U.S. patent application number 10/807896 was filed with the patent office on 2004-09-30 for combustion method, combustion device and combustion system for burning water-fuel emulsion using electromagnetic wave heating.
Invention is credited to Matoba, Miyoji, Misima, Masanori.
Application Number | 20040191708 10/807896 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 32984896 |
Filed Date | 2004-09-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040191708 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Matoba, Miyoji ; et
al. |
September 30, 2004 |
Combustion method, combustion device and combustion system for
burning water-fuel emulsion using electromagnetic wave heating
Abstract
A method for burning emulsion fuel, including: atomizing
emulsion fuel; and heating the atomized fuel by electromagnetic
wave heating.
Inventors: |
Matoba, Miyoji; (Wajima-shi,
JP) ; Misima, Masanori; (Uji-shi, JP) |
Correspondence
Address: |
JOHN S. PRATT, ESQ
KILPATRICK STOCKTON, LLP
1100 PEACHTREE STREET
ATLANTA
GA
30309
US
|
Family ID: |
32984896 |
Appl. No.: |
10/807896 |
Filed: |
March 24, 2004 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
431/2 ;
431/11 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F23D 11/16 20130101;
F23K 5/12 20130101; B01F 23/41 20220101; B01F 25/422 20220101; F23D
11/44 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
431/002 ;
431/011 |
International
Class: |
F23D 011/44; F23L
015/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Mar 24, 2003 |
JP |
P2003-079452 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for burning emulsion fuel, comprising: atomizing
emulsion fuel; and heating the atomized fuel by electromagnetic
wave heating.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic
wave heating comprises microwave heating.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic
wave heating comprises induction heating.
4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: igniting
the atomized fuel that is subjected to the electromagnetic wave
heating.
5. A device for burning emulsion fuel, comprising: an atomizer for
atomizing emulsion fuel; and a chamber in which the atomized fuel
is subjected to electromagnetic wave heating.
6. The device according to claim 5, further comprising: a high
frequency power supply; and a coil provided on the chamber, through
which the high frequency power supply sends high frequency
current.
7. The device according to claim 5, further comprising: a microwave
generator; and a wave guide for transferring energy of microwave
generated by the microwave generator to the chamber.
8. A system for burning emulsion fuel provided with the device
according to claim 5, comprising: a fuel supply system for
supplying the emulsion fuel to the atomizer.
9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the fuel supply system
includes a mixer for mixing water and fuel, the mixer comprising a
pair of first and second plates parallel to each other, each of the
plates provided on its opposite face with a plurality of holes
arranged in a honeycomb pattern.
10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the first and second
plates of the mixer are mated in a manner that the holes on the
first plate is off to the side of the holes on the second plate,
the first and second plates collectively forming a labyrinth for
the water and fuel therebetween.
11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the first plate is
provided on its central part an opening through which the water and
fuel is supplied.
12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the mixer comprises
at least two pairs of the first and second plates stacked in a
manner that either the first plates thereof or the second plates
thereof are arranged next to each other.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to any methods, devices and
systems for burning fossil fuels and/or utilizing the generated
heat energies, particularly, a combustion method, a combustion
device and a combustion system which burns a high water/oil ratio
water-fuel emulsion using electromagnetic wave heating with reduced
fuel consumption and carbon oxide emission (CO, CO.sub.2) thus
contributing to environmental protection.
[0003] 2. Description of Related Art
[0004] In an industry where a large amount of heat energy is
consumed or in an industry for manufacturing a variety of
devices/equipment for converting/utilizing heat energy,
particularly in a diesel engine related field and in a field
related to industrial/domestic use boilers/burners where a
reduction in carbon dioxide emission has long been demanded,
research and development has been carried out regarding combustion
of water-in-oil emulsion of water and fossil fuel, such as heavy
oil, light oil and kerosene or the like, and it has been a common
concern to find how to increase the ratio of the water to fuel.
[0005] Water-in-oil emulsion is an unstable fuel composed of oil
and water with no affinity with respect to one another. They are
forcibly admixed, and the emulsion is not a stably supplied
product. Accordingly, in cases where water-in-oil emulsion is used,
it is usual practice on application to make investigations into the
technology related to the manufacture of water-in-oil emulsion.
