Porous body combustor/regenerator

A system for producing a high level of radiation heating comprising a pair of adjacent combustor/regenerator sections, each section having a combustor zone formed of a porous body, and means for injecting fuel into said porous body in a manner wherein the fuel is distributed and substantially completely combusted within the porous body, the porous body having a combustor radiant surface area facing a work station, a porous body regenerator associated with each combustor zone, conduit means for conducting combustible gases to each combustor/regenerator section and alternately for conducting combustion products from each combustor/regenerator section, means for cyclically controlling the flow of combustible gases to one combustor/regenerator section and the flow of combustion products from the other combustor/regenerator section and, alternately, the flow of combustible gases to the other section and the flow of combustion products from the one section, each section having its combustor radiant surface area sufficiently open to allow the passage of combustion products through it and the associated porous body regenerator, the porous body regenerator of each section being arranged to allow passage of gas of at least one of the combustible gases therethrough and, alternately, combustion products therethrough, the porous body regenerators having a construction capable of cyclically absorbing a major portion of the heat carried in the combustion products for subsequent transfer to the one combustible gas, the sections being arranged such that the products of combustion from either section are received at the other section, the combustion radiant surface of each section being arranged to radiate a major portion of the heat generated by combustion within the porous body.