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High efficiency heat-recirculating domestic gas burners

Article  in  Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science (EXP THERM FLUID SCI) · July 2002
DOI: 10.1016/S0894-1777(02)00164-4

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 Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 581–592
www.elsevier.com/locate/etfs

High efficiency heat-recirculating domestic gas burners

Sumrerng Jugjai *, Natthawut Rungsimuntuchart
Combustion and Engine Research Laboratory (CERL), Department of Mechanical Engineering, King Mongkut’s University of Technology
Thonburi (KMUTT), 91 Sukswas 48, Bangmod, Tungkru, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
Received 28 December 2001; received in revised form 12 February 2002; accepted 19 April 2002

Abstract

Existing designs of most conventional domestic burners (CB) have typically relied on open combustion flame, where a large
amount of energy loss with the flue gas arises, resulting in relatively low thermal efficiency (<30%). Against this background, a novel
semi-confined porous radiant recirculated burner (PRRB) concept based on heat-recirculating combustion using the porous medium
technology was developed for energy savings in domestic use and in the small-scale food processing industry. Performance of the
new burner using the same ring burners as those in the CB, i.e. the PRRB(CB) were evaluated by comparing thermal efficiencies and
the combustion characteristics with those of the conventional one (CB). Operating parameters such as heat input, flow type of the
ring burners (conventional radial flow (CB) or swirling central flow (SB)) were clarified. The proposed PRRB(CB) is very effective in
establishing a heat-recirculation mechanism from the hot exhaust gas to the combustion air, resulting in efficient combustion air
preheating with maximum combustion air temperature of 300 °C. Thermal efficiency of the proposed PRRB(CB) is increased to
about 12% higher than that of the conventional one (CB). Further improvement in thermal efficiency of the burner can be realized
by combining the PRRB with the swirling central flame ring burner (SB), i.e. the PRRB(SB), yielding a maximum thermal efficiency
of about 60% and, thus, energy saving of about 50% in average over the operating range. The proposed PRRB(SB) provides not
only high thermal efficiency and considerable improvement in energy saving but also environmentally compatible emissions. With
the model proposed, the calculated thermal efficiencies of the PRRB(SB) can be predicted and agree well with the experimental
ones. Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Porous medium; Heat-recirculating combustion; Heat transfer enhancement; Swirling flow; Gas burner; Premixed impinging flame

1. Introduction Considerable practical benefits from the heat-recircu-

lating or regenerative burner have been pointed out
The major challenge for advanced utilization of fossil by Weinberg [1–3], who proposed several recuperative
fuel energy via combustion is focused on environment, schemes for practice. Among them, the porous medium
efficiency and economics. To meet these requirements, burner, in which the combustion flame is embedded,
the development of combustion equipment must be di- is one of the most promising approaches for indus-
rected at environmental compatibility, high efficiency, trial applications because it offers favorable combus-
high intensity, plus low capital and operating costs. The tion characteristics when compared with a conventional
heat-recirculating burner, in which reactants are heated burner operating with free flame. These are super-
prior to the flame zone by heat transfer from burnt adiabatic combustion having a peak temperature much
products without mixing two streams, is such a device higher than the theoretical one, high flame speed, high
that effectively converts energy from gas fuel combus- combustion intensity, extended lean flammability limits,
tion to thermal load, leading to complete combustion low emissions of pollutants (such as NOx and CO) and
and energy saving. Energy saving translate to reduction high radiant output [4–10]. Driven by the desire for
of CO2 and other greenhouse gases to the environment. energy saving and the need to emit minimal pollutants,
interest in the heat-recirculating combustion based on
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +662-470-9111/470-9128; fax: +662-
the porous medium technology is continuously growing.
470-9111. It has been well developed leading to commercial ap-
E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Jugjai). plications for advanced industrial burner and furnace,
0894-1777/02/$ - see front matter Ó 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 8 9 4 - 1 7 7 7 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 1 6 4 - 4
582 S. Jugjai, N. Rungsimuntuchart / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 581–592