This emulsion should not separate into compositions within a short
period of time after the manufacturing step, and should maintain a
high degree of dispersion of oil and water. Even in cases where
combustion device has adequately performed, the presence of
insufficient conditions for water-in-oil emulsion results in an
inability to obtain a favorable combusting condition. In order to
achieve combustion of water-in-oil emulsion, the combustion device
is required to perform not only as a combustion device but also as
an emulsifying equipment.
[0006] For emulsifying equipment, it has been usual practice to
utilize a system in which water, oil and emulsifying agent
quantitatively weighed or metered at a given ratio are introduced
into a mixing tank which has mixing blades provided therein and a
drive motor to rotate the mixing blades for mixing the oil, water
and emulsifying agent. However, water-in-oil emulsion produced by
such a mixing system contains dispersed oil and water of large
particle sizes, respectively maintaining properties of oil and
water. The both particles can easily separate from one another and
even when combusted immediately after the formation of water-in-oil
emulsion, oil particles combust and water particles vaporizes with
no interaction therebetween. That is, the water mixed in the oil
has no contribution to generation of heat and, on the contrary, an
ignitability of oil is deteriorated. As a counter measure, attempt
has been made to adopt a multiple-stage mixing processes in which
water-in-oil emulsion obtained from a first mixing tank is sent to
and treated by second and third mixing tanks which have mixing
blades formed in different shapes, respectively. Thus, the
emulsifying system is inherently of a large-scale that requires a
considerably large installation space regardless of for domestic
use or for industrial use, and it is desired to provide a
small-size and high performance emulsifying system.
[0007] Combustion device is also required to take reasonable
measure for burning an emulsion fuel of high water/oil ratio. A
water-in-oil emulsion fuel is naturally hard to burn rather than
fuel with no water mixed, no matter how ideal the emulsion will be.
Approach has been made to counter this problem, in which an
ignitability of fuel is maintained by atomizing water-in-oil
emulsion into a high temperature vaporizing chamber and burning a
mixture of steam and heated oil gas produced by the chamber. Since
a remarkable difference exists in volumetric ratio between liquid
and gas, combustion device is required to have an extremely
large-size vaporizing chamber equipped with a fuel consuming
large-size pilot burner. The large-size vaporizing chamber consumes
a large amount of normal fuel for maintaining high temperature,
compensating heat of vaporization of the water-in-oil emulsion.
[0008] With the combustion system of the related art composed of
emulsifying equipment and combustion device, as set forth above,
the emulsifying equipment must be a large-scale system and, in
addition, the vaporizing chamber of combustion device cannot be
miniaturized. Therefore, it is hard to avoid various issues such as
excessive increases in manufacturing cost, running cost,
installation cost of the system and installation space in terms of
a heat value resulting from the burner, and a status quo resides in
that the system does not yet result in spread applications.
[0009] The related art combustion system has further involved in an
essential issue where a difficulty is encountered in increasing a
substantial water/oil ratio when observing the system as a whole
for the following reason: That is, if combustion device is enabled
to be configured to combust water-in-oil emulsion at the water/oil
ratio of 1:1, the water/oil ratio of the whole system falls in the
water/oil ratio of 2:1.
[0010] Moreover, even though combustion of water has been observed
as a phenomenon, no theory has been established for a mechanism
resulting in such phenomenon. In this respect, there is an
influential theory in that steam explosion occurs in water as a
result of combustion of oil in water-in-oil emulsion to cause
extremely critical oxidizing reaction to occur for permitting water
to be separated into hydrogen and oxygen and opinion of Agency of
Industrial Science and Technology suggests that extremely critical
oxidizing reaction is possible to occur at a temperature of
500.degree. C. under a condition greater than 300 atm. Also, while
in the related art, the water/oil ratio of water-in-oil emulsion to
be available for combustion in the burner is selected to lie at a
ratio of fuel and water of 1:0.3, the latest investigation made on
the private sector demonstrates enterprise judgment in that
water-in-oil emulsion is possible to combust even at the water/oil
ratio of 3:1. However, in view of the opinion of Agency of
Industrial Science and Technology set forth above, it is difficult
to consider that the burner device with an open structure is able
to establish the condition above 300 atm. Accordingly, this seems
to be based on understanding that visual igniting phenomenon of
water-in-oil emulsion is wrongly regarded as burning of water.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] The present invention was made in the light of this problem.
An object of the present invention is to provide an electromagnetic
wave heating type combustion system which includes a compact
emulsifying equipment and a combustion device with a compact
vaporizing/heating chamber in a range for practical use, and to
provide a method for burning water-in-oil emulsion at a high
water/oil ratio, lowering a critical condition under which
extremely critical oxidizing reaction occurs.
