Additive-Manufactured Burners for High-Power Flame Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Ribbon burners face limitations in stability and overheating at high powers, leading to decreased cross-web uniformity and warping of central ribbons, restricting the number of usable ports and flame treatment efficiency.
Innovation Solution
The development of burners with a burner body featuring a plurality of passageways, ports, and either heating elements or cooling chambers, made through additive manufacturing, allowing for precise control of temperature and stability, and incorporating complex designs like cooling chambers and heating elements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If the number of rows of ports in a ribbon burner is increased to achieve higher flame power, then the flame power increases, but the ribbon surface temperature increases causing overheating and warping of central ribbons
Solution Approach 1:
The burner body is divided into multiple layers with passageways arranged in a grid pattern, creating distinct zones for fuel delivery and combustion. This segmentation allows for better thermal management and prevents localized overheating that occurs in traditional ribbon burners with concentrated port rows.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the burner body can have different thermal characteristics and port configurations. The multi-layer structure enables localized control of flame power and temperature distribution, allowing high flame power overall while maintaining acceptable temperatures in any given region.
2Power
If the number of rows of ports is increased to achieve higher flame power, then the flame power increases, but the flames become less stable leading to decreased cross-web uniformity
Solution Approach 1:
The flame generation is segmented across multiple layers and distributed through numerous small passageways rather than concentrated in few large ports. This distribution maintains flame stability at each location while achieving high overall flame power, preventing the instability that occurs when too many port rows are stacked.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a two-dimensional ribbon port arrangement to a three-dimensional multi-layer structure. This adds a vertical dimension to flame distribution, allowing stable flame attachment across multiple levels while maintaining cross-web uniformity through controlled fuel delivery to each layer.
3Productivity
If traditional ribbon burner designs are used with high flame power, then the processing speed increases, but overheating causes warping and limits the number of usable ports
Solution Approach 1:
The multi-layer burner body segments the combustion process into multiple controlled zones, each with its own passageways and ports. This allows high overall processing speed through distributed flame power while maintaining acceptable temperatures in each zone, preventing the warping that limits traditional single-layer designs.
4Reliability
If complex burner designs with cooling chambers and heating elements are implemented, then temperature control and flame stability improve, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling chambers and heating elements are merged into the burner body structure itself rather than being separate external components. The multi-layer design naturally incorporates thermal management features within the combustion structure, achieving improved temperature control and flame stability without proportionally increasing overall device complexity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution stabilizes flames at high powers, improves cross-web uniformity, and enables faster flame treatment speeds by preventing overheating, making complex burner designs feasible.
Implementation Method 1
selectively treating an area of the layer of loose powder particles with irradiation by a focused beam to bond metallic particles together
Implementation Method 2
a cooling chamber directly adjacent to three or more of the plurality of passageways
Implementation Method 3
at least one heating element in or adjacent to at least one of the plurality of passageways that increases the temperature of a wall of the at least one of the plurality of passageways
Implementation Method 4
a ribbon burner 140 is disposed, directing a flame 150 (generated from, e.g., fuel and an oxidizer provided into the ribbon burner 140)
Data Source
AI summary
Burners and methods of making burner bodies via a focused beam are disclosed. In an aspect, a burner includes (a) a burner body and (b) at least one connector configured to supply at least a fuel and an oxidizer to the burner body. The burner body includes (1) a plurality of passageways; (2) a first major surface; (3) a plurality of ports at the first major surface, each port defined by an end of one of the passageways; and either: (4a) at least one heating element in or adjacent to at least one of the plurality of passageways that increases the temperature of a wall of the at least one of the plurality of passageways; or (4b) a cooling chamber directly adjacent to three or more of the plurality of passageways. The burner body includes a number of layers of metal directly bonded to each other. Further, methods are provided, including receiving, by a manufacturing device having one or more processors, a digital object comprising data specifying a burner body; and generating, with the manufacturing device by an additive manufacturing process, the burner body based on the digital object. A system is also provided, including a display that displays a 3D model of a burner body; and one or more processors that, in response to the 3D model selected by a user, cause a 3D printer to create a physical object of the burner body.