Nomenclature

A heat transfer area, m2 Greek symbols

Cp specific heat at constant pressure, J kg
1 K
1 a swirl angle (between the port axes and the
D burner diameter, mm radius of the burner)
Dp vessel diameter, mm b inclination angle (between the port axes and
d port diameter, mm the top surface of the burner)
h heat transfer coefficient, W m
2 K
1 U equivalence ratio (theoretical air supplied to
LHV low heating value of gas fuel, kJ m
3 actual air supplied)
m_ g mass flow rate of gas, kg s
1 gth thermal efficiency
mwater mass of water in the vessel, kg k, j thermal conductivity, W m
1 K
1
Pr Prandtl number, lCp =k l gas viscosity, kg m
1 s
1
Qa useful heat, kW q gas density, kg m
3
Qb heat absorbed by the vessel at the bottom s optical thickness
surface, kW
Qex heat loss with flue gases at furnace exit or Subscripts
vessel rim or heat exchanger inlet, kW AP absorbing porous medium
Qin heat input to the burner from fuel supplied EP emitting porous medium
and the combustion air entrained, kW b bottom surface of the vessel
Qloss heat loss with flue gases at heat exchanger d downstream
exit, kW ex exhaust gases at furnace exit or vessel rim or
Qpre recirculating heat, kW heat exchanger inlet
Re Reynolds number ¼ quD=l f flame
T temperature, °C g gas
t burning time, s i initial condition (303 K)
u gas velocity (based on diameter of the outer pre preheat
ring burner), m s
1 u upstream
v volume flow rate of fuel, m3 s
1 w wall

such as radiant tube burners, glass melting furnaces and to its relatively low thermal efficiency (<30%). Thus,
slab reheating furnaces [11–14]. Recent development on improvement in the thermal efficiency of the domestic
the new type of glass melting regenerative furnace at burners CB is of great interest in view of the need for
Nippon Furnace Kogyo (NFK) makes it possible to energy conservation and of concern on global environ-
preheat the combustion air, typically above 1000 °C, by mental pollution, especially in Thailand where energy
recirculating the hot exhaust gas resulting in fuel saving consumption in the domestic sector is comparable to
up to 50% over cold air systems, as well as a significant that in industry.
decrease of greenhouse gas CO2 and NOx emissions [12]. In the present paper experimental investigations are
Heat-recirculating combustion based on the porous me- discussed under two major headings. The first concerns
dium technology has now been considered as the emerg- the application of the porous medium technology to
ing furnace design methodology for the next generation establish the heat-recirculating mechanism from exhaust
of high performance combustion systems. gas to combustion air in the conventional domestic
While the above-mentioned development of the heat- burner (CB) so as to realize a new version, high effi-
recirculating burners using porous medium technology ciency heat-recirculating gas burner for domestic appli-
has been focused on large-scale industrial gas burners ances and for small-scale food processing industries (i.e.
and furnaces, very little attention [15,16] has been paid the PRRB(CB)). The second concentrates on the appli-
to domestic application in this type of burner (i.e. the cation of the swirling central flow burner (SB) technol-
porous radiant recirculated burner PRRB). Existing ogy (see Fig. 6) to further enhancing thermal efficiency
domestic burners have solely relied on the self-aspirating of the new burner (i.e. the PRRB(SB)). Performance of
atmospheric conventional burner with radially flowing, the new burner is compared with that of the conven-
ring burner (hereafter referred to as CB, see Fig. 5). The tional one (CB) through measured thermal efficien-
importance of the CB need not be stressed here, owing cies, energy saving and emission characteristics. With
to its simplicity and wide application, both in domestic the detailed numerical model proposed, the thermal
appliances and small-scale industrial burners. However, efficiency of this new type of burner is computed and
in view of energy conservation, it is less attractive owing compared with the experimental observation.
 S. Jugjai, N. Rungsimuntuchart / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 581–592 583

