This invention generally relates to supplying secondary air to atmospheric burners to control heat transfer.
Prior art range top burners may include atmospheric burners. However, these burners concentrate flame heat along the sides of cooking vessels, resulting in loss of heat. The flame location is not properly controlled as the burner is open and exposed with insufficient insultation to adequately control the location and distribution of heat. Other current range top burners include power burners intended to improve emissions and efficiency. Other products to improve efficiency include modified cooking vessels that include various designs to promote efficiency with the use of a standard range top atmospheric burner.
This invention relates to an atmospheric range burner and a method of using the atmospheric range burner to control a burner flame. The burner is insulated and less “open” than conventional range burners. A secondary air is supplied to the burner to concentrate a heating zone of the burner flame and to control the size and shape of the burner flame. The heating zone is concentrated to a center of a cooking vessel that is heated by the burner flame. These improvements result in the atmospheric range burner attributing improved heat transfer, less heat loss to the environment, improved combustion efficiency and controlled flame location.
One embodiment of the invention includes a range top burner unit to provide heat to a cooking surface. The range top burner unit includes a burner that provides an open flame for cooking. The open flame provides a heating zone for the cooking surface. A gas line is included to provide fuel to the burner for combustion. A powered secondary air supply (PSAS) targets heat transfer from the heating zone to a center of the cooking surface. An insulation component is integrated under the burner. The heating zone includes a plurality of open flames. Each flame of the open flames protrudes in a vertical direction from the burner. The PSAS reduces NOx emissions from the burner unit to preferably 35-85 ppm.
The PSAS also includes a spreader element adapted to provide a flow of air to at least one flame of the plurality of open flames of the burner. In one embodiment the spreader element is made of brass. The PSAS provides air to a plurality of burner ports on an inner burner ring of the burner. The burner also includes an outer burner ring. The insulation component surrounds the outer burner ring. The insulation component includes a plurality of openings around the outer burner ring. The plurality of openings in the insulation component allow air to reach a plurality of air ports on a side of the outer burner ring. This air maintains a vertical shape of the open flames of the burner.
The invention also includes a burner unit for a range top including an air supply for a burner. The burner and the air supply provide at least one open flame for cooking. An insulation component is integrated with a ring of the burner. The insulation component includes a plurality of openings. A powered secondary air supply (PSAS) is provided for the burner. The PSAS provides additional air to the burner through the plurality of openings of the insulation component. In one embodiment the insulation component has two openings. In one embodiment the insulation component has three openings. The three openings are spaced equidistant from one another around the ring of the burner.
This invention also includes a method of operating a range burner unit to control a burner flame. The method includes controlling a firing rate of a burner with knobs on the burner unit, controlling primary burner aeration with a shutter on an inlet of the burner, supplying a secondary air to at least one burner flame, concentrating a heating zone to a center of a cooking vessel to be heated by the at least one burner flame, and controlling a size and a shape of the at least one burner flame with the secondary air.
Insulation is added to a ring of the burner for controlling the secondary air supply to the burner. The insulation prevents excessive air flow to the burner from underneath the burner unit. A needle valve controls an air flow rate of the secondary air supply. The air flow rate of the secondary air supply results in a vertical shape of the burner flame. The method also controls byproduct emissions from the burner unit, such as NOx and CO emissions.
Other objects and advantages will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the appended claims and drawings.
The present invention provides a method of supplying secondary air for atmospheric burners. An atmospheric range top burner where an open flame is located below a cooking vessel is improved to combat the shortcomings of other range top burners. While this invention applies to atmospheric burners, the invention may also apply to a variety of other heating applications with a similar heat transfer process.
In an example of the invention, the capture hood 105 was included to reduce or eliminate the dilution of flue gases coming off the burner unit, without interfering with normal operations of the burner. Flue gas samples were taken and water temperatures were monitored. The results are shown from various examples, discussed further below.
The spreader element 124 is located in the center of the burner 108, preferably the center of the inner burner ring, so that the spreader element 124 is in the center of the flames when the burner 108 is in use. The PSAS is released from the spreader element 124 at various quantities and speeds to accurately maintain an improved flame shape. The PSAS is provided to the spreader element 124 from a pathway.
In one embodiment of the present invention, no additional space is needed around the burner to accommodate for natural secondary air. This allows the burner to be less “open” with more insulation from the insulation component to aid in concentrating the heat on the intended cooking surface. Rather than having excess heat lost into the environment, the heat is applied more centrally and directly to the cooking surface. The addition of the controlled PSAS results in less heat loss to the environment since the heat is able to be more concentrated on the cooking surface.
As a goal of the claimed invention is to improve certain emissions associated with range burners, in addition to controlling the size and shape of burner flames, various examples were conducted in modifying the PSAS supply and the insulation of the burner. These examples illustrate or simulate various aspects involved in the practice of the invention. It is to be understood that all changes that come within the spirit of the invention are desired to be protected and thus the invention is not to be construed as limited by these examples. These examples specifically addressed NOx and CO emissions that were monitored and calculated (using a capture hood 105 such as shown in
In Table 1, K3 represents the firing rate setting of the burner tested. SX represents the settings of the shutter on the inlet of the burner. The shutter settings included 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and C (closed). The PSAS, or secondary air, was given to the burner in units of SCFH (standard cubic feet per hour). IoXx represents the number of openings that were placed in the insulation component. These examples were tested with secondary air being completely blocked off by insulation (the baseline), with two openings in the insulation component (IoX2), and with three openings in the insulation component (IoX3). The examples were used when heating a gallon of water with the burner from 0° to 190° F.
The baseline values from Table 1 are shown in
Data from the examples was also used to improve CO emissions within the acceptable range of ANSI range burner requirements, which requires CO emissions of less than 800 ppm, corrected to 0% O2. In particular, improvement was observed at data point SO K3 50 SCFH for the air shutter in the 0 position and a PSAS flow rate of 50 SCFH. This results in NOx emission of 69 ppm, and CO emissions at 180 ppm (both corrected to 0% O2).
In terms of cooking efficiency, range burners are generally less than about 40% efficient. Atmospheric range burners rely heavily on secondary air to complete combustion. When a pot or pan, or any other cooking vessel, is over a burner on conventional range burners, secondary air is limited and therefore a flame from the burner begins to seek additional air elsewhere. This may cause the flame to lengthen up sides of the cooking vessel which results is less efficient heat transfer from the burner to the cooking vessel. With the present invention, the flame of the burner shortens, allowing the flame and heat concentration to remain closer to a center of the surface to be heated. This therefore may improve efficiency and cooking performance of the subject burner by forming a more uniform heat transfer from the burner to the surface to be heated.
In addition to the above, the present invention may also be less costly than conventional burners. The PSAS range burner may be less expensive than pre-mix powered burners. In one embodiment, the PSAS range burner may be retrofitted onto an existing range. In another embodiment, the PSAS range burner may be part of an entirely new range system.
While in the foregoing detailed description the subject development has been described in relation to certain preferred embodiments thereof, and many details have been set forth for purposes of illustration, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the subject development is susceptible to additional embodiments and that certain of the details described herein can be varied considerably without departing from the basic principles of the invention.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 63/033,357, filed on 2 Jun. 2020. The co-pending provisional application is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety and is made a part hereof, including but not limited to those portions which specifically appear hereinafter.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63033357 | Jun 2020 | US |