[0012] An aspect of the present invention is a method for burning
emulsion fuel, comprising: atomizing emulsion fuel; and heating the
atomized fuel by electromagnetic wave heating.
[0013] Another aspect of the present invention is a system for
burning emulsion fuel, comprising: a device for burning emulsion
fuel comprising an atomizer for atomizing emulsion fuel and a
chamber in which the atomized fuel is subjected to electromagnetic
wave heating; and a fuel supply system for supplying the emulsion
fuel to the atomizer, which includes a mixer for mixing water and
fuel, comprising a pair of first and second plates parallel to each
other, each of the plates provided on its opposite face with a
plurality of holes arranged in a honeycomb pattern.
[0014] The electromagnetic wave heating type combustion system has
features related to technology of emulsifying fuel and water, and
to combustion of water-in-oil emulsion.
[0015] The feature related to emulsifying technology resides in the
use of a static mixer with no movable parts such as those used in
the mixing device that incorporates the mixing blades of the
related art. The static mixer is configured in a simple structure
composed of only a honeycomb labyrinth unit that is disposed in a
passage that admits the flow of rough blend mixture between water
and fuel that are quantitatively weighed or metered and makes it
possible to produce nearly the most ideal water-in-oil emulsion,
that can be obtained in the present days, within a short period of
time, while enabling to achieve remarkable miniaturization in scale
of a device. Also, the static mixer for use in the combustion
system of the present invention has been already independently
issued as a patent for a static mixer.
[0016] The honeycomb labyrinth unit for use in the static mixer is
comprised of a diverging section and a converging section. The
diverging section serves to compel water and fuel, simultaneously
forced into one portion, to be split through labyrinth passageways
into multiple flow streams. The labyrinth passageways are formed in
a mesh-like configuration rather than a tree-like configuration to
provide a mechanism by which the flow of mixture is split in the
multiple streams while repeatedly causing flow splitting and
confluence in part. Also, the converging section has a function to
permit the flows of water and fuel, split in the multiple streams,
to pass through labyrinth passageways and joined at one portion.
Thus, the diverging section and the confluence honeycomb are used
in a pair to form a honeycomb labyrinth unit in one unit.
[0017] In addition, a particularly advantageous point of the static
mixer resides in a capability of increasing a dispersion rate of
oil and water in proportion to the number of units depending upon
the number of units of the honeycomb labyrinth units to be used.
Accordingly, the number of units to be used of the honeycomb
labyrinth units can be freely determined based on applications of
water-in-oil emulsion and demanded water/oil ratios, provided that
an increase in the number of units results in an increase in given
force feed pressure under which roughly blended oil and water fuel
is press forced to the static mixer. Also, due to the absence of
the movable component parts, the honeycomb filer unit is extremely
small in structure and, so, it is possible to neglect a probability
of enlargement in scale of the device due to an increase in the
number of units.
[0018] Further, the feature related to combustion of water-in-oil
emulsion of the present invention resides in that water-in-oil
emulsion is combusted by lowering the temperature critical point
and the pressure critical point at which extremely critical
oxidizing reaction occurs in water molecule contained in
water-in-oil emulsion. And, as a means to achieve such a purpose, a
process is adopted in which a high frequency coil is wound on a
combustion chamber to ignite water-in-oil emulsion under a state
where water molecule of water-in-oil emulsion sprayed into the
combustion chamber are heated with electromagnetic waves. It is
widely known that high frequency electromagnetic waves are
effective to achieve excitation heat of the water molecules and
applied in an electronic oven, etc.
[0019] And, when water-in-oil emulsion is sprayed into a high
frequency electromagnetic field, initially, steam explosion occurs
in water contained in a fuel droplet in a micro-size unit prior to
combustion of oil. This point is particularly important and
fundamentally different from a combustion mechanism of water-in-oil
emulsion in the related art device. That is, in the related art
device and theory, oil combusts in advance of water to cause steam
explosion to occur in water under resulting pressure and heat and,
subsequently, combustion shifts to extremely critical oxidizing
reaction of water. This point is mostly questionable because of the
following reason: It is considered that due to a probability
wherein at time when water shifts to extremely critical oxidizing
reaction, combustion of oil is terminated and heat energy resulting
from combustion of oil is consumed for steam explosion of water,
there is almost no energy left for inducing steam to be subjected
to extremely critical oxidizing reaction.