2. State of the art

2.1. Reduction of energy consumption by combustion air

preheating

Preheating of combustible mixture by recycled heat

from exhaust gas has been considered as an effective
method not only for combustion of low calorific fuels
but also for fuel conservation. This type of combustion
has been called ‘‘excess enthalpies’’ or ‘‘super-adiabatic
flame temperatures’’ combustion in which the reactants
(or the combustion air alone) are preheated using heat
‘‘borrowed’’ from beyond the flame zone, without mix-
ing the two streams [1]. Although the principle is not
sophisticated, the consequences of its application can be Fig. 2. Energy savings as a function of preheating air temperature.
quite far reaching and very advantageous from the point
of view of fuel conservation, efficiency and combustion 2.2. Effective method for combustion air preheating
intensity. The enthalpy histories of premixed combus-
tion in a one-dimensional adiabatic system are sche- A great variety of systems is possible for combustion
matically compared in Fig. 1 for cases with and without air preheating, all based on a combustor in-between the
heat recirculation. In the presence of heat recirculation two limbs of a heat exchanger [2]. However, it would
from the exhaust gas to the combustion air (Qpre ) with seem retrograde to develop a new practical combustion
constant heat input (Qin ), a greatly elevated enthalpy system, which does not involve a porous medium, hav-
(and, of course, the flame temperature) and hence useful ing a large surface area per unit volume, for an effective
energy Q0a (larger than Qa ) can be realized, leading to heat exchanger to recirculate heat from products
energy saving as defined by Eq. (1) to combustible mixture (or air alone). Based on the
Qpre gth;2
gth;1 prominent feature of the porous medium in effectively
Energy saving ¼ ¼ ð1Þ converting energy between flowing gas enthalpy and
Qa þ Qpre gth;2
thermal radiation, the development of a high per-
where gth;1 and gth;2 , respectively, represent the thermal formance heat exchanger using a porous medium was
efficiency of the system before and after introducing the proposed by Echigo [17,18]. The basic concept consists
heat-recirculating combustion. Fig. 2 shows the typical of a pair of porous mediums with appropriate opacity
effect of combustion air preheating (Tair;pre ) on energy separated by a solid wall as shown in Fig. 3. Enthalpy of
saving (and, of course, substantial reduction in CO2 the hot flowing gas (combustion products) is effectively
emissions) at various operating exhaust gas tempera- converted to thermal radiation emitted by the high
tures (Tex ) from the exit of the furnace section (before temperature (heating) side porous medium designated as
entering a heat exchanger). The higher Tair;pre ensures less the ‘‘emitter’’ and directed to the solid wall. In thermal
rejection of heat with the exhaust, resulting in more fuel equilibrium, the reversed conversion from the incident
saving. Operating the combustion process at relatively thermal radiation emitted from the solid wall to the cool
high exhaust gas temperature (Tex ) with constant Tair;pre gas (or combustion air) enthalpy takes place in the low
is more efficient than operating at lower Tex .

Fig. 1. Comparison of enthalpy history between systems with and Fig. 3. Heat exchanger based on energy conversion between convection
without heat recirculation. and thermal radiation by porous medium.
584 S. Jugjai, N. Rungsimuntuchart / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 581–592

temperature (cooling) side porous medium designated

as the ‘‘absorber’’, leading to an efficient method in
preheating the combustion air.

2.3. Enhancement of heat transfer by a swirling central

flame burner (SB)

The essential feature of the swirling central flame is

the implementation of a centered, rotating vertical flame
rather than of the radially flowing, band-form flame
generated by the conventional burners (see Figs. 8 and 9
for comparison). The swirling central flame is formed by
supplying a mixture of the gas and the primary air
through inclined ports in the ring burner (see Fig. 6).
The axes of the ports are arranged in such a way that
they make an angle b toward the burner center with Fig. 4. Porous radiant recirculated burner PRRB in combination with
respect to the ring burner horizontal plane, and an angle the conventional burner CB (PRRB(CB)).
a with respect to the ring burner radius. Thus, the flame
jets emerging from the individual ports form a vertical operational function, experimental apparatus and in-
rotating flame over the ring burner (Fig. 8). Then, the strumentation are quite similar to those of the previous
swirling flame impinges on the bottom surface of the one [15] but with a different geometric size, burner ca-
vessel to be heated (not shown) and forms a rotating, pacity and testing standard. To meet the requirement for
radially diverging jet of hot gases. The improvement in a larger capacity burner, a set of self-aspirating atmo-
thermal efficiency of the SB [19,20] is mainly achieved by spheric radial flow conventional burners CB as shown in
the implementation of the swirling central flame, since Fig. 5, which is available in Thailand, is used. It consists
(a) the heat transfer coefficient at the vessel bottom is of two radial flow ring burners (i.e. the inner one and the
significantly improved, especially at high flow rates, outer one), a long mixing tube and an orifice with a
which results from improvement in the residence time of control valve. Inasmuch as the concept in the preceding
the combustion products in the vicinity of the vessel section is attractive from the viewpoint of energy saving,
bottom and, (b) the central flame covers a greater heat this experiment on PRRB in combination with the CB
transfer area of the vessel bottom in comparison with (hereafter referred to as the PRRB(CB) as shown in
the band-form flame of the CB. Also improvement in Figs. 4 and 9) is carried out first to demonstrate its
mixing and combustion process can be realized in the validity.
swirling central flame because of the rotating movement Thermal efficiency is determined according to the
of the flow field. German Standard [21] instead of the British Standard
[22], owing to the former’s applicability to varying ca-
pacities of the burner thermal output. The efficiency, gth ,
3. Experimental apparatus is defined as the ratio of the sensible heat absorbed by
the specified mass of water (mwater ¼ 20 kg), to raised its
Based on previous studies on the porous radiant re- temperature from an initial value Twater;i to 363 K, to the
circulated burner (hereafter referred to as PRRB) as combustion heat of the burned gaseous fuel, as ex-
proposed by Jugjai et al. [15,16], we try to scale up the pressed by Eq. (2)
burner capacity (from 5 kW up to 30 kW) so as to ex-
tend its practical applications, especially, to small-scale
food processing industries. Fig. 4 shows a schematic
sketch of the new version of the PRRB. Focuses have
been made on the arrangement of a pair of the porous
medium; the emitting porous medium (EP) and the ab-
sorbing porous medium (AP), through which part of the
exhaust gas enthalpy is recirculated to the combustion
air (primary air) by thermal radiation as described in the
preceding section. Both EP and AP are formed by a
stack of pieces of stainless steel wire net having 40 mesh
per inch and apparent optical thicknesses (production of
an extinction coefficient and a geometrical thickness) of Fig. 5. Self-aspirating atmospheric conventional burner (CB) with
sEP ¼ 1:5 and sAP ¼ 3, respectively. The design concept, radial flow ring burners.
 S. Jugjai, N. Rungsimuntuchart / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 581–592 585

