view of the wood pellet boiler with the lid in the raised position.

Referring to the drawings, and initially to Figure 9, the wood pellet boiler 100 comprises an external enclosure 110 inside of which is a fuel hopper 120 for wood pellets and a boiler 130 which uses wood pellet as fuel. An auger 140 is used to transfer wood pellets from the hopper 120 to the boiler 130. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the external enclosure 110 is a rectangular structure having a front panel 111, a rear panel 112 and two side panels 113 and 114.

The rear panel 112 includes a boiler service access hatch 115 and side panel 113 includes an access door 116.

On the upper surface of the enclosure 110 is a fuel hopper lid 122 pivotable on hinges 123 and secured by a lock 124. A cover 125 is fitted on the lid 122 to protect the connections 126 on the lid 122.

The connections 126 are a fuel entry pipe 127 and vacuum suction pipe 128. The connections 126 are located on a raised platform 150 profiled to allow for water to run off and having three recesses 152 for a low pipe exit. Also on the upper surface of the enclosure is a boiler maintenance lid 129.

As shown in Figures 10 and 11, a vacuum cyclone 160 is fixed to the lid 122 so that when the lid 112 is opened, the cyclone 160 lifts out of the fuel hopper 120. In this way, the hopper 120 can be refilled manually. The entire upper surface of the enclosure 110 including the hopper lid 122 and boiler maintenance lid 129 are weatherproof being made of metal or ABS plastics material.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the specification details described herein which are given by way of example only and the various modifications and alterations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. An external wood pellet boiler comprising a boiler, a hopper for wood pellets, an auger for delivering wood pellets from the hopper to the boiler and a fuel delivery means for delivering wood pellets into the hopper, the fuel delivery means comprising a vacuum generator means for transporting wood pellets from a separate bulk fuel store to the external wood pellet boiler, wherein the vacuum generator transport means cpmprises a cyclone means, wherein the boiler includes a lid which incorporates the cyclone means and wherein the cyclone means is attached to the underside of the lid,

2. The external wood pellet boiler as claimed in Claim 1, wherein cyclone means is connectable to a dust extraction filter to extract dust from the fuel, the cyclone means is fixed to the lid such that when the lid is opened, the cyclone lifts out of the fuel hopper, and the lid comprises a fuel entry pipe connection and vacuum suction pipe connection.

3. The external wood pellet boiler as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the lid is hinged to allow manual filling of the external wood pellet boiler with bagged fuel while the vacuum generator transport means is still connected, the lid surface is profiled to allow for rainwater runoff, and wherein the lid is interchangeable with a standard lid or spigot lid.

4. The external wood pellet boiler as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the vacuum generator transport means is controlled by a boiler controller which manages the operation of automatic filling and the wood pellet boiler comprises an external enclosure inside of which the fuel hopper, auger and boiler are located.

5. An external wood pellet boiler substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.