[0020] In contrast, the present invention contemplates the use of
energy resulting from high frequency electromagnetic waves for
permitting steam explosion to occur in advance and then causing oil
to combust. And, in the influence of energy resulting from
combustion of oil, steam rapidly reaches to extremely critical
state for combustion. That is, the water molecule changes in mode
to hydrogen gas and oxygen gas by which combustion occurs. Here,
due to a probability wherein no temperature and pressure in the
combustion chamber exceed certain limitations in the open device,
with one end being opened, such as the burner device, it is
reasonable to consider that the temperature critical point and the
pressure critical point at which extremely critical oxidizing
reaction occurs in the water molecule are lowered, and this is
based on a structure wherein water-in-oil emulsion is ignited under
a condition where fuel is heated with the electromagnetic
waves.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0021] The invention will now be described with reference to the
accompanying drawings wherein:
[0022] FIG.1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a system
according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
[0023] FIG. 2 is a partially sectional view of a mixer in the
system according to the first embodiment of the present
invention.
[0024] FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a unit of honeycomb
labyrinth units stacked in the mixer in FIG. 2.
[0025] FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the unit of
honeycomb labyrinth units stacked in the mixer in FIG. 2.
[0026] FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of a combustion chamber of
a burner in the system according to the first embodiment of the
present invention, for explaining mechanism of combustion of
emulsion fuel therein.
[0027] FIG. 6 is another cross sectional view of the combustion
chamber of the burner in FIG. 5, showing mechanism of combustion of
the emulsion fuel therein.
[0028] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration of a system
according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0029] Embodiments of the present invention will be explained below
with reference to the drawings, wherein like members are designated
by like reference characters.
[0030] As shown in FIG. 1, a combustion system S1 for burning
water-in-oil emulsion using an electromagnetic wave heating
includes an emulsifying unit constituted of a fixed quantity mixer
system 10 and a static mixer 20 with no moving parts, and a burner
30 as a combustion device.
[0031] The mixer system 10 includes an agitator unit 14, and three
tanks of a water tank 11, a fuel tank 12 and an emulsifying agent
tank 13 connected to the agitator unit 14 through lines 11c, 12c
and 13c, respectively. In the respective water tank 11, fuel tank
12 and emulsifying agent tank 13, level sensors 11a, 12a and 13a
are provided to monitor levels of the respective water, fuel,
emulsifying agent therein and to alert shortages thereof. On the
lines 11c, 12c and 13c from the respective water tank 11, fuel tank
12, emulsifying agent tank 13 to the agitator unit 14, control
valves V1, V2 and V3 and feedback systems 11b, 12b and 13b
associated with the respective valves V1, V2 and V3 are provided to
automatically control flow rates of the water, fuel and emulsifying
agent to be supplied to the agitator unit 14. Thus, in the mixer
system 10, the water, fuel and emulsifying agent are
metered/weighed and mixed together at a preset water/fuel ratio to
be fed to the static mixer 20.
[0032] The mixed water and fuel is pressurized and fed to the
static mixer 20 by a feed pump 15. On a line 15a from the feed pump
15 to the static mixer 20, a pressure regulator valve V4 with a
pressure gauge 10 is provided, by which feed pressure of the mixed
water and fuel is adjustable to a desired level.
[0033] The static mixer 20 is constituted of a housing 21 and a
plurality of honeycomb labyrinth units 22 stacked in multiple
stages in the housing 21. The mixed water and fuel is forced into
the housing 21 through an inlet 21a of the static mixer 20, to pass
through between the honeycomb labyrinth units 22 where the water
and fuel is repeatedly sheared to split and converged and
emulsified into water-in-oil emulsion in which water is dispersed
in a oil phase as droplets in the range of sub-microns in diameter,
and discharged from an outlet 21b of the static mixer 20.
[0034] The produced water-in-oil emulsion is once stored in a
depressurization tank 17 under atmospheric pressure, and then fed
to the burner 30 by a fuel pump 18. On a line 18a from the fuel
pump 18 to the burner 30, a throttle valve V5 is provided to
regulate the feeding rate of the emulsion fuel to the burner
30.
[0035] The burner 30 is constituted of a pre-loading chamber 31, a
combustion chamber 32, around which a high frequency coil 34 of a
water-cooled copper tube is wound, an atomizer nozzle 33 through
which the water-in-oil emulsion pre-loaded at an appropriate level
is sprayed into the combustion chamber 32 to produce a spray of
droplets of the emulsion, and a high frequency AC power supply 35.