a low heating value of about 115 MJ/m3 (normal). LPG

was metered by calibrated rotameters. K-type sheath
thermocouples of 0.5 mm wire diameter were used in the
experiment at all measuring locations (TEP;d , TEP;u , TAP;d ,
TAP;u and Tair;pre ), whereas a mercury thermometer was
used in measuring Twater . The thermocouple signals were
digitized by a general-purpose data logger, and then
transmitted to a personal computer.
Analysis of the dry combustion products at the heat
exchanger exit (downstream side of the EP) is carried
out by using the Messtechnik Eheim model Visit01L,
which is a portable emission analyzer especially desig-
nated for quasi-continuous measurement. A gas pro-
cessing system of NOx and CO is especially tuned for
electro-chemical sensors, ensuring long-time stability
and accuracy of measurement. The measuring range of
the analyzer is 0–4000 ppm for NOx and 0–10,000 ppm
Fig. 6. Swirling central flow ring burner (SB). for CO with measuring accuracy of about 5 ppm (from
the measured value) and resolution of 1 ppm for both
NOx and CO. All measured emissions in the experiment
mwater Cp;water ð363
Twater;i Þ are those corrected to 0% excess oxygen and dry-basis.
gth ¼ ð2Þ
v  LHV  t The purpose of the experimental tests was to deter-
To further enhance the thermal efficiency of the PRRB, mined whether the newly developed PRRB in combi-
a special feature is included in the newly proposed nation with the CB and the SB works. The main issue
PRRB by incorporating the swirling central flow ring was to succeed in increasing thermal efficiency as much
burner (hereafter referred to as SB, see Fig. 6). With as possible based on the combination of the porous
recent development in the SB [19], it is evident that the medium technology with various types of the burner
SB (with the recommended swirl angle a ¼ 15° and the configurations, while keeping the emissions environ-
inclination angle b ¼ 26° of the burner ports as shown in mentally compatible.
Fig. 6) can yield an increase in thermal efficiency of up
to about 15% higher than that of the CB at the same
heat input, owing to a higher heat transfer coefficient 4. Model considerations
between the flame and the heat transfer surfaces (vessel).
The PRRB incorporating with the SB (hereafter referred Fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of energy flow
to as PRRB(SB)) provides an alternative burner for across the control volume of the typical PRRB(SB)
obtaining maximum possible thermal efficiency. The system. Qin is heat input to the ring burner from fuel
PRRB(SB) can easily be made from the PRRB(CB) by supplied and the combustion air entrained, while Qb and
merely replacing the outer ring burner of the CB (Fig. 5) Qloss , respectively, represent heat absorbed by the vessel
with the SB ring burner (Fig. 6) without any alterations and heat loss with the flue gases at the heat exchanger
of the other burner components. Detailed specifications exit (downstream side of the EP). Qpre is the internal
of the considered inner and outer ring burners of the CB heat recirculated from the exhaust gas to the entrained
and the SB are summarized in Table 1. combustion air (both the primary air and the secondary
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was used as a fuel in air) being preheated to Tair;pre . For simplicity, it is as-
the experiment. The composition of the LPG was 40% sumed here that the combustion rate of the gaseous
(by vol.) propane (C3 H8 ) and 60% butane (C4 H10 ) with mixture emerging from the ring burner ports is infinitely

