Advanced oil burner for residential heating -- development report

The development of advanced oil burner concepts has long been a part of Brookhaven National Laboratory`s (BNL) oil heat research program. Generally, goals of this work include: increased system efficiency, reduced emissions of soot and NO{sub x}, and the practical extension of the firing rate range of current burners to lower input rates. The report describes the results of a project at BNL aimed at the development of air atomized burners. Two concepts are discussed. The first is an air atomizer which uses air supplied at pressures ranging from 10 to 20 psi and requiring the integration of an air compressor in the system. The second, more novel, approach involves the use of a low-pressure air atomizing nozzle which requires only 8-14 inches of water air pressure for fuel atomization. This second approach requires the use of a fan in the burner instead of a compressor although the fan pressure is higher than with conventional, pressure atomized retention head burners. In testing the first concept, high pressure air atomization, a conventional retention head burner was modified to accept the new nozzle. In addition, the burner head was modified to reduce the flow area to maintain roughly 1 inch of water pressure drop across the head at a firing rate of 0.25 gallons of oil per hour. The burner ignited easily and could be operated at low excess air levels without smoke. The major disadvantage of this burner approach is the need for the air compressor as part of the system. In evaluating options, a vane-type compressor was selected although the use of a compressor of this type will lead to increased burner maintenance requirements