JP2024103061A - Combustion equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a combustion device capable of obtaining energy by burning kerosene containing a larger amount of bubbled oxygen. [Solution] The combustion device 1 of the present invention is configured to include a combustion mechanism 4 for burning kerosene O, and a fine bubble generating mechanism 6 for generating fine bubbles with a diameter of 1 μm or less in the kerosene O. Therefore, by using kerosene O' which contains fine air bubbles in the kerosene O used as fuel and thus contains a larger amount of bubbled oxygen, it is possible to promote combustion, and a larger amount of heat can be obtained compared to when regular kerosene is used. In addition, it is possible to reduce soot and carbon monoxide generated during incomplete combustion of kerosene O' compared to when regular kerosene is used. [Selected Figure] Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a combustion device that burns kerosene as fuel.

A known example of a combustion device that burns vaporized kerosene within the device and utilizes the heat and other energy generated during the combustion is a fan heater (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2008-185320 A

In fan heaters such as that described in Patent Document 1, there is a risk of incomplete combustion occurring if there is insufficient oxygen during combustion in the fuel combustion section. When incomplete combustion occurs, sufficient energy cannot be obtained when burning kerosene, so there is a demand for a combustion device with higher combustion efficiency.

The present invention aims to provide a combustion device that can obtain energy by burning kerosene that contains a larger amount of bubbled oxygen.

The combustion device of the present invention is characterized by having a combustion mechanism that burns kerosene as fuel, and a microbubble generating means that generates microbubbles with a diameter of 1 μm or less in the kerosene.

The combustion device of the present invention allows the kerosene used as fuel to contain fine air (oxygen) bubbles, so combustion can be promoted by using kerosene that contains a larger amount of bubbled oxygen.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a combustion apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a combustion device showing a modified example of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a combustion apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a combustion apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a combustion device showing a modified example of the third embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a combustion apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a combustion apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

Below, preferred embodiments of the microbubble generator of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that common parts are designated by common reference numerals throughout these drawings.

Figure 1 shows the configuration of a first embodiment of the combustion device 1 of the present invention. The overall configuration will be described with reference to the figure. The combustion device 1 is mainly composed of a housing 2 forming an outer shell, a fuel tank 3 storing kerosene O as fuel, a combustion mechanism 4 using kerosene O as fuel, a fuel pump 5 as a driving source for supplying fuel to the combustion mechanism 4, and a fine bubble generating mechanism 6 disposed in a flow path between the fuel tank 3 and the fuel pump 5. Therefore, the combustion device 1 of this embodiment has a flow path in which kerosene O flows in the order of fuel tank 3 → fine bubble generating mechanism 6 → fuel pump 5 → combustion mechanism 4.

The combustion mechanism 4 generates energy such as heat by converting the supplied kerosene O into vaporized gas and burning it, but this is only one example, and the configuration of the combustion mechanism 4 is not particularly limited in the present invention. The fuel pump 5 sends kerosene O from the fuel tank 3 to the combustion mechanism 4, and in this embodiment is configured as, for example, a centrifugal pump or a diaphragm pump, but may be configured as other types of pumps, and is not particularly limited here.

The microbubble generating mechanism 6 generates microbubbles of air in the kerosene O passing through the microbubble generating mechanism 6. The microbubble generating mechanism 6 of this embodiment is capable of generating 200 million or more microbubbles of 1 μm or less per ml (200,000,000/ml) in the kerosene O. The configuration of the microbubble generating mechanism 6 is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, a microbubble generator described in Patent Application No. 2022-012373 configured to achieve the above conditions using kerosene as the liquid.

In general classification based on bubble diameter, fine bubbles with a diameter of 1 μm to 100 μm are called microbubbles, and fine bubbles with a diameter of several tens of nm to less than 1 μm are called ultrafine bubbles. Furthermore, because the fine bubbles do not merge or absorb each other, they remain in the liquid as a single gas for a long time, and are said to have a large bubble surface area per unit volume. In this embodiment, these characteristics are utilized to generate many fine bubbles of 1 μm or less in the kerosene using the fine bubble generation mechanism 6, thereby increasing the amount of bubbled air, and especially the amount of oxygen, in the kerosene used as fuel.