Table 1
Detailed specifications of the ring burners
Type Number of port Total port Port area ratio, Flow type
Inner ring Outer ring area (mm2 ) % SB/CB

d ¼ 1:0 mm d ¼ 2:5 mm d ¼ 1:0 mm d ¼ 2:5 mm

CB 54 54 117 117 974 – Radial
SB 54 54 – 104 818 84 Swirla
a
Only the outer ring burner.
586 S. Jugjai, N. Rungsimuntuchart / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 581–592

or
Qb ¼ m_ g Cp;g ðTf
Tex Þ ð5Þ

Here hb is the heat transfer coefficient at the bottom

surface obtained from the experiment using the same
procedure as in [24] and its correlation obtained is
defined by
!
0:42 0:50 D0:5
hb ¼ 31:96k Pr Re ð6Þ
D1:5
p

where Re ¼ quD=l and u represents mean flow velocity

across the outer ring burner diameter D (Fig. 6). A
logarithmic mean temperature difference (LMTD) is
used in Eq. (4) since the temperature differences between
the gas and the bottom surface of the vessel are de-
Fig. 7. Physical model of the PRRB(SB). creased with the flowing distance of the hot gas. The
total mass flow rate of the combustion gas m_ g in Eq. (5)
is the summation of mass flow rate of fuel, the primary
fast so that an upward moving lump of high temperature
air (defined as the combustion air entrained by a jet of
gas with uniformly distributed flame temperature Tf is
the gas emerging from the orifice into a mixing tube) and
assumed to be formed between the ring burner exit and
the secondary air (defined as the remaining combustion
the stagnation region at the vessel bottom. The heat loss
air which is entrained through the opening hole at the
due to chemically incomplete combustion and flame
bottom of the burner (Fig. 4)).
radiation is neglected. Then the hot gas forms the ro-
In order to solve either Eqs. (4) or (5) for Qb , the
tating and radial diverging jet from the stagnation point
flame temperature Tf and the exhaust gas temperature
to the vessel rim with a decreasing in its temperature and
Tex at the vessel rim must be known. Tf could be theo-
enthalpy, respectively, to Tex (which is equivalent to
retically estimated by considering the thermochemistry
TEP;u in the experiment) and Qex caused by the heat
of the combustible mixture once the total mass flow rate
transfer through the vessel bottom Qb with an average
m_ g and the Tair;pre are specified. However, it is very dif-
heat transfer coefficient hb at the constant vessel bottom
ficult to accurately specify the value of m_ g due to the
temperature Tw . The heat transfer through the lateral
involvement of the entrained primary air and the sec-
surface of the vessel is negligible owing to its relatively
ondary air. In this problem, the trial and error method
low heat transfer coefficient compared with that of at the
in combination with the graphical method were used to
bottom surface [19]. With this explanation, a disk flame
obtain Qb . m_ g is first assumed with the specified fuel flow
is assumed to be formed at the vessel bottom even
rate v and Tf is calculated from the thermochemistry by
though different combustion modes (such as disc and
taking into account the effect of combustion air pre-
ring flame) may be established even under identical
heating Tair;pre from the experiment. Then, Qb –Tex rela-
burner flow conditions of a turbulent premixed im-
tionships were plotted using the Eqs. (4) and (5) with the
pinging flame [23]. The flame of the PRRB(SB) can be
measured values of hb , Ab and Tw . This trial and error
considered as a turbulent premixed impinging flame in
procedure for estimating mg and Tf followed by dis-
the sense that it is semi-confined and strongly deflected
playing the Qb –Tex relationships is repeated until the two
by the vessel bottom. The combustion regimes depend
curves of the Qb –Tex relationships from Eqs. (4) and (5)
on various parameters, thus, inevitably affecting the heat
give an intersection point, yielding a satisfied Qb . The
transfer characteristic. The heat transfer process from
thermal efficiency gth is then estimated from Eq. (3) with
the hot gas to the water vessel is assumed to be steady,
the known value of Qin .
i.e. a boiling test. By considering the control volume
covering the burner and the volume in between the
burner exit and the bottom surfaces of the vessel, the
5. Results and discussions
thermal efficiency could be written as
Qb  100 5.1. Behavior and assessment of the SB burner
gth ; % ¼ ð3Þ
Qin
where Qb can be defined as Stability of flame from multi-port burner is strongly
influenced by flame interaction, which is in turn de-
ððTf
Tw Þ
ðTex
Tw ÞÞ pendent on size, shape and disposition of the flame ports
Q b ¼ hb Ab ð4Þ
lnððTf
Tw Þ=ðTex
Tw ÞÞ on the burner head. If the edge-to-edge spacing of multi-
 S. Jugjai, N. Rungsimuntuchart / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 581–592 587

