Gasification Burner Cooling Jacket with Rounded Internal Corners

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing cooling jackets for gasification burners suffer from recirculation zones that trap heat transfer fluid, leading to hot spots and mechanical failure due to thermal stress and high mechanical pressure, necessitating high-cost materials and reduced burner lifetime.

Innovation Solution

A cooling jacket design with a concentric channel system, incorporating fins and rounded wall corners, which enhances fluid flow and minimizes recirculation zones, allowing for thinner walls and improved heat transfer without increasing pressure drop.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Temperature

If a cooling jacket is used to remove heat from the gasifier, then heat transfer efficiency improves, but recirculation zones form that trap heat transfer fluid causing hot spots and mechanical failure

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveheat transfer efficiencyVSAvoidburner lifetime
Core Design Contradiction:
TemperatureVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The cooling jacket incorporates rounded corners instead of sharp angles in its internal geometry. This curvature modification eliminates recirculation zones by preventing flow separation and dead zones where heat transfer fluid would be trapped, thereby eliminating hot spots while maintaining effective heat removal and preventing mechanical failure from thermal stress

Inventive Principle:
Principle #14Spheroidality (Curvature)

Solution Approach 2:

The cooling jacket applies different geometric features to different locations: rounded corners at specific internal angles to eliminate recirculation, while maintaining other structural properties for optimal heat transfer. This localized geometric modification targets the specific problem areas without compromising overall cooling performance

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

2Strength

If wall thickness is increased to withstand thermal stress and mechanical pressure, then strength improves, but heat transfer efficiency decreases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveresistance to thermal stress and mechanical pressureVSAvoidheat transfer efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
StrengthVSTemperature

Solution Approach 1:

By rounding the internal corners of the cooling jacket, the design eliminates recirculation zones that cause localized overheating. This allows the use of thinner walls because the rounded geometry distributes thermal stress more evenly and prevents the formation of hot spots that would require excessive wall thickness for protection

Inventive Principle:
Principle #14Spheroidality (Curvature)

Solution Approach 2:

The invention changes the geometric parameters of the cooling jacket, specifically the internal corner radii, to optimize both structural strength and heat transfer. The rounded corners improve flow characteristics and stress distribution, enabling thinner wall designs that maintain both strength and thermal performance

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

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 design reduces thermal stress and extends burner lifetime by maintaining lower tip wall temperatures and reducing temperature variations, enabling operation at higher pressures and safety benefits.

Implementation Method 1

a cooling jacket that can reduce both the metal temperature and variations in the metal temperature to reduce thermal stress and increase burner lifetime

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectHeat transfer: Convection

Implementation Method 2

heat from the combustion is removed from a dimensioned curvilinear hollow front of the burner by coolant flowed radially at constant momentum through

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectThermal conduction: Conduction (thermal)

Data Source

PatentEP4015903B1Cooling jacket for gasification burner and method of operation
Publication Date: 2025.09.17 AIR PROD & CHEM INC
  • EP4015903B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4015903B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4015903B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A feed injector for a gasifier comprising a burner and a cooling jacket to protect the burner from high temperatures. The cooling jacket comprises two concentric channels in order to provide a flow path for a heat transfer fluid, typically water, to travel through one channel toward the burner front, travel along the burner front, and return through the other channel. Heat transfer in the cooling jacket is improved by introducing one or more fins in the path of the heat transfer fluid and/or by increasing the radius of curvature of the wall corner bordering the flow recirculation zone in the cooling jacket.