Next, the operation of the combustion device 1 configured as above will be described. Kerosene O is stored in advance in the fuel tank 3, and when the fuel pump 5 is driven, the required amount of kerosene O flows from the fuel tank 3 through the fuel pump 5 into the fine bubble generating mechanism 6. Then, when the kerosene O passes through the fine bubble generating mechanism 6, the air contained in the kerosene O is atomized into fine bubbles, generating fine bubbles in the kerosene O.

Then, the kerosene O' containing fine bubbles and increasing the amount of bubbled air flows from the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 into the combustion mechanism 4, which converts the kerosene O' into vaporized gas and burns it. Here, the amount of bubbled air in the kerosene O', especially the amount of oxygen, has increased, so the oxygen promotes the combustion of the kerosene O' more than usual, and most of the kerosene O' that flows in is completely burned. Therefore, a larger amount of heat can be obtained compared to when the same volume of normal kerosene is used in the combustion mechanism 4, and the amount of kerosene O consumed to obtain the same amount of heat can be reduced. In addition, because most of the kerosene O' is completely burned in this combustion, the soot and carbon monoxide generated during incomplete combustion of the kerosene O' can be reduced compared to when normal kerosene is used.

As described above, the combustion device 1 of this embodiment is configured to include a combustion mechanism 4 that burns kerosene O as fuel, and a fine bubble generating mechanism 6 as a fine bubble generating means that generates fine bubbles with a diameter of 1 μm or less in the kerosene O. Therefore, by using kerosene O' that contains more bubbled oxygen by incorporating fine air bubbles into the kerosene O used as fuel, combustion can be promoted and a larger amount of heat can be obtained compared to when regular kerosene is used. In addition, compared to when regular kerosene is used, the soot and carbon monoxide generated during incomplete combustion of kerosene O' can be reduced.

The microbubble generating mechanism 6 of this embodiment is configured to generate more than 200 million microbubbles with a diameter of 1 μm or less per ml in the kerosene O, allowing the kerosene O to contain more micro air bubbles.

Figure 2 shows a modified version of the first embodiment of the present invention. This modified version is configured with a blower fan 7 that sends air whose temperature has been increased by the heat generated by the combustion mechanism 4 out of the machine.

With reference to the figure, 7 is a blower fan as a blowing means. The blower fan 7 sends out the air heated by the combustion mechanism 4 burning kerosene O' from an air outlet (not shown) provided in the housing 2 to the outside of the device, and the combustion device 1 can function as a heating device that blows warm air from the air outlet. In this modified example, as described in the first embodiment, the combustion device 1 is configured to reduce the amount of kerosene O consumed to obtain the same amount of heat, so the combustion device 1 can be operated for a longer period of time and can be operated for a longer period of time for heating. In addition, the combustion device 1 is configured to reduce soot and carbon monoxide generated during incomplete combustion of kerosene O', so the soot and carbon monoxide contained in the air sent out of the device can also be reduced. Note that the present invention is not limited to this, and this configuration is one example.

As described above, the combustion device 1 of this modified example is configured to include a blower fan 7 as a blowing means for sending air heated by the combustion of kerosene O' to the outside of the device, and it is possible to provide a combustion device 1 that can be operated for a longer period of time and perform heating operation for a longer period of time. In addition, the soot and carbon monoxide contained in the air sent to the outside of the device by the blower fan can be reduced.

3 shows a second embodiment of the combustion device 1 ^II of the present invention. In this embodiment, the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 is formed as a single unit.

With reference to the figure, reference numeral 8 denotes a fine bubble generating unit, which is formed as a single unit rather than dividing the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 into a plurality of units. Since the fine bubble generating unit 8 is integrated into the combustion device 1 ^II as the fine bubble generating mechanism 6, it can be disposed more freely in the combustion device 1 ^II than a case in which the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 is divided into units, which increases the degree of freedom in the location of the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 and leads to a reduction in the size and weight of the combustion device 1 ^II . Furthermore, since it is a single unit, it can be easily attached and detached from the combustion device 1 ^II , improving maintainability.

As described above, in the combustion device 1 ^II of this embodiment, the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 is configured as the fine bubble generating unit 8 that is integrally incorporated in the combustion device 1 ^II , which improves the degree of freedom in the location of the fine bubble generating mechanism 6, leading to a reduction in the size and weight of the combustion device 1 ^II . In addition, the maintainability of the combustion device 1 ^II can be improved.

