Self-cooling oxy-fuel through-port burner for protruding into glass furnace atmosphere

Abstract

An oxy-fuel burner is set forth for providing combustion energy to a glass furnace via the mixing and combustion of a fuel stream and an oxidizer stream. The burner is divided into at least two sections, a substantially vertical section beginning at the bottom or feed end of the burner and a generally shorter, substantially horizontal section terminating at the opposite or discharge end of the burner. In a key embodiment, the vertical section of the burner protrudes into the furnace atmosphere through the underside of an air port, while the horizontal section is pointed toward the interior of the furnace. Depending on the number of burners installed, this allows from partial to full conversion of an air fuel furnace to an oxy-fuel furnace. Also, in a key embodiment, the burner includes an oxidant staging means to introduce oxidizer through a staging conduit running beneath and collateral with the outer conduit.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.