Exhaust system for smokestack

An exhaust system for removing gaseous combustion products from a combustion chamber having an exhaust port, said exhaust system comprising:

• a vertically disposed smokestack having a lower portion communicating with the exhaust port of said combustion chamber and a top opening communicating with the atmosphere;
• an exhaust control device overlying said top opening of the smokestack;
• said exhaust control device being substantially flat and lying in a substantially horizontal plane and having a sharp-edged circular orifice overlying the interior of said smokestack;
• said exhaust control device comprising means for forming an annular insulating blanket of exhaust gases around the periphery of the smokestack interior and a uniformly flowing stream of exhaust gases passing steadily up the center of the annulus;
• said substantially flat exhaust control device comprising adjustable means actuable to adjust the size of said orifice while maintaining said annular insulating blanket and said uniformly flowing stream of exhaust gases, said adjustable means comprising movable closure means defining said sharp-edged circular orifice and lying substantially entirely in said substantially horizontal plane;
• and means for actuating said adjustable means in response to a change in conditions within said smokestack, reflecting a change in the number of boilers connected to said smokestack or a change in the operating conditions in a given boiler, to change the orifice size to one which will return the conditions existing before said change, said orifice adjusting means comprises:
• closure means;
• and means mounting said closure means for movement between a first position in which said orifice has a first cross-sectional area less than the cross-sectional area of said smokestack and a second position in which said orifice is partially open and has a second cross-sectional area less than said first cross-sectional area thereof,
• said closure means comprises means for adjusting the cross-sectional area of said orifice uniformly around the periphery of the aperture,
• said closure means comprises an iris-type structure,
• said actuating means comprises means responsive to a change in pressure within said smokestack, said pressure-responsive actuating means comprises:
• driving means operable in a first direction to close said closure means and operable in a second direction to open said closure:
• controller means, responsive to a sensed pressure which is below a predetermined pressure setting, for operating said driving means in said first direction and, responsive to a sensed pressure which is above said predetermined pressure setting, for operating said driving means in said second direction;
• and means for communicating to said control means the pressure with said smokestack.