4 shows a third embodiment of the combustion device ^1III of the present invention. In this embodiment, the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 has a pump.

Explaining with reference to the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a fine bubble generating pump, and the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 is configured to have a pump. Therefore, it is not necessary to drive the fuel pump 5 to suck kerosene O from the fuel tank 3 into the fine bubble generating pump 11, and the fuel pump 5 can be made smaller. In addition, the degree of freedom in the location of the fuel pump 5 and the fine bubble generating pump 11 is improved, leading to a reduction in the size and weight of the combustion device ^1III .

In this embodiment, the fine bubble generating pump 11 is configured as a diaphragm pump, but when using kerosene with a diaphragm pump, if a rubber material with low oil resistance is used, stable pump performance cannot be obtained due to swelling of the rubber material parts. Therefore, in this embodiment, the rubber material used in the fine bubble generating pump 11 is a rubber material with high oil resistance, such as vinylidene fluoride rubber or nitrile rubber.

In addition, when the fine bubble generating pump 11 uses a brushed motor (Brush DC motor) as a driving source, sparks may occur between the commutator and brushes in the motor, so when kerosene O is used in the fine bubble generating pump 11, there is a risk of the kerosene O catching fire. Therefore, in this embodiment, the fine bubble generating pump 11 is configured to use a brushless motor (BLDC: Brushless DC motor) as a driving source. A brushless motor has a permanent magnet as a rotor, and since the rotor has no coil, there is no commutator or brush for passing current, and the current is switched by semiconductors such as integrated circuits (ICs), so there is no risk of sparks occurring. In addition, the applicant of the present application has confirmed through experiments that the fine bubble generating pump 11 using a brushless motor as a driving source can obtain stable pump performance for a long time.

In addition to the above-mentioned configuration, in this embodiment, a fine bubble generator having a pump as described in Patent Application No. 2022-068851 may be used, which is configured to allow kerosene to be used as the liquid. In addition, the combustion device 1 of the first embodiment may be configured to have a fine bubble generating pump 11 instead of the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 and the fuel pump 5, which can reduce the number of parts, leading to a reduction in size, weight, and cost of the combustion device 1.

As described above, in the combustion device 1 ^III of this embodiment, the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 is configured as the fine bubble generating pump 11, which is a diaphragm type pump that delivers kerosene O' containing fine bubbles. Therefore, there is no need to provide another pump for delivering kerosene O' from the fuel tank 3 to the fuel pump 5 or the combustion mechanism 4, and the output of the fuel pump 5 can be suppressed, which improves the freedom of the location of the fine bubble generating pump 11 and the fuel pump 5. Furthermore, the output of the fuel pump 5 can be suppressed, which leads to a reduction in the size and weight of the fuel pump 5, which leads to a reduction in the size and weight of the combustion device 1 ^III .

In the combustion device 1 ^III of this embodiment, the fine bubble generating pump 11 is a diaphragm pump, and the rubber material used in the diaphragm pump is vinylidene fluoride rubber or nitrile rubber. Therefore, by using a rubber material with high oil resistance, stable pump performance can be obtained even when kerosene is used with the diaphragm pump.

In addition, in the combustion device ^1III of this embodiment, the fine bubble generating pump 11 has a brushless motor as a drive source, and since the current switching is performed by a semiconductor, there is no risk of sparks being generated.

Figure 5 shows a modified example of the third embodiment of the present invention. In this modified example, the fine-bubble generating pump 11 is a fine-bubble generating pump 11' configured as a centrifugal pump.

Although the fine bubble generating pump 11 of the third embodiment is configured as a diaphragm pump, it may be configured as another type of pump. For example, FIG. 5 shows a modified example in which the driving source of the fine bubble generating pump 11' is a centrifugal pump. Explaining with reference to the same figure, when the fine bubble generating pump 11 is a fine bubble generating pump 11' configured as a centrifugal pump, the fine bubble generating pump 11' cannot self-pump kerosene even if it is directly connected to the fuel tank 3. Therefore, a pump tank 12 is provided separately from the fuel tank 3, and the fine bubble generating pump 11' is arranged in the pump tank 12 so that the suction port of the fine bubble generating pump 11' that sucks kerosene into the fine bubble generating pump 11' is located within the liquid surface of the kerosene O in the pump tank 12. In this modified example, as in the third embodiment, the fine bubble generating pump 11' is configured to use a brushless motor as a driving source, and there is no risk of sparks occurring.

