Gear-pump pressure nozzle burner

I don't know about you Pat, but unless I get regular sleep and some semi regular vitamin B, I can't function at any useful level but then my thyroid is missing a chunk and seems to run sporadically

 

I have to take thyroid.
It makes a huge difference from a cognitive function stand point.
Between the food allergies and the low thyroid, I finally got to where all I could do is sit in a chair and stare at the computer screen.
I could not do any significant work.
With the thyroid, I feel great, and can think clearly, and I can actually work again.

Now memory is another thing.
I get so deep into work projects (out of necessity) that I blank out pretty much everything I have done in the last year as far as foundry work.

Such is life I guess.
The good thing is I can read threads that are a year old, and they are just as good as the first time I read them (sometimes better).

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What's that?
I generally work until I an exhausted, and I sleep for a while, then get up, work until I am exhausted again, sleep for a while, etc.
Not really regular, but that is as regular as it gets for me.
Regularly irregular I guess.
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Here is the white paper I was looking for, related to pulsing the fuel pressure.
I thought I had lost the link for a minute.

From a white paper titled "PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT OF AN OIL FIRED FURNACE THROUGH OSCILLATING COMBUSTION TECHNOLOGY", International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research Volume 3, Issue 7, July-2012 1ISSN 2229-5518IJSER © 2012.

https://www.ijser.org/researchpaper...THROUGH-OSCILLATING-COMBUSTION-TECHNOLOGY.pdf

From the white paper:

An oscillating valve was designed and fabricated by this author and introduced on the path of fuel flow and tested at different operating conditions.
The effect of the oscillations was to produce fuel-rich and fuel-lean zones in the flame.
Fuel rich zones are more luminous and longer length with increased turbulence due to oscillations; produce low emissions and results in higher heat transfer rate.



The main conclusions that were drawn based on the data are:

There is an increase in furnace efficiency up to 6%.Fuel savings vary 7% to 39% in the oscillating combustion mode depending upon the condition.

There is a huge increase in efficiencies for all loads during the oscillating combustion modes.

The melting time observed with oscillating combustion operation is lower than the non oscillating combustion mode.
However there is a change in melting time within the oscillating combustion mode operation.

The maximum efficiency, minimum fuel consumption and melting time of the stock are observed at oscillations at minimum frequency.

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I should go get my thyroid function tested again, from my early 20's, I used to spend two weeks tired and two weeks almost hyperactive: It turned out my thyroid had a blockage and would swell up before dumping it's output into the bloodstream on a two week cycle. I'd even been hospitalized for irregular heatbeat/fibrillation that could have been caused by the thyroid gland.

As far as fuel pulsation, why not have a solenoid and secondary nozzle rapidly driven by a timer.

 

The easiest way to pulse the fuel would be adding compressed air. During the trials of my smallest torch I stumbled across this as a mistake. I was using a diaphragm pump sucking diesel from a peanut butter jar. One of the fittings on the suction side was a little bit loose and it was drawing in bubbles of air. The pump did not have a problem with it.

The pump did not need A return line either. It has its own internal pressure regulator check valve. At each end of the stroke there must be some kind of sensor to call for another stroke. It could pump diesel up to (if I remember correctly) 52 L/h (14 gallons per hour). I put it on the shelf as it had trouble with WVO.

I played a bit with a Devlon burner. This is a Diesel stream displacement of 0.2 L per minute( 3.17g/h).


My burner is somewhat of a different design (but not all that much different). My burner does not shear the fuel into a super fine mist. But… If I had to guesstimate on the particle size it’s about 1/100 of a drip of water. Gravity will naturally sheer fresh water into a drip around .05 of a millilitre through a 1/32 hole.




Through my testing the drip is about 140% bigger then the pipe ID. In almost a perfect ball.

Sure different fluids have different sheer, depending on their temperature and viscosity changes.

I’m personally fighting A difference in viscosity between diesel and WVO from when I was testing in the fall to now. Tonight I wrapped the WVO tank with one of those back heating pads. If this works to suit my requirements I might pick up a 200Watt magnetic Engine block heater.

 

Sounds good, but what would that look like?

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That is an idea too.
Not sure what that would look like in physical equipment.

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I have an idea about a valve.
What if you made a tee, with a rod going through it that is perpendicular to the fuel line.
Then cut a hole in the rod, and have the rod driven by a cam mounted on a motor.

