The present invention relates generally to carbon-based fuel furnaces. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved grate configuration to enhance combustion of fuel of varying quality.
In the art of wood and waste combustion systems, a variety of well known techniques and devices are available for heat generation of various kinds. In particular, the wood products manufacturing industry includes combustion techniques and devices which include heat sources for drying equipment. Oftentimes, such combustion techniques and devices are intended to burn all kinds of wood and potentially other solid-carbon-based fuel sources. Such varying fuel sources include waste that is sourced from wood products manufacturing. Not only do the fuel sources vary in composition and physical form, but such fuel sources also vary considerably in terms of moisture content. Accordingly, within this field, there have been many devices seeking to provide improved combustion.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,444,985 discloses a fuel burner for the combustion of solid fuels comprising a blower, a conveyor screw, a cast iron heater surrounded by a sheet metal jacket provided with one or more hot air outlets, cold or return air inlets, a smoke pipe, a furnace base which forms the ash pit, an ash conveyor trough carrying a conveyor screw, refractory walls to enclose a gas chamber, and a burner wherein the usual grates normally provided in the bottom of the heater may be removed or omitted and wherein the inside of the base is lined with a refractory wall forming an interior circular chamber lined with heat refractory material. The burner of this device is installed so that its center axis is offset from the center of the circular chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,074,680 discloses a fireplace structure for burning a combustible fuel comprising an adjustable hood, a stationary smoke pipe, a fire support base, a lowermost base portion for operable mounting of the fireplace base upon a floor surface, a cylindrical support means with a upwardly opening plenum spaced within the fireplace base, a firebrick lining, and a grating means made of a plurality of fire brick laterally and vertically spaced to define updraft air passages for ambient air supplied from a bottom portion of the plenum, wherein the fire brick are laterally and vertically spaced to define updraft passages in addition to supporting any form of combustible material such as coal, wool, charcoal versions of the same, and an ash auger.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,794 discloses a combustion furnace having a grate formed as a plurality of downward leading steps from an upper to a lower region with a number of separated, outwardly flaring openings among the steps including a material ram plate, and a stair-step grate formed of a number of refractory bricks which each extend slightly beyond the one above it wherein each of the refractory bricks has a passageway extending through it parallel to the horizontal surface and terminating in an upwardly flaring opening.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,117 discloses a furnace for burning dry or wet wood waste products such as hogged bark and the like encompassing a storage bin which contains particulate wood waste material to be burned, a rotary screw conveyor, an intermediate hopper, a rotary feeder, an air flow conduit for a blower, a boiler furnace, a grating structure or grate with spaced-apart support beams having a plurality of parallel rows of bricks positioned thereon with at least some of the rows of bricks maintained a uniform distance from other rows of bricks by spacers, hot air inlet conduits positioned below the grate, and an adjustable intake.
Traditionally, combustion devices have included a fixed grate furnace, though improved versions have displaced the fixed grate types with the walking grate system. This style offers online de-ashing and elevated metal grate bars. The online de-ashing avoids problems associated with a fixed floor furnace, but creates a furnace that cannot burn excessive amounts of dry fuel without the need of wetting the fuel or something similar that drastically complicates the fuel supply arrangement to these combustion devices. In addition, this style of combustion device is typically extremely expensive due to the metal bars in the floor. This is impractical for small wood products manufacturing operations to purchase. Some variations on the fixed grate include a fixed yet sloped floor grate.
While many such solutions exist to the combustion of wood and waste, problems are common to most every configuration of walking grates, fixed floor grates, and fixed floor bins. For example, walking grates do not allow the burning of fuel below 40% moisture content without damaging the metal grates. As well, fixed floor grates often plug and are hard to clean and properly gasify the products of combustion without a mechanically large furnace area. Still further, fixed floor bins are nearly impossible to effectively de-ash while online and prove very difficult to keep air infiltration down.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide improved de-ashing online while improving air distribution around the combustion pile. Moreover, it is desirable to provide a combustion device capable of burning a wide range of fuel moisture contents without the need for modifying the mechanical components of the burner for the given fuel. It is further desirable to enable the combustion of low moisture content fuel without inducing rapid wearing or requiring constant maintenance.
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least one disadvantage of previous combustion devices. The present invention provides the benefit of proper de-ashing online while distributing the underfire air radially around the pile. The elevated design of the bricks allows the air to be evenly distributed throughout the fuel pile and further allows the isolation of overfire and underfire air. Segregating overfire and underfire air in an evenly distributed manner allows the burner to combust a wide range of fuel moisture contents without modifying the mechanical components of the burner. Using bricks eliminates the problems created by using metal based grates in the floor of the furnace, thus avoiding rapid wear and constant maintenance during the burn of low moisture content fuel.
