US1588270A - Oil-burning furnace - Google Patents

Description

June' a 1926. H 1,588,270

H. J. G. RUDOLF OIL BURNING FURNACE Filed June 14, 1925 Qua L \wvamoa mags Patented June 8, 1926:

UNITED STATES PATENT OF E,

HENRY J'. G. nunonrgor NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0, VALVELESS OIL, runner:

CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION ornnw YORK. I

OIL-BURNING summon.

Application filed June 14, 1923. Serial- No. 645,418.

The present invention relates to means for generatingheat by combustion of oil fuel, and has for its main objects to secure the most complete and most efficient possible combustion of the fuel, to prevent and eliminate deposition vof carbon of any sort, whether the hard andrefractory variety or the soft and sooty kinds, or any others; and to carry on the combustion with the minimum of noise.

The invention consists in the. means which I have devised and used successfully and satisfactorily to accomplish these objects and in all equivalents thereof which embody the same principles. I will now explain the principles and fundamental characteristics of the invention in connection with a specific embodiment thereof which I have designed and used with a domestic steam heating boiler.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a sectional view showing in an illustrative manner the essential characteristics of the species of the invention above referredto as applied to such a boiler.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the furnace on a larger scale.

Figure 3 is a perspective viewof that portion of the furnace which I have called the combustion pot]? e Likereference characters designate the same parts wherever they occur in all the figures. s a

In these drawings I have not attempted to show all the structural details which may be desirable or necessary in commercial practice for combining the furnace with its com bustion pot and boiler, as such details do not affect the actualinvention and are within the scope of the expedients known to those acquainted with the art and available for all ractical purposes. Vhat .I have aimed to o by these drawings and the following description, is to explain the principles and essential characteristics of the invention in such a full and exact manner that those skilled in the art may apply such principles, possibly in many specifically diverse forms, to the conditions of various particular problems.

With this explanation it will be understood thatlOrepresents in a conventional manner-a typical firev pot or furnace, and

that 11 typifies any steam boiler or water heater, or other thing which it is desired to heat by the combustion of fuel. 1 While the illustration may represent the boiler of a domestic heating plant, in principle it typifies anything which may be heated, 12 represents the front wall ofthe furnace'and 13 represents the burner which comprises essentially an external tubefor air and an internal tube or nozzle 14 to which oil is delivered; IIere again'the showing is illus-' trative and typical, and the burner soshown may typify any atomizing "or spraying means which is adapted to furnish a mixture of finely divided liquid fuel, and air to support combustion. It is not vital to the inven-' tion here claimed that the air supply should ,be delivered so as to surround and enevelop the fuel; for other or reverse arrangements of air and fuel are possible. 'VVhat is important from the present standpoint is that the fuel and air are delivered together into the furnace, or fuel is so delivered in a more or less finely divided condition, and'the air is delivered under such pressure that it issues from the burner with a considerable velocity. As'oil is the fuel which this furnace is particularly intended to burn, I will from now'on refer to the fuel as oil; and within the meaning of this term I include crude petroleum, kerosene, so -called furnace oil, fuel oil, and anyother mineral, animal or vegetable oils whichmay be burnedjwith the aid of this apparatus.

The burner opens into a structure 15 which projects into the furnace enclosure from the front wall 12 and which, for convenience of description, I calla combustion pot, notmeaning to imply by the use ing or passage through which the'fburner extends, in order to exclude excess air, since it is intended that the quantity of air supplied through the burner itself shall be enough to effect complete combustion of the fuel. -Modifioation in this re's'pect, however,

is possible and I may, in some instances, provide openings, with or without controllingdampers, external to the burner in such front wall. j

The burner is directed upwardly toward the roof or top wall 16 of the combustion pot at such an angle and from such a location in the forward end of the combustion pot, that the oil issuing from the oil nozzle thereof is thrown against said top wall, and the air issuing from the burner is also caused to impinge upon and flow over such top wall toward the rear.

This combustion pot is preferably made of material having considerable heat-conducting capacity, as metal. It is conveniently made of cast iron, though other materials and modes of construction may be employed. The top wall in particular is made thin enough. and with such capacity for conducting away heat that it will not be excessively heated by the impinging flame and preferably not above the temperature of dull red heat. Radiating ribs 19 may be provided, if necessary, on the outside of the top wall to' assist in more rapidly dissipating the heat imparted by the flame. Wide variations in the form and dimensions of this topwall are possible according to the particular conditions of use, the quantity of oil and air supplied, the pressure of the air supplied, etc, it being important to cause the oil delivered from the burner and not yet ignited to be spread over the top wall and swept from the same by the air current, and at the same time to be heated by the flame, but not to be heated to so high a temperature as will cause cracking of the oil'wlth deposition of hard carbon.