In order to send kerosene O from the fuel tank 3 to the pump tank 12, the pump tank 12 may be arranged so that the liquid level of kerosene O in the pump tank 12 is lower than the bottom surface of the fuel tank 3, a valve may be provided between the fuel tank 3 and the pump tank 12, and a detection means such as a liquid level sensor for detecting the liquid level of kerosene O may be provided in the pump tank 12, so that the position of the intake port of the fine bubble generating pump 11 is not lower than the liquid level of kerosene O in the pump tank 12 and an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the amount of kerosene O in the pump tank 12 is provided so that kerosene O does not overflow from the pump tank 12. Alternatively, a pump for supplying kerosene O from the fuel tank 3 to the pump tank 12 may be provided separately from the fuel pump 5.

The fine bubble generating pump 11' of this modified example also functions as a fuel pump 5 that supplies kerosene to the combustion mechanism 4, and the number of parts can be reduced, which can lead to a reduction in size and weight of the combustion device 1 ^III and a reduction in cost. In addition to the above-mentioned configuration, the configuration of the fine bubble generating pump 11' configured with such a centrifugal pump may be configured to use a rubber material with high oil resistance, such as vinylidene fluoride rubber or nitrile rubber, as the rubber material used in the fine bubble generating pump 11'. Also, for example, a fine bubble generator having a pump described in Patent Application No. 2022-104013, configured to be able to use kerosene as the liquid, may be used.

As described above, in the combustion device 1 ^III of this embodiment, the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 is configured as the fine bubble generating pump 11', which is a centrifugal pump that delivers the kerosene O' containing fine bubbles. Therefore, there is no need to provide another pump or the like to deliver the kerosene O' from the fuel tank 3 to the combustion mechanism 4, and the freedom of placement of the fine bubble generating pump 11 is improved, leading to a reduction in size and weight of the combustion device 1 ^III .

6 shows a fourth embodiment of the combustion device ^1IV of the present invention. This embodiment is configured to include a sub-tank 13 for storing kerosene O' containing fine bubbles and having an increased amount of oxygen bubbled.

With reference to the figure, in this embodiment, in the configuration of the first embodiment, a sub-tank 13 is provided in the flow path between the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 and the fuel pump 5. The sub-tank 13 stores a certain amount of kerosene O' in which the amount of oxygen bubbled by the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 is increased by containing fine bubbles. Here, as described above, since the fine bubbles remain in the liquid as a single gas for a long time, even if the kerosene O' is temporarily stored in the sub-tank 13, the amount of oxygen bubbled in the kerosene O' does not decrease significantly. Therefore, when the fuel pump 5 is driven, the required amount of kerosene O' is supplied from the sub-tank 13 to the combustion mechanism 4 via the fuel pump 5. With this configuration, even if the setting of the heat power is changed in the combustion mechanism 4 and the consumption amount of kerosene O' changes with the change in the heat power, it is not affected because it can be dealt with by changing the supply amount of kerosene O' to the combustion mechanism 4 by the fuel pump 5, and kerosene O' containing fine bubbles can be stably supplied to the combustion mechanism 4.

In order to send kerosene O' from the fuel tank 3 to the subtank 13 via the fine bubble generating mechanism 6, the subtank 13 may be arranged so that the liquid level of kerosene O' in the subtank 13 is lower than the bottom surface of the fuel tank 3. In this case, for example, a valve may be provided between the fuel tank 3 and the fine bubble generating mechanism 6, and a detection means such as a liquid level sensor that detects the liquid level of kerosene O' may be provided in the subtank 13, and an adjustment mechanism may be provided to adjust the amount of kerosene O' in the subtank 13. Alternatively, a pump for supplying kerosene O from the fuel tank 3 to the fine bubble generating mechanism 6 may be provided separately from the fuel pump 5.