So with a tight fit on the rod and the tee, the rod would slide over, expose the hole, and then slide back, closing the fuel line.
This would prevent slamming a needle down on its seat.

Edit:
And with a variable speed motor, you could control the frequency of the valve.

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I would think a 1/4" rod would do it, perhaps even less, like 1/8".

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They tested mine several times over several years.
They always said "its on the low end of the acceptable range, and so it is normal, so we won't prescribe medication".

Well, I have discovered that the "low end of a normal range" can be low enough to prevent normal brain function.
I am proof of that; been there, done that; could not work at all.

I finally found a doctor who was willing to prescribe a low dose of thyroid, and it makes all the difference.
It takes very little to work well.
I also discovered that all brands do not work equally well.
The only brand that works for me is "Nature's Throid".

"Throid" is not a misspelling; that is their brand name.

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I think a modern car solenoid fuel injector would go close to fitting the bill.

 

This is a stream (of diesel) rate of .525L/m (or 8.3 g/h). This measurement is from both torches
For me this is just way too much fuel. I have a 2’ flame coming out the exhaust hole of the furnace. When I remove the lid at this volume I have close to an 8” flame that gets bigger than my furnace diameter. It becomes scary.

 

I played around with high fuel flow rates, up to 10 gal/hr, but they seemed to actually run cooler than the lower fuel flow rates, such as between 2 and 3 gal/hr.
The high fuel flow rates introduce far more fuel into the furnace than can be combusted, and so the majority of the fuel does not burn until it exits the furnace.

If you introduce enough combustion air into the furnace to burn high rates of fuel, you can cool the furnace down with the combustion air.

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Pat, I think you’re thinking too extreme.

To get it pulsating you just add a little bit of air to the oil flow. Somewhere down stream from the pump (or the pressurized oil) you have loss called static.

Static creates losses and back pressure.

Let’s say you have a 20’ fuel line after the pump. The pump has a pressure output of 100 psi, but the longer the pipe, the more back pressure you have. This is called static. Anywhere along the static resistance you can add a bubbler from a T (with a check valve if you wish) with bubbling air, using a fine-tune air pressure regulator. I also found out that this helps reduce viscosity problems through static resistance. The pump does not have to work as hard.

 

Pat, you’re getting into an area that I’m about to test. But..., I haven’t tested yet. I don’t know what it’s like to have too much air yet (inside the furnace). Outside the furnace, I was able to play/test too leane and too rich.

From my tests (in furnace) , I can add more fuel than I need at any time (on diesel). With the cold swing, I seem to be getting too much static pressure resistance with WVO.

The simple solution would be cut the WVO with diesel. I try to purge my lines when shutting down with a straight diesel. I’ve been calling this mixed fluids.... Adding them to the WVO seems to be helping with viscosity.

Testing at my shop temperature (which is about 70°C), I can run the diesel at 10 PSI and get over 200 mL per minute. I need to get the WVO up to almost 70 psi to deliver the same as the diesel to the furnace. These are both tank pressures applied to the fluids.

 

I will have to try that.

You can get on ytube and find a seemingly endless supply of oil burner videos, with most pouring out impressive amounts of flame into the open air.
But shooting big flames into open air has very little to do with metal casting, and most of those guys are in the aluminum can melting realm if that.

The acid test of a burner is whether it will easily melt cast iron in a foundry setting; at least that's my opinion of burners.

If you are trying to melt cast iron, a correctly designed and tuned burner makes the difference between a melt that pours like thick molassas, and a melt that pours like ice tea.

I am glad others are experimenting with oil burners in a foundry and especially a cast iron setting.
With every discussion I have with others about oil burners, I learn a little more, and understand how they work with a furnace a little more.

Ultimately, my goals are to have a burner that works reliably on diesel, does not require an air compressor, is relatively small and lightweight (compared to an Ursutz), and uses equipment that is relatively inexpensive compared to a large air compressor.

Any understanding of burners and thermodynamics beyond my goals above is gravy in my opinion.
And I am fully willing to forgo an understanding of exactly how a burner works thermodynamically, as long as it does work very well.

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My air compressor is so quiet and small. She cycles for about 15 seconds every 3 minutes. All the pipes and fittings were scrap. I built this air compressor for under $40CAD. I think it only has a 2 L tank.

I built it out of a old refrigerator compressor. It’s been running flawlessly for 2-3years.

 

Thats a really sweet air compressor.
I wondered how you would handle the oil thing, but you have it all figured out.
Too cool !

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Hi
I like that idea.
Dazz