TITLE:
Evaluation of a Pulse Width Modulated Bypass Nozzle for the Development of a Variable Load Residential Oil Burner
AUTHORS:
Mebougna L. Drabo, Narinder K. Tutu, Thomas Butcher, George Wei, Rebecca Trojanowski
KEYWORDS:
Residential Oil Burner, Variable Load, Pulse Width Modulated Burner Nozzle, Bypass Nozzle, Droplet Spray Size Distribution, Variable Fuel Firing Rate
JOURNAL NAME:
Engineering,
Vol.10 No.10,
October
16,
2018
ABSTRACT: Due to the need for energy conservation in buildings and the simultaneous benefit of cost savings, the development of a low firing rate load modulating residential oil burner is very desirable. One of the two main requirements of such a burner is the development of a burner nozzle that is able to maintain the particle size distribution of the fuel spray in the desirable (small) size range for efficient and stable combustion. The other being the ability to vary the air flow rate and air distribution around the fuel nozzle in the burner for optimal combustion at the current fuel firing rate. In this paper, which deals with the first requirement, we show that by using pulse width modulation in the bypass channel of a commercial off-the-shelf bypass nozzle, this objective can be met. Here we present results of spray patterns and particle size distribution for a range of fuel firing rates. The results show that a desirable fuel spray pattern can be maintained over a fuel firing rate turndown ratio (Maximum Fuel Flow Rate/Minimum Fuel Flow Rate) of 3.7. Thus here we successfully demonstrate the ability to electronically vary the fuel firing rate by more than a factor of 3 while simultaneously maintaining good atomization.