As described above, the combustion device 1 ^IV of this embodiment is configured to include a sub-tank 13 that stores a certain amount of kerosene O' containing fine bubbles generated by the fine bubble generating mechanism 6, and the kerosene O' containing fine bubbles can be stably supplied to the combustion mechanism 4.

7 shows a fifth embodiment of the combustion device ^1V of the present invention. In this embodiment, a fine bubble generating pump 11 delivers kerosene O' containing fine bubbles from the fuel tank 3 to a sub-tank 13.

Explaining with reference to the figure, in this embodiment, in the configuration of the fourth embodiment, a fine bubble generating pump 11 is provided in the flow path between the fuel tank 3 and the subtank 13 instead of the fine bubble generating mechanism 6. Therefore, there is no need to provide a pump or the like to send kerosene from the fuel tank 3 to the subtank 13, and the degree of freedom in the placement of the fine bubble generating pump 11 and the subtank 13 is improved, which can lead to a reduction in size and weight of the combustion device ^1V . Note that FIG. 7 shows a case in which the fine bubble generating pump 11 is configured as a diaphragm type pump, and the fine bubble generating pump 11 is preferably formed to a small size of, for example, 70 mm x 40 mm x 50 mm or less, which further improves the degree of freedom in the placement of the fine bubble generating pump 11, which can lead to a reduction in size and weight of the combustion device ^1V .

In addition, when the fine-bubble generating pump 11 is configured as a centrifugal pump, as described in the modified example of the third embodiment, in the configuration of FIG. 7, a fine-bubble generating pump 11' configured as a centrifugal pump and a pump tank 12 are disposed instead of the fine-bubble generating pump 11. As with the fine-bubble generating pump 11 of the fifth embodiment, it is preferable that the fine-bubble generating pump 11' is formed in a small size of, for example, 60 mm x 40 mm x 40 mm or less, which further improves the degree of freedom in the location of the fine-bubble generating pump 11, leading to a reduction in size and weight of the combustion device ^1V . As with the modified example of the third embodiment, for example, the pump tank 12 may be disposed so that the liquid level of kerosene O in the pump tank 12 is lower than the bottom surface of the fuel tank 3, an adjustment mechanism for adjusting the amount of kerosene O in the pump tank 12 may be provided, and a pump for supplying kerosene O from the fuel tank 3 to the pump tank 12 may be provided separately from the fuel pump 5.

As described above, in the combustion device ^1V of this embodiment, the fine-bubble generating pump 11 has a diaphragm pump, or the fine-bubble generating pump 11' has a centrifugal pump, which improves the freedom of placement of the fine-bubble generating pump 11 or 11' and the sub-tank 13, leading to a reduction in size and weight of the combustion device ^1V .

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, the configurations of the first to fifth embodiments and the modified examples may be combined. Furthermore, the configurations and shapes of each part of the present embodiment and the modified examples are not limited to those shown in the drawings, and may be modified as appropriate.

Reference Signs List 1, 1 ^II , 1 ^III , 1 ^IV , 1 ^V Combustion device 4 Combustion mechanism 6 Fine bubble generating mechanism (fine bubble generating means)
7 Blower fan (blower means)
8 Fine bubble generating unit 13 Subtank O, O' Kerosene

Claims (9)

A combustion mechanism that burns kerosene as fuel;
A combustion device comprising: a microbubble generating means for generating microbubbles with a diameter of 1 μm or less in the kerosene. The combustion device according to claim 1, characterized in that the microbubble generating means is capable of generating more than 200 million microbubbles per ml in the kerosene. The combustion device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it is provided with a blower means for blowing air heated by the combustion of the kerosene to the outside of the device. The combustion device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the microbubble generating means is a microbubble generating unit that is integrally incorporated into the combustion device. The combustion device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the microbubble generating means comprises a pump that delivers the kerosene containing the microbubbles. The combustion device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it is provided with a sub-tank for storing a certain amount of the kerosene containing the micro-bubbles generated by the micro-bubble generating means. The combustion device according to claim 5, characterized in that the pump is a centrifugal pump or a diaphragm pump. The combustion device according to claim 5, characterized in that the pump has a brushless motor as a driving source. The pump is a diaphragm pump,
6. The combustion device according to claim 5, wherein the rubber material used in the diaphragm pump is vinylidene fluoride rubber or nitrile rubber.

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