High intensity burner

Claim 1

A combustion chamber for use with fluid fuels and adapted for complete combustion with a minimum of excess air, comprising: a. a refractory-lined cylindrical chamber having an axis, and having refractory-lined end walls, substantially plane and perpendicular to said axis, a first single clear circular opening in a first end wall for the entry of fuel and combustion air, a second opening in the second wall for the outflow of hot products of combustion; b. an inlet air plenum coaxial with and contiguous with said first opening, a plurality of vanes, uniformly spaced in a circle concentric with said axis, said vanes angled so as to impart a tangential motion to the incoming air, all of said incoming air adapted to flow through said vanes and through said first opening into said chamber in the form of a helical vortex; c. fluid fuel supply means including a supply conduit along said axis and an orifice assembly including a plurality of orifices directed so as to spray fuel in the form of a conical surface concentric with said axis, into said chamber; and d. means to ignite the air-fuel mixture entering said chamber; whereby a helical vortex of air and burning fuel will swirl into the combustion chamber transversing a helical path of length greater than the length of said chamber, and providing a residence time great enough to permit complete combustion of said fuel with a minimum of excess air. 2. The combustion chamber as in claim 1 including a refractory, annular ring lining for said first opening, the internal surface of said ring having an outwardly expanding conical surface toward said chamber.