Diffusion flame burners are mainly used in industries over premixed flame burners for safety considerations. But the combustion process in a diffusion flame is not complete and the flame is usually in bright yellow in colour in contrast to the premixed flame which gives a bluish flame. To improve the combustion process in a diffusion flame burner a novel approach, using chevrons has been carried out. The chevrons are found to reduce the aero-acoustic noise in the exhaust jets of aircraft engines by allowing better mixing of the exhaust gas with the ambient air. The similar concept is used here where the tips of the burners are cut in the form of chevrons. Experimental investigations are carried out on burners with three and four chevrons in addition to a standard burner using LPG as the fuel. The results indicate that with the introduction of chevrons the diffusion flame becomes more compact. The premixed region, in the diffusion flame, where the air and fuel is mixed well is found to increase by nearly 100 % with the usage of chevrons, indicating better mixing of fuel and air. The results also indicate that increasing the number of chevrons from three to four does not show much variation. Further experiments are to be carried out to determine the improved fuel consumption with the usage of chevrons.
An experimental investigation of gas-phase combustion synthesis of SiO2 nanoparticles using a multi-element diffusion flame burner