The burner 30 serves as a combustion device which heats the spray
of water-in-oil emulsion in the chamber 32 by electromagnetic wave
heating and burns the heated spray thereof.
[0036] The description will be made to the detail of the respective
components of the combustion system S1.
[0037] The housing 21 of the static mixer 20 is formed in a
cylindrical shape, as shown in FIG. 2, having flanges 21f at both
ends thereof. A pair of end plates 23 are provided to close the
openings at both ends of the housing 21, each of which are fixed to
the flanges 21f by bolts b1 penetrating therethrough. The inlet 2la
through which the mixed water and fuel is introduced into the mixer
20 is formed on one of the end plates 23, and the outlet 21b
through which the water-in-oil emulsion is discharged is formed on
the other endplate 23. Inside the housing 21 next to the respective
end plates 23, a pair of pressure blocks 24 are provided axially
displaceable to approach each other. On both of the end plates 23,
a plurality of pressure bolts b2 are provided therethrough with the
tip thereof inside the housing 21 in contact with the pressure
blocks 24, whereby, by screwing the pressure bolts b2 in, the pair
of pressure blocks 24 set an appropriate pressure on the stacked
honeycomb labyrinth units 22 sandwiched therebetween.
[0038] The honeycomb labyrinth unit 22 is constituted of a
diverging section 22A and a converging section 22B arranged
parallel to each other as shown in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the
diverging section 22A is constituted of an outer honeycomb
labyrinth disk 220A provided on its central part with an inlet 220E
through which the mixed water and fuel is introduced into the unit
22, and an inner honeycomb labyrinth disk 220B with no opening such
as the inlet 220E provided thereon. Similarly to the diverging
section 22A, the converging section 22B is constituted of an outer
honeycomb labyrinth disk 221A provided on its central part with an
outlet 221D through which the oil-in-water emulsion is discharged
out of the unit 22, and an inner honeycomb labyrinth disk 221B with
no opening such as the outlet 221D. The outer and inner honeycomb
labyrinth disks 220A and 220B are formed to have, on their surfaces
opposite to each other, ribs 220K and 220L, respectively, each of
which is continuous in a hexagonal mesh-like configuration, forming
a plurality of hexagonal holes 220H thereon arranged in a honeycomb
pattern. The outer and inner honeycomb labyrinth disks 220A and
220B are mated in a manner that the respective ribs 220K, 220L are
positioned not to be in alignment with each other and the
respective hexagonal holes 220H on the disks 220A and 220B off to
the side of one another. Specifically, the disks 220A and 220B are
mated in a manner that each of the hexagonal holes 220H on one of
the disks 220A and 220B is arranged so that a meeting point of the
rib 220K or 220L between three of the holes 220H is located at a
center point of the opposing hexagonal hole 220H on the other disk.
In addition, the inner honeycomb labyrinth disk 220B is formed to
have three positioning projections 220F on its rim part with
equally provided spaces in a circumferential direction, which
ensure the positions of the hexagonal holes 220H when the disks
220A and 220B are mated. Similarly to the disks 220A and 220B, the
outer and inner honeycomb labyrinth disks 221A and 221B of the
converging section 22B are formed to have, on their surfaces
opposite to each other, ribs 221K and 221L, respectively, each of
which is continuous in a hexagonal mesh-like configuration, forming
a plurality of hexagonal holes 220H thereon arranged in a honeycomb
pattern. The outer and inner honeycomb labyrinth disks 221A and
221B are mated in a manner that the respective ribs 221K, 221L are
positioned not to be in alignment with each other and the
respective hexagonal holes 220H on the disks 221A and 221B off to
the side of one another. In addition, the inner honeycomb labyrinth
disk 221B is formed to have three positioning projections 221F on
its rim part with equally provided spaces in a circumferential
direction, which ensure the positions of the hexagonal holes 220H
when the disks 221A and 221B are mated. Thus, the mated honeycomb
labyrinth disks 220A and 220B cooperate to define a diverging flow
path therebetween for the water and fuel or water-in-oil emulsion
introduced through the inlet 220E. The mated honeycomb labyrinth
disks 221A and 221B cooperate to define a converging flow path
therebetween for the emulsion to be discharged through the outlet
221D.
