Effect of burner angle on the heat transfer of a frit furnace

In this work, a numerical analysis was performed about the effect of a flat-flame burner incidence degree on the heat transfer of an industrial scale frit melting furnace, which uses a flat-flame natural gas oxy-combustion burner. The thermal performance of the furnace was evaluated by predicting the temperature distributions, the recirculation of the combustion gases, and the heat flow to the load, using three different geometrical configurations, differing in the inclination of the burner at 0°, 3.5°, 7° with respect to the longitudinal axis. The simulations were carried out using the ANSYS® Fluent software. The Steady Laminar Flamelet (SFM) model, the k-epsilon realizable model, and the discrete ordinates model were used to model combustion, turbulence, and radiation, respectively. The weighted model of the sum of gray gases (WSGGM) was used for the coefficient of absorption of the combustion species. It was observed that the furnace temperature estimated with the simulations is similar to that found in the actual process. Additionally, the simulations showed that for the angle of 7°, the flame collides with the frit, which could generate deposition of frit particles in the internal walls of the furnace; this would affect the emissivity of the refractory material. The 3.5degree angle showed a better distribution of heat flow to the frit and recirculation rate compared to the burner at 0° and 7°.