High-Momentum Oxy-Fuel Burner for Ladle Gap Air Ingress Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ladle heating systems face inefficiencies due to air entrainment through gaps between the ladle lip and lid, leading to reduced energy efficiency and increased NOx production, particularly in oxy-fuel combustion, and existing sealing methods are difficult to maintain and damage-prone.
Innovation Solution
A high-momentum oxy-fuel burner is installed in the ladle lid or furnace wall, with a burner configuration that creates a large flame velocity to expel gases outward through the gap, minimizing air ingress and maintaining a predetermined burner configuration and velocity ratio to control air entry.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If sealing methods are used to prevent air infiltration through the gap, then energy efficiency is improved and air ingress is reduced, but the sealing is difficult to achieve and maintain because solidified chunks of metal and slag disrupt the seal and cause damage to the sealing surface
Solution Approach 1:
The harmful solidified chunks of metal and slag are extracted or removed from the gap area before sealing is attempted. The method involves clearing the gap of obstructions that would disrupt the seal, thereby enabling reliable sealing without the damage problems caused by these solidified materials.
Solution Approach 2:
The gap is pre-treated by removing solidified chunks of metal and slag before the sealing process. This preliminary cleaning action ensures that the sealing surface is free from obstructions that would cause seal disruption or damage during operation.
2Object-generated harmful factors
If the gap is left open for exhaust venting, then combustion products can be exhausted, but air entrainment through the gap into the cavity occurs when the gap becomes too large, reducing energy efficiency and increasing NOx production
Solution Approach 1:
The state of the gap is changed from open to sealed, fundamentally altering the flow dynamics. By sealing the gap, the system transitions from allowing free air entrainment and exhaust to a controlled environment where combustion products are exhausted through controlled pathways without significant air ingress.
3Loss of energy
If air-fuel combustion is used with heat recovery methods, then energy efficiency is improved, but the system becomes complicated, expensive, and requires frequent maintenance
Solution Approach 1:
The complex heat recovery systems (recuperative or regenerative) are extracted or removed from the solution. Instead of using these complicated systems, the invention achieves energy efficiency through a simpler approach: sealing the gap to prevent air ingress, which inherently improves combustion efficiency without requiring additional heat recovery equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it prevents air ingress to improve combustion efficiency, maintains positive pressure, and enables simple exhaust venting through existing openings. This self-service approach eliminates the need for separate complex heat recovery systems while achieving energy efficiency goals.
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
This approach reduces air ingress by up to 95%, shortens heating times, prolongs refractory life, and decreases NOx emissions, while allowing for uniform heating even with larger gaps.
Implementation Method 1
This entrainment of cool air becomes a greater problem due to the buoyancy effect when the gap orients vertically
Implementation Method 2
Though it is common practice to use this gap as an exhaust vent for the combustion products
Implementation Method 3
the ladles are heated by combustion systems whereby fuel is fired to generate combustion heat in the cavity of the ladle
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus for heating vessels, the vessels having enclosed spaces therein and controlling air ingress into the enclosed spaces through gaps. The method includes providing a lid structure for the vessel having the enclosed space, the lid structure having a burner assembly mounted therein. The burner is configured to provide a predetermined flame diameter. The vessel and lid structure are mated such that the gap is formed between the vessel and the lid structure. Fuel and oxidant are discharged from the burner assembly under conditions to provide the predetermined flame diameter and impart a flame velocity sufficiently large to create an outward gas flow from the enclosed space through the gap and control air ingress.