In general, the present invention includes a round vertical combustion chamber. The chamber is composed of several isolated sections that are fed through an air header and controlled through damper actuators. The grate bricks are arranged in a radial fashion and elevated to allow smooth airflow throughout the pile. This also allows proper three-stage combustion of the wood fuel whereby drying, gasifying, and heat release all occur in an appropriate fashion across the grate area. Thus, this grate area is specifically designed for a wide range of moisture in the fuel supplied. The inventive configuration of elevated bricks is arranged in a radial pattern so as to solve the problems of both isolating underfire/overfire air and of automatic de-ashing. The elevated configuration allows maximization of the air flow through the grate area without compromising the high heat capability of refractory. This allows the inventive device to burn low moisture fuel without damaging the grate. Moreover, the present invention as claimed provides an invention that materially enhances the quality of the environment by materially contributing to the more efficient utilization and conservation of energy resources by using, with high efficiency, wood waste from the wood manufacturing industry.
In a first aspect, the present invention provides an elevated fixed-grate apparatus for use in a multi-fuel furnace, the apparatus including: a first course of solid refractory bricks forming a base, more than one subsequent course of the solid refractory bricks arranged atop the base, the first course and each the subsequent course being arranged in a concentric manner, each the subsequent course having an outer peripheral dimension smaller than an immediately preceding course upon which the subsequent course is placed, the bricks each formed as an arcuate segment of a circle, and each the course being vertically spaced from one another so as to allow passage of air between each the course.
In a further embodiment, there is provided a refractory brick of an elevated fixed-grate apparatus for use in a multi-fuel furnace, the refractory brick including: a solid refractory core formed as an arcuate segment of a circle; a pair of lateral ribs located at opposite extreme bottom edges of the solid refractory core; a central rib located at a center bottom of each the solid refractory core; and each the rib being oriented radially relative to the arcuate segment forming the solid refractory core.
In further aspect, the present invention provides an elevated fixed-grate apparatus for use in a multi-fuel furnace, the apparatus including: a stepped arrangement of solid refractory bricks formed by circular courses of the bricks concentrically placed atop one another; each subsequent upper one of the circular courses having an outer peripheral dimension smaller than an immediately preceding course upon which a subsequent course is placed so as to form the stepped arrangement; and each the brick being formed as an arcuate segment of a circle and including at least one radially placed passageway for movement of combustion gases between the circular courses of the bricks.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached Figures.
Generally, the present invention provides a combustion apparatus in the form of a multi-fuel furnace with an inventive fixed-grate that is elevated and center-fed with wood fuel. With specific reference to
Though not shown, the auger mechanism 12 itself may be preceded by another mechanism to provide fuel in any manner such as via a simple chute or a more complex conveyor system depending upon the given configuration. It should be readily apparent to one of skill in the art of wood manufacturing that any other device or process may, if desired, be attached to the heat conduit 10 such as a rotary dryer or any other common heat processing element. Though not shown, heat may be extracted from the combustion process via the heat conduit 10 or in any conventional manner including, without limitation, a thermal water jacket surrounding the refractory, fluid pipes within the flue gas stream, or any heat transfer mechanism suitable for the given configuration.
In operation, combustible fuel is center-fed into the elevated fixed-grate 14 via the auger mechanism 12 through a central feed conduit 16. Although alternative shapes are possible without straying from the intended scope of the present invention, the round shape of the vertical combustion chamber 11 lends itself to uniform heating of the combustion pile. As well, this round shape coincides with the concentric courses of grate bricks described further herein below. Due to the arrangement of concentric courses of grate bricks, the formation and subsequent burning of the combustion pile thereupon provides for residual ash to come to rest at the outer peripheral base of the fixed-grate 14.
The basic structural elements of the furnace 100 including the heat conduit 10, combustion chamber 11, auger mechanism 12, motor 13, and flue 15 are well-known elements and are therefore not further described herein. The combustion chamber 11 can be composed of several isolated sections (not shown) that are fed through an air header and controlled through damper actuators in any known manner. Indeed, each of these basic structural elements may vary in known shape, form, or complexity without impacting upon the novelty of the present invention. Such novelty rests in the combination of the aforementioned structural elements with a unique arrangement, as discussed in further detail herein below, of concentric brick courses which form the elevated fixed-grate 14.
With regard to
Such underfire air is physically separated from the overfire air flow. The overfire air flow serves more to dry the fuel in the initial combustion stage. Accordingly, underfire air is typically drier and hotter which aids in the superheating aspect of the gasification stage. During combustion, the residue 35 of gasification continues to cascade down the outer edges of the elevated fixed-grate to the final burn-out stage at which time a final ash is produced. The final ash comes to rest at the base of the elevated fixed-grate against the round walls of the combustion chamber 11. As previously suggested in regard to
In terms of the combustion pile,
For the sake of comparison of the present invention to standard refractory configurations,
Each individual brick in accordance with the present invention is formed generally as an arcuate segment of a circle. In
As can further be seen by way of
The above-described embodiments of the present invention are intended to be examples only. Alterations, modifications and variations may be effected to the particular embodiments by those of skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20110308511 A1 | Dec 2011 | US |