BURNER COMPRISING A WEARING PIECE

Abstract

A burner for a facility for melting vitrifiable materials, includes an injector block including a combustion gas distribution network and at least one injector, and a plate in glass and/or flame contact which overlaps the injector block and includes at least one injection hole in fluid communication with the injector, wherein the plate is removably attached to the injector block.

Claims

1. A burner for a facility for melting vitrifiable materials, comprising: an injector block comprising a combustion gas distribution network and at least one injector, and a plate in glass and/or flame contact which at least partially overlaps said injector block and comprises at least one injection hole in fluid communication with said injector, wherein the plate is removably attached to the injector block.

2. The burner as claimed in claim 1, wherein said injector block and said plate are made up of different materials.

3. The burner as claimed in claim 1, wherein the burner is of the submerged type.

4. The burner as claimed in claim 1, wherein said at least one injector extends at least partially into said injection hole.

5. The burner as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plate is attached to the injector block by means of: a sacrificial screw-bolt assembly and/or a screw-tap assembly and/or a rivet and/or a pin.

6. The burner as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plate comprises at least one planar sheet defining a perimeter around the injector or injectors.

7. The burner as claimed in claim 6, wherein said at least one injector forms a protrusion above said planar sheet.

8. The burner according to claim 6, wherein said plate comprises solid peripheral flanks rising up from said planar sheet.

9. The burner as claimed in claim 8, wherein the solid peripheral flanks are removably attached to an upper surface of the injector block, and wherein said planar sheet is fitted between the peripheral flanks and the upper surface of the injector block.

10. The burner as claimed in claim 1, wherein said plate comprises teeth which project from an upper face thereof.

11. The burner as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a thermal paste layer at the interface between the injector block and the plate.

12. The burner as claimed in claim 1, wherein each injector comprises a mixing chamber in the shape of a cylinder, with an ejection hole, a fuel feed pipe and an oxidant feed pipe opening into the mixing chamber at the casing of the cylinder in a direction causing the fuel and the oxidant to flow tangentially with respect to the casing of the cylinder.

13. The burner as claimed in claim 1, wherein said injector block comprises a cooling system comprising a network of pipes that is suited to the circulation, inside the burner, of a cooling fluid.

14. A method for assembling/dismantling a burner as claimed in claim 1.

15. A facility for melting a composition of vitrifiable materials, comprising at least one melting chamber supplied with at least one burner as claimed in claim 1.

16. A method comprising melting a composition of vitrifiable materials with the facility as claimed in claim 15.

17. The burner as claimed in claim 10, wherein said planar sheet comprise teeth which project from an upper face thereof.

Description

[0056] Other features and advantages of the invention are described hereinafter, with reference to the drawings in which:

[0057] FIG. 1 is a sectional schematic view of a burner of submerged type according to a specific embodiment of the invention;

[0058] FIG. 2 is an exploded schematic view of a burner like that represented in FIG. 1;

[0059] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a burner of submerged type comprising an annular injector, according to a specific embodiment of the invention;

[0060] FIG. 4 is a diagram representing a facility for melting vitrifiable materials according to a specific embodiment of the invention.

[0061] The reference numbers which are identical in the various figures represent similar or identical elements.

[0062] The invention relates to a burner 1 for a facility 20 for melting vitrifiable materials. This burner 1 comprises an injector block 2 comprising a combustion gas distribution network 3 and at least one injector 4. Such a burner 1 further comprises a plate 5 in glass and/or flame contact, which overlaps the injector block 2 and is provided with at least one injection hole 6 in fluid communication with the injector 4. Notably, the plate 5 is removably attached to the injector block 2.

[0063] The injector block 2 of a burner 1 according to the invention has a significantly increased life. Furthermore, the production of the injector block 2 and of the plate 5 is made easier, these two pieces being produced separately and potentially from different materials and/or using different methods.

[0064] FIG. 1 schematically represents a cross-section of a burner 1 of submerged type, according to a specific embodiment of the invention. According to an alternative embodiment, the burner 1 can also be of above-surface type. However, it should be noted that a burner 1 of submerged type particularly benefits from the technical advantages provided by the invention, due to the prolonged exposure thereof to the phenomena of erosion by the liquid glass and of oxidation by the flames.

[0065] This burner 1 comprises an injector block 2 at the lower part and a plate 5 at the upper part, which overlaps the injector block 2.