[0039] The water and fuel or water-in-oil emulsion introduced
through the inlet 220E of the honeycomb labyrinth unit 22 flows
through the diverging flow path in the diverging section 22A, out
from a gap between the disks 220A and 220B on outer periphery of
the diverging section 22A, and then flows into a gap between the
disks 221A and 221B on outer periphery of the converging section
22B, through the converging flow path in the converging section
22B, out of the outlet 221D. In the diverging or converging flow
path, the water and fuel or the emulsion are forced to be
repeatedly sheared and split, flowing from one of the holes 220H on
one disk to a couple of opposing holes 220H on the other disk. In
the honeycomb labyrinth units 22 stacked in multiple stages, the
water and fuel repeatedly flows through such paths, whereby the
static mixer 20 can produce the water-in-oil emulsion with an
enhanced degree of dispersion in proportion to the number of the
honeycomb labyrinth units 22 therein.
[0040] As shown in FIG. 1, the water-in-oil emulsion from the
static mixer 20 is sent to the pre-loading chamber 31 of the burner
30 and is atomized through the atomizer nozzle 33 into the
combustion chamber 32 to be heated. In the first embodiment, the
spray of the emulsion is heated principally by radiation from or
partially by convective heat transfer through contact with the body
of the heating chamber 32 that is heated by an induction heating
with the high frequency coil 34. The heating chamber 32 may be made
of a material such as a conductive material having a high melting
point with appropriate electrical resistance. As shown in FIG. 5,
the atomized water-in-oil emulsion in the combustion chamber 32 is
a spray of water droplets X1, oil droplets Y1, and droplets Z1 of
oil containing water dispersed in the oil phase. When the spray is
heated, due to the lower boiling point of water than that of the
oil, explosive vaporizations or micro-explosions first occur on the
water droplets X1 or the internal water droplets in the droplets
Z1. The vaporizations of the water droplets X1 cause rapid
expansion of the oil droplets Y1 or the surrounding oil of the
droplets Z1, fragmenting the oil into smaller droplets. As a
result, as shown in FIG. 6, uniform oil and water mixture gas XY of
fine particles is formed, whereby the water molecule can transit to
its critical state upon igniting. That is, an atmosphere of the
induction-heating inside the combustion chamber 32 lowers a
temperature critical point and a pressure critical point at which
an extremely critical oxidizing reaction occurs in water
molecule.
[0041] With a second embodiment of the present invention shown in
FIG. 6, the water-in-oil emulsion is delivered through the
pre-loading chamber 31 of the burner 30, atomized through the
atomizer nozzle 33 into a combustion chamber 40, and then radiated
in the combustion chamber 40 with microwaves guided through a
wave-guide tube 41 from a microwave generator 42 (such as a
magnetron) to be subjected to electromagnetic excitation heating
(microwave heating). Other members, components and parts, functions
and operations thereof in the second embodiment are similar to
those of the first embodiment, with like members designated by the
same reference numerals.
[0042] In the foregoing description, an emulsifying agent is not
necessarily required for an application in which a water-in-oil
emulsion is used within a short period of time after being
discharged from the static mixer 20. This is because the static
mixer 20 is capable of producing a stable emulsion with a high
degree of dispersion, oil and water of which is inseparable within
the short period of time. Also, the frequency and voltage of the
high frequency alternating current to be applied to the high
frequency coil 34 may be adjusted depending upon a water/oil ratio
of the emulsion, size or material of the combustion chamber 32.
[0043] As set forth above, the electromagnetic wave heating type
combustion system of the present invention is possible to
effectively combust water-in-oil emulsion, by the provision of an
atmosphere of electromagnetic wave heating generated by the high
frequency coil, while lowering the temperature critical point and
the pressure critical point at which extremely critical oxidizing
reaction occurs in water molecule. The static mixer can emulsify
water and fuel into water-in-oil emulsion at a high degree of
dispersion, enabling water-in-oil emulsion with a high water/oil
ratio to be stably combusted, eliminating the need of providing a
large-sized vaporizing/heating chamber, which is preheated at a
high temperature using normal fuel, for a small-sized practical
burner.
[0044] The preferred embodiments described herein are illustrative
and not restrictive, and the invention may be practiced or embodied
in other ways without departing from the spirit or essential
character thereof. The scope of the invention being indicated by
the claims, and all variations which come within the meaning of
claims are intended to be embraced herein.
[0045] The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained
in Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-023712, filed on Jan. 31,
2003, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by
reference in its entirety.
* * * * *