port burner is less than 5 mm, then flames stabilized 5.2. Improvement of thermal efficiency by the proposed
over the individual ports can interact by exchange of PRRB(CB)
heat and reactive radicals and species, and the flame
stability of the burner can be greatly enhanced in com- 5.2.1. Comparison of thermal efficiency
parison to that of an array of more widely spaced ports Fig. 10 shows the measured thermal efficiencies of
[25]. For extensive arrays of closely spaced ports con- the PRRB(CB) and the CB as a function of heat input
figuration, a single inner cone covers all of the ports and Qin . The PRRB(CB) remarkably yields about 12%
is stabilized at the edge of the port array. This phe- higher thermal efficiency on average than that of the CB
nomena was avoided during the modification of the throughout the experimental range. An increase in the
proposed SB from the original smaller one [19] so as to maximum thermal efficiency gth from 30% to 44% using
maintain the flame stability. The structure of the swirl- the PRRB(CB) is observed. This is attributed to an ef-
ing central flame of the SB, which shows a strong in- fective heat-recirculation mechanism from the exhaust
teraction of flame jets issued from the individual ports, is gas to the combustion air as shown in Fig. 11. A large
visible in Fig. 8. The flame structure of the conventional temperature drop across the thickness of the emitting
radial flow flame (CB) with an array of more widely porous medium (TEP;u
TEP;d ) over the experimental
spaced ports is also shown in Fig. 9 for comparison. The range implies that a large amount of exhaust gas enth-
SB flame is well stabilized down to a turndown ratio of alpy was converted to an increase in enthalpy of the
5:1 and yielded multiple blue inner cones in which the primary air flowing through the absorbing porous me-
edges of the inner cones have coalesced and the outer dium AP, leading to a significant increase in the tem-
diffusion flame is common to all ports. For this case, the perature (Tair;pre ) of the primary combustion air. The
SB has a port area of about 84% of that of the CB. PRRB(CB) can preheat the primary air to the maximum

Fig. 8. Swirling central flame (SB) in the PRRB housing. Fig. 10. Improvement of thermal efficiency by the PRRB(CB).

Fig. 11. Variation of temperatures inside the PRRB(CB) with heat

Fig. 9. Conventional radial flow flame (CB) in the PRRB housing. input CL.
588 S. Jugjai, N. Rungsimuntuchart / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 581–592

temperature level of about 300 °C at Qin ¼ 28 kW. Both 5.2.3. Effect of optical thickness of the porous medium
the CB and the PRRB(CB) reveal the same qualita- Since the radiative heat flux emitted from the emitting
tive characteristics of the heat input dependency of the porous medium EP is a function of its optical thickness
thermal efficiencies (Fig. 10). When Qin is increased, the sEP , sEP was increased from 1.5 to 3 by increasing the
burner efficiencies are also increased because of an in- number of layers of the wire net that forms the porous
crease in the heat transfer coefficient at the bottom medium. The more radiative heat flux emitted from EP,
surface of the vessel [19]. Then the thermal efficiencies as is warranted by a larger temperature drop across the
come to the optimum values at Qin ranging from 10–12 thickness of the EP (TEP;u
TEP;d ) at sEP ¼ 3 than that at
kW. For Qin above this range, the normal behavior of sEP ¼ 1:5 as shown in Fig. 13, the higher Tair;pre becomes
decreasing gth with increasing Qin for the two burners as shown in Fig. 14. As expected, this can be translated
are observed. This is because of an excessive heat rate to a significant increase in thermal efficiency gth as
causing incomplete combustion and a higher heat loss shown in Fig. 15. gth of the CB is also included for
rate with the flue gas to the environment than the heat comparison. However, a further increase in sEP may lead
absorption rate by the vessel. to a significant increase in pressure drop of the exhaust
gas flowing through the EP, causing poor ventilation
5.2.2. Effective heat-recirculation mechanism by the and thus leading to incomplete combustion.
porous medium
Since the preheated air temperature Tair;pre is one of 5.3. Further improvement of thermal efficiency by the
the most important factors characterizing the heat-re- PRRB(SB)
circulation performance of the porous medium (EP and
AP) for the PRRB(CB), measurements of the Tair;pre at By replacing the conventional ring burner CB
various experimental conditions were performed and with the swirling central flame ring burner SB, thermal
compared. Fig. 12 shows Tair;pre as a function of heat efficiency gth of the PRRB(SB) is greatly enhanced
input Qin with different combinations of the EP and AP
for the PRRB(CB). Among them the PRRB(CB) with
both EP and AP installed (sEP ¼ 1:5; sAP ¼ 3) yielded
the strongest dependence of Tair;pre on Qin with the
highest Tair;pre (up to about 300 °C). A similar trend was
found for the other combinations but with smaller
Tair;pre . In particular, the PRRB(CB) without both EP
and AP installed (sEP ¼ sAP ¼ 0) gave the lowest Tair;pre
irrespective of the heat input Qin , implying that no heat-
recirculation from the exhaust gas to the combustion air
had occurred. It can, therefore, be concluded that the
PRRB(CB) with the combination of both the EP and
AP is the most effective configuration of the PRRB(CB)
in recirculating heat from the exhaust gas to the com-
bustion air.