[0066] With regard to the injector block 2, the cutting plane of FIG. 1 passes through an injector 4 including a cylindrical mixing chamber 10 opening onto an ejection hole 11 coaxial with the injection hole 6 of the plate 5. Opening into the mixing chamber 10 are an oxidant feed pipe 13, located in the cutting plane, and a fuel feed pipe 12 located outside the cutting plane. The fuel and oxidant feed pipes 12 and 13 connect the mixing chamber to a fuel inlet pipe 121 and an oxidant inlet pipe 131, respectively, which are located in the lower part of the injector block 2. Pipes 9 make it possible to circulate a cooling liquid inside the burner 1 and run through it over almost the entire length thereof.

[0067] The injector block 2 is made up of stainless steel. According to alternative embodiments, the injector block 2 is formed from another known material suitable for this industrial application.

[0068] As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, and according to the embodiment described below, the plate 5 is made up of the assembly of a horizontal sheet 7, intended to be arranged in proximity to the injection holes 6, with solid lateral flanks 8 which extend like stairs or steps, from the ends of the sheet 7. This sheet 7 further comprises teeth 14 which project from the upper face thereof. These teeth 14 are mainly used to stabilize the glass solidified layer formed at the surface of the burner in direct proximity to the injectors 11 and therefore to the produced flame.

[0069] It should be noted that, according to an alternative embodiment, the plate 5 consists of a single-piece. As a result, it has the disadvantage of being more complex to manufacture/maintain.

[0070] Returning to the injector block 2, the latter comprises a plurality of protrusions suitable for projecting from the sheet 7, through the injection holes 6. The use of such protrusions makes it possible to retain a satisfactory alignment of the injection holes 6 of the plate 5 with the respective injector 4 thereof, and to optimally control the parameters involved in the mixing and distribution of the combustion gases. The flame resulting from the combustion of these gases is, therefore, more effectively controlled.

[0071] As already indicated in the text and illustrated, the plate 5 is removably attached to the injector block 2. This attachment is provided by an assembly of screws 15 and corresponding taps. The sheet 7 is attached by means of fitting between the upper surface of the injector block 2 and the lower part of the solid lateral flanks 8. According to alternative embodiments, this sheet 7 is directly attached to the injector block 2 by any type of known means for removable attachment. Moreover, the sheet 7 can also be directly attached to the lateral flanks 8 by any attachment known type, whether removable or not.

[0072] According to other alternative embodiments, the lateral flanks 8 can be removably attached to the injector block 2 by means of a screw-bolt-type assembly or any other known means for removable attachment, whether or not it involves the destruction of the means for attachment when dismantling. It should be noted that, regardless of the chosen means for attachment, the integrity of the injector block 4 and of the plate 5 is preserved after assembling/dismantling.

[0073] According to an alternative embodiment, and as represented in FIG. 3, the burner comprises an annular-type injector 4 projecting from a wall 21a of the melting chamber 21. The wall 21a through which the injector 4 passes is alternatively the bottom of the melting chamber or one of the lateral walls thereof. The injector 4, with a cylindrical shape, is overlapped by a plate 5 which is also cylindrical, to which it is removably attached by means of two screws 15. According to this configuration, the injection hole 6 of the plate 5 is positioned as a continuation of the ejection hole 11 of the injector 4.

[0074] According to a specific embodiment, the invention relates to a method for assembling/dismantling a burner 1 as described in the present text, the assembling method comprising the following steps: [0075] affixing the sheet 7 on the upper surface of the injector block 2, [0076] affixing the lateral flanks 8 on the circumference of the sheet 7, and [0077] reversibly rigidly connecting the lateral flanks 8 to the injector block 2 by means of screws 15 engaging corresponding taps.

[0078] The dismantling method consists in carrying out these successive steps in reverse order.

[0079] According to a specific embodiment, and as illustrated in FIG. 4, the invention relates to a facility 20 for melting vitrifiable materials comprising a melting chamber 21. The vitrifiable materials are inserted into the melting chamber 1 by a charger 22. The melting chamber 21 includes, at the bottom, submerged burners 1 such as that described above. The level of the bath of glass 23 is determined by the position of an overflow 24 through which the obtained liquid glass flows. The melting chamber 21 includes metal walls crossed by a system of internal pipes 9 in which a cooling liquid circulates. The active cooling of the walls results in the formation of a layer of solidified glass 25 which isolates the metal walls from the bath of glass.

[0080] According to a specific embodiment, the invention relates to the use of such a facility to melt a composition of vitrifiable materials, in particular for forming hollow glass of the bottle, vial type, glass fibers of the thermal or sound insulation mineral wool type or so-called reinforcing textile glass yarns.