My noggin is working tonight. :-) Les told me that the reason that the radiant burner design by Kevin O'Connor and like I read, uses slots that increase in depth from the FAR end of the tube to the end near the jet. This is to even out the flame burning along the whole length of the burner. Why? I remember about the far end burns more than the near end if the slots are cut evenly. Is this an effect like that is used in steam injectors where the high velocity stream from the gas orifice is used to drag in and along another material? Do the initial slots allow air to be dragged in increasing the volume of material in the burner tube, which then piles up at the end? I know that there are air holes before the stream passes the back end and gets into the burner tube. But what is causing the flame to be greater at the end? Why does the gas/air mix get down to the end of the tube in greater quantity requiring the inverse slot depth? I can contemplate that the smaller end slots in effect re-meter the mix to be burnt, but why is there more mix at the end?
The other thing is the screen mesh at the burner level, not the radiant mesh. I was looking up SS 60 Mesh cloth, and stumbled on the fact that Market Grade Cloth of Plain Weave has an open area of 30.25% and aperture size of 0.0075" sq. There was another type described as Bolting Grade Cloth of Plain Weave with an open area of 57.8% and aperture size of 0.0126 sq. Hmmmm. Looks like we have another restriction in the flow path. It would seem that all those slots are being restricted to 30.25% of their cut opening size. Does this mean that we are putting 70% too much mix down the tube in the first place? Mike Eorgoff
