OCR Text |
Show involved the selection of proper materials, enhanced user-friendliness, increased applications flexibility and the elimination of burner maintenance. By the spring of 1993, Maxon engineers experienced with glass applications believed that the original OXY -THERM burner design had been optimized to its full potential. What was needed was a new burner design to address the remaining nitrogen problem, plus those specific customer needs that had proven to be the most difficult to satisfy. In this age of fast cycle product development, the need to establish development goals for any new product is critical to making that product successful in the market. Consequently, the aiming of a new product requires a large amount of solicited customer input. This is especially true in the oxy-fuel burner market, where the application of this technology is evolving and customer requirements change with gained experience. Once the decision to develop a new burner design was reached, the installed customer base became an excellent source of product aiming inputs. From these inputs, a priority list of development goals was created: 1) Increased Flame Length & Volume - The use of oxygen instead of air for combustion accelerates the combustion reaction significantly. The most noticeable effect is the reduction in flame volume when compared to an air-fuel burner at a comparable firing rate. In earlier designs, the undesirable side effects of this decrease in flame volume might include elevated breastwall temperatures and increased volatilization of the melt directly under the flame. This was especially true for heavy fuel oil fired applications, where theoretical flame temperatures run 14% higher than natural gas. The desire to increase flame length and volume to improve flame coverage over the melt and to decrease breastwall temperatures were enough reason alone to embark on a new burner development program. Glass producers also told us that increased flame coverage would improve heat transfer to the melt and improve overall furnace efficiencies. 2) Lowest Possible NOx Emissions On Both Liquid And Gaseous Fuels - The passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments, which created such areas as the Northeast Ozone Transport Corridor, along with the continuing vigilance of various air quality regulatory agencies, has placed emissions reduction as a priority item for glass producers worldwide. The use of heavy fuel oils in Asia and Europe meant that any new design to reduce NOx emissions would have to be effective on both gas and oil. Early applications of oxy-fuel technology resulted in significant decreases in mass-measured pollutants as compared to air-fuel firing. However, the history of air pollution regulation in other industries teaches that emissions regulations are updated as soon as existing regulations are being met with commonly available combustion technology. 3) Lower Required Oxygen Pressure - To allow the use of any oxygen supply technology and to address the growing use of lower pressure, on-site generated oxygen. 2 |