Fig. 13. Effect of sEP on TEP;u and TEP;d .

Fig. 12. Preheated air temperature Tair;pre at different combination of

EP and AP for the PRRB(CB). Fig. 14. Effect of sEP on Tair;pre .
 S. Jugjai, N. Rungsimuntuchart / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 581–592 589

sent study. However, low Tair;pre for the PRRB(SB) in

comparison to that of the PRRB(CB) is observed as
shown in Fig. 17. This normal behavior is true for the
system having better heat transfer characteristics, which
in turn lowered the exhaust gas temperature (TEP;u ) prior
to entering the EP as shown in Fig. 18.

5.4. Energy saving and effectiveness of combustion air

preheating

Energy saving for the PRRB(CB) and the PRRB(SB)

with respect to the CB were calculated as a function of
heat input Qin as shown in Fig. 19. As expected, the
PRRB(SB) yields far higher energy saving than that of
Fig. 15. Effect of sEP on gth . the PRRB(CB). The maximum energy saving of about
50% is realized by the PRRB(SB) and is almost constant
throughout the ranges studied.
In order to characterize the heat-recirculation per-
formance of the porous medium, heat exchanger effec-
tiveness e is adopted rather than the preheated air
temperature Tair;pre . In this method, the e is defined as
the ratio of the actual enthalpy increase of the com-
bustion air (due to preheating effect) to its maximum

Fig. 16. Further improvement of gth by the PRRB(SB).

throughout the experimental range as shown in Fig. 16.

A maximum gth of about 60% was realized in compar-
ison to 44% for the PRRB(CB). This significant increase
in the gth is attributed to the combined effect of an ef-
fective heat-recirculation and the swirling central flame
characteristics. Even in the case without the PRRB
structure; i.e. no heat-recirculation being considered, the Fig. 17. Comparison of Tair;pre .
SB showed a far better gth than that of the CB. This
normal behavior is usually observed for the SB because
it yields a relatively high heat transfer coefficient at the
bottom surface of the vessel, especially at high flow ve-
locity [19]. Moreover, the swirling central flame provides
a long residence time for the flame and vessel surface
contact owing to an initially inward flow followed by an
outward flow from the stagnation point along the radial
direction of the bottom surface of the vessel. Also the
swirling central flame covers a larger surface area of the
bottom surface in comparison with the band-form flame
of the CB. These outstanding characteristics of the SB
make its thermal efficiency comparable to that of the
PRRB(CB). Undoubtedly, the combination of the SB
with the PRRB, i.e. the PRRB(SB) yields the utmost
requirement in improving thermal efficiency in the pre- Fig. 18. Comparison of TEP;u .
590 S. Jugjai, N. Rungsimuntuchart / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 581–592

5.5. Emission characteristics

Figs. 21 and 22, respectively, show dependence of CO

and NOx emissions on heat input Qin for two different
burners PRRB(SB) and PRRB(CB). The PRRB(SB)
emits a slightly higher CO and NOx concentrations than
the PRRB(CB) over the range studied. This is true for
the swirling central flame burner SB of which the total
port area is relatively small. This may result in possible
low primary aeration leading to incomplete combustion.
However, it is due to the specially designed SB that very
stable swirling central flame is achieved. Further, good
mixing, prolonged residence time as well as high heat
transfer coefficient between the flame and the thermal
Fig. 19. Comparison of energy saving. load (vessel), assure that no significant effect of such the
incomplete combustion and local temperature maxima
occurring during combustion of the swirling central
flame. Thus, the PRRB(SB) produced only a negligible
increase in CO and NOx in comparison to those of
the PRRB(CB).

