Development of a two-color FQI
- Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
The Flame Quality Indicator (FQI) concept was developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory as a simple device which could be used to monitor oil burner flames and indicate when a problem was starting to occur. Fault situations which could be identified by the FQI include: fouled nozzle, increased or decreased excess air, blocked air inlet or flue, and use of low quality oil. The basic concept of the FQI is quite simple. A conventional cadmium sulfide photocell is used to measure the amount of light emitted from an oil burner flame when the appliance is fully warmed-up. The measured amount of light is compared to a set point, established during burner tune-up. If the two intensities differ by more than a set range, a {open_quotes}service required{close_quotes} signal is produced. The amount of light which is emitted from an oil burner flame depends upon the amount of {open_quotes}soot{close_quotes} or carbon in the flame, the size and shape of the flame, and the flame temperature. The quality of flame is practically judged by the amount of soot which it is producing and for this reason it is necessary to eliminate effects of other parameters. Temperature is expected to be the most important of these. The FQI eliminates effects due to the chamber environment by establishing a set point for each specific appliance. The transient temperature effects are accounted for by examining the flame brightness only at a single time during the firing cycle. BNL is currently involved with the development of a two-color approach to the monitoring of flame quality. The basic concept involved is the measurement of both flame temperature and total amount of light emitted to allow a more direct estimate to be made of the amount of soot being produced and so the flame quality. The objective is to develop a more sensitive measurement which may be more universally applicable. This paper provides a summary of our approach and results to date in this project.
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 417625
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-52506; CONF-9603207-; ON: DE97000010; TRN: 96:006412-0014
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1996 oil heat technology conference and workshop, Upton, NY (United States), 28-29 Mar 1996; Other Information: PBD: Jul 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the 1996 oil heat technology conference and workshop; McDonal, R.J.; PB: 235 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Oil burning can be less ''fuelish''
Development and technology transfer of the BNL flame quality indicator for oil-fired applications: Project report