-It is knownthat formation anddeposition of hard carbon in oil furnaces is due to cracking of the oil by intense heat before combustion has taken place; and I have discovered that by causing the oil to impinge on a heated surface, the temperature of which is kept below the degree at which oil will be so decomposed as to liberate solid carbon, I am able to effect not only heating of the oil, but also to divide it into small particles and cause thorough mingling with air as well as to prevent it from reaching the rear wall of the furnace in the form of large drops.

The side walls 17 of the combustion pot perform the useful .function of confining the burning mixture within the limits of the top wall until it leaves the rear edge of the latter, and thus of preventing escape laterally of large drops of oil, which might lodge on the side walls of the furnace or fall to the floor before being wholly consumed. I The bottom wall 18 of the combustion pot confines the fuel mixture at its entrance into the furnace andduring the initial stages of combustion, but the short extent of this wall and the open formation of the combustion pot at the bottom in rear of the wall allows the air and products of combustion to expand freely and gradually as their tempera-- ture rises, thus avoiding the noise which is due to sudden expansion of hot gas under pressure due to heat generation while in confinement.

At a considerable distance toward the rear of the furnace, the exact distance being a matter determined by the amount of fuel being burned and the pressure at streaming flames and direct them upward-v 1y; while that of the sand is to receive, absorb and evaporate any particlesof burning oil which may travel so far before being consumed. 'I/Vhen unburned oil impinges on a solid wall, arranged in the manner of a baflie or bridge wall, in a furnace, deposition of light fluffy carbon or soot occurs, this being due to the formation at thatpoint of a gas pocket which prevents access of enough air to complete the combustion of oil or to burn off the carbon.

I have found that by providing sand in a position to catch all of the" unburned oil which is carried to the baffle, such oil is at once soaked up before it the condition of carbon, and that the heat of the flame evaporates the oil so absorbed. Such oil being thus converted into true vapor rises through and with the flame'u'ntil it is completely burned; The vapor so produced does not lodge on the baffle or leave deposits of carbon. Instead'of-sand I may use for the purpose last described any other material which is sufficiently, absorptive and refractory to accomplish results the same in kind. I Itwill now be understood that as oil and air are blown into the furnace, the oil is partially converted into spray by theaction of the air alone, but that most of the oil strikes the top wall of the combustion pot and is there spread out into a thin film. The air flowing over this wall sweeps the oil to the rear edge of the wall and there breaks it into spray. It is to be understood that after the fire is once lighted, combustion begins immediately after the oil leaves its nozzle, wherefore there is flame as well as unburned oil and air in the combustion pot. The flame, of course, heats the roof of'the pot and causes much of the oil to be vapor iZed beforevit is swept from the rear of the'pot. i

Which air 1s supplied, I have arranged a baffle 20 ly burned also without deposition of carbon.

Thus I have succeeded in burning oil with complete combustion, without deposition of carbon, and without appreciable noise.

As many burners and combustion chambers may be provided in the same furnace as desired. In Figure 2 I have shown tWo of them, and have illustrated therein the combination in which one is smaller than the other and is usually maintained in constant operation so as to furnish a constant mini- 1 mum of heat and serve as a pilot for igniting the other burner or burners when provision is made for the full amount of heat. The reference characters used in Figure 2 designate the main burner and combustion pot, while the same characters, modified by exponents, designate the pilot burner and its combustion pot. In addition to the parts already described, however, Ihave shown here a communicating passage 24 from one pot to the other for the purpose of transmitting flame from the pilot burner to light the main burner when oil is turned on to the latter.

So far as the burner and the combustion pot here described are applicable to burning liquid fuels other than those coming within the specific definition of oils, I claim the same within the scope of the present invention, and without limitation to any specific use or environment, or in connection with any specific fuel.

What I claim and desire to secure by LettersPatent is:

' 1. In a furnace, a combustion pot and means for delivering liquid fuel and air into the forward end thereof, said combustion pot having a top wall against which the inflowing fuel is caused to impinge and having side Walls to limit the lateral dispersion of fuel and air and being open at the rear, and at the rear portion of its under side, to permit free expansion of the hot products of combustion and heated air.

2. Ina furnace, the combination of a combustion pot having top and. side walls and a bottom wall which extends part way only of the distance from front to rear, said pot being open at its rear and at the rear portion of its bottom, with a burner having oil and air passages. entering the front of the combustion pot and arranged to cause impingement of the delivered oil and air against said top wall.

' 3. In a furnace, the combination of a combustion pot having top and side walls and a bottom wall which extends part way only ofthe distance from front to rear, said pot being open at its rear and at the rear portion of its bottom, with a burner having oil and air passages entering the front of the combustion pot and arranged to cause in'ipingen'ient of the delivered oil and air against said top wall, and a baflie located at the rear'of said combustion pot in po-,

sition to be impinged upon by the flame is suing from the latter and including a mass of absorptive refractory material adapted to absorb particles of unburned oil in the flame.

signature.

In testimony whereof I have affixed-my

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