Fig. 20. Comparison of heat exchanger effectiveness e.

possible enthalpy increase. Fig. 20 shows the depen-

dence of the effectiveness e for both the PRRB(CB) and
the PRRB(SB) on the heat input Qin . The PRRB(SB) Fig. 21. Comparison of CO emission.
shows a lower effectiveness than that of the PRRB(CB)
owing to its highly efficient heat transfer rate from the
flame to the vessel bottom, resulting in lower preheated
air temperature (Tair;pre ) and exhaust gas temperature
(TEP;u ) as shown in Figs. 17 and 18, respectively. How-
ever, this relatively low effectiveness is not in con-
tradiction to the high thermal efficiency for the
PRRB(SB) as shown in Fig. 16 because the low effec-
tiveness e is compensated for by a high combustion
intensity resulting from a high shear stress in the rotat-
ing flow and a prolonged residence time in compari-
son with those of the PRRB(CB) [20,26]. As Qin
increases, e for both burners tend to increase fol-
lowed by a marked increase in Tair;pre as shown in Fig.
17. At high Qin , the effectiveness of the PRRB(SB) is
seen to approach that of the PRRB(CB) owing to an
increase in flow velocities and reduction in the residence
time. Fig. 22. Comparison of NOx emission.
 S. Jugjai, N. Rungsimuntuchart / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 581–592 591

new PRRB were evaluated and compared with those of

the conventional one (CB). Operating parameters such
as heat input, type of the burner heads expected to
control the performance of the new PRRB were clari-
fied. The following conclusions can be drawn from the
experimental results.

1. The proposed PRRB structure using the porous me-

dium technology is very effective in establishing a
heat-recirculating mechanism from the hot exhaust
gas to the combustion air, resulting in efficient air
preheating with a maximum temperature of 300 °C.
2. By integrating the existing conventional ring burner
CB with the PRRB (i.e. the PRRB(CB)), thermal
Fig. 23. Comparison of gth . efficiency of the new burner PRRB(CB) is increased
to about 12% higher than that of the conventional
5.6. Model prediction one (CB).
3. Based on the swirling central flame ring burner SB,
Fig. 23 shows comparison between the measured further improvement in thermal efficiency of the bur-
thermal efficiencies and the model prediction ones for ner can be realized. The combination of the PRRB
the PRRB(SB). The model predictions yield higher with the SB (i.e. the PRRB(SB)) yields a maximum
thermal efficiency than those of the measured ones thermal efficiency of about 60%: about twice as high
owing to the imposed assumptions such as complete as that of the conventional burner CB, resulting in an
combustion, no heat loss from flame to the environment, energy saving of about 50% per cent on average over
etc. However, the difference in the measured gth with the the operating range.
theoretically estimated one was found to be within ac- 4. The proposed PRRB(SB) provides not only high
ceptable engineering accuracy (15%). Thus, the model thermal efficiency and considerable improvement in
prediction shows both qualitative and quantitative energy saving but also environmentally compatible
agreement with the experimental results. emissions, since it yields insignificant changes in the
emission characteristics in comparison to that of the
6. Practical significance PRRB(CB).
5. With the model proposed, the calculated thermal effi-
Based on the porous medium technology and the ciencies of the PRRB(SB) can be predicted and agree
swirling central flame burner, a new heat-recirculating, well with the experimental ones.
high thermal efficiency burner (i.e. the PRRB(SB)) has
shown a much higher thermal efficiency than that of the
conventional burner (CB), which is widely used in do- 8. Recommendation and future research needs
mestic around the world. For the sake of energy and
environmental conservation, it is strongly recommended Much work remains to be done to further improving
that replacement of the existing conventional burner thermal efficiency of the PRRB equipped with the con-
(CB) with the proposed PRRB(SB) for domestic burners cept of the swirling central flame burner SB. In partic-
should be immediately implemented, even though some ular, a better understanding is needed of flame structure
modifications of the existing burner is needed. In the of the proposed burner PRRB(SB), which can be con-
commercial areas, this new burner concept may find sidered as a turbulent premixed impinging flame since
applications in the development of highly efficient the flame is semi-confined in the sense that it is strongly
burners for small-scale food processing industries for deflected by the vessel bottom. It has been reported that
the purpose of energy savings and mitigation of the premixed turbulent impinging flame can exist in different
emission pollutants. eight modes [23] and different combustion modes (such
as disc and ring flame) may be established even under
identical burner flow conditions, thus, affecting the
7. Conclusions heat transfer characteristics and the burner thermal
efficiency. The combustion regime of each combustion
A novel domestic burner concept based on heat- mode is sensitive to a range of variables, especially a
recirculating combustion using the porous medium ratio of burner-to-surface separation distance to burner
technology (PRRB) has been developed. The heat diameter. Even though the ratio is kept constant, it
transfer performance and emission characteristics of the is not actually constant in the sense that it is strongly
592 S. Jugjai, N. Rungsimuntuchart / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 26 (2002) 581–592

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