Combustor

Claim 1

A chamber assembly for use in a continuous combustion process effective to provide low NOx emissions, comprising: a mixing chamber having an inlet, an outlet and means interposed between said inlet and outlet for directing a non-laminar controlled turbulent flow of compressed air therethrough, fuel supply means for continuously adding fuel to said flow in said mixing chamber at a location adjacent to said inlet and at a rate to provide for a substantially homogeneous gaseous air/fuel mixture passing through said outlet, a combustor chamber in communication with the outlet of said mixing chamber for continuously passing said air/fuel mixture therethrough and having a path for said mixture which is significantly longer than the path of said mixture through said mixing chamber, ignition means effective to ignite said mixture for sustained flaming combustion in said combustor chamber, means for tangentially introducing a flow of compressed air into said combustion chamber for inducing vortical flow therein, said induced vortical flow being effective to define an aerodynamic orifice for effecting accelerated release of combustion products from said combustor chamber, and means for introducing a vortical flow of quenching medium into said exhaust gases from said combustor chamber.