Porous burner as well as a method for operating a porous burner

Abstract

The invention relates to a porous burner with a housing, which has an inlet for a fuel-air mixture and an outlet for the exhaust gas mixture generated in the burner, where in flow-direction of the fuel-air mixture the housing contains an ignition space with an ignition device and adjacent to this space a porous burner medium. On the inlet side the ignition space is provided with a stabilizing element, which reduces the inlet cross-section and directs the flow of the fuel-air mixture essentially perpendicular to the inlet cross-section of the porous medium. The porous burner is provided with a device for controlling the mass flow of the fuel-air mixture, which serves to shift the combustion zone from the ignition space into the porous medium.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]The invention relates to a porous burner with a housing, which is provided with an inlet for a fuel-air mixture and an outlet for the exhaust gas mixture generated in the burner, and contains in flow direction of the fuel-air mixture an ignition space with an ignition device and adjacent thereto a porous body. The invention further relates to a method of operating a porous burner of this kind.[0002]In contrast to conventional combustion using a free flame, the combustion reactions of combustion in porous inert media do not take place in a free flow of gas but within a coherent structure of cavities of an inert porous body. Stabilization in the porous matrix is made possible by its significantly better heat transport properties as compared to the pure gas phase. Gas-phase and solid state matrix are approximately in thermal equilibrium and thus no free flames will occur.[0003]The operation of conventional porous burners generally shows the following op...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]It is the object of the present invention to improve a porous burner of the initially described kind and a method of operating this burner in such a way that the burner has no movable parts and that noxious emissions are minimized in the start-up phase as well as during steady-state operation. Furthermore, this burner design should be applicable for gaseous fuels as well as oil, and the transition from start-up to steady-state operation should be controllable without problems.

Problems solved by technology

The presence of movable parts in the burner and their actuating means is of disadvantage, since they will lead to increased maintenance expense in addition to greater manufacturing and operating costs of the porous burner.

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