Pot-type oil burner

A pot-type oil burner is disclosed which is capable of effectively preventing the generation of bad odor and soot during the igniting operation by turning on an electric heater positioned above a heat-resistant fabric spread on the bottom surface of a pot to previously heat the pot and fabric to a temperature sufficient to vaporize fuel oil prior to introducing fuel oil to the pot by means of a nozzle pipe.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention relates to an improved pot-type oil burner, and more 
particularly to a pot-type oil burner which is adapted to effectively 
prevent the generation of bad odor and soot and at the time of ignition. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
There has been conventionally known a pot-type oil burner in the art which 
is constructed to arrange an ignition heater in a pot to ignite fuel oil 
supplied to the pot. However, the conventional oil burner of such type has 
a disadvantage that fuel oil is often discharged in noncombustion and 
incomplete combustion states, followed by the generation of bad odor and 
soot, because the vaporization of fuel oil in a pot is apt to become 
unstable to cause a combination flame to be nonuniformly spread. Thus, in 
the conventional pot-type oil burner it is required to exhaust a 
combustion gas through an exhaust pipe to the exterior. 
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing disadvantage 
of the prior art. 
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a pot-type 
oil burner which is capable of carrying out a regular combustion 
immediately after the ignition to effectively prevent the generation of 
soot and bad odor during the ignition operation. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a pot-type oil 
burner which is capable of forming a combustible gas sufficient to allow a 
regular complete combustion to be initiated immediately after the 
ignition. 
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a pot-type 
oil burner which is capable of keeping an excellent ignition performance 
and the appearance of a regular complete combustion just after the 
ignition for a long period of time. 
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a pot-type oil 
burner comprising a pot carrying out at least the vaporization of a fuel 
oil supplied thereto; a heat-resistant fabric spread on the bottom surface 
of the pot; a heating means arranged in the pot so as to be positioned 
above the fabric, the heating means acting to heat the pot and fabric to 
vaporize a fuel oil supplied to the pot and ignite the vaporized fuel oil; 
and a nozzle means extending into the pot to introduce fuel oil from an 
oil supply means therethrough to the pot; wherein the supply of fuel oil 
from the nozzle means to the pot is started in a predetermined time after 
the heating means is turned on. 
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the supply of fuel oil 
to the pot is started after the pot and heat-resistant fabric are heated 
to a temperature sufficient to vaporize the fuel oil. Fuel oil is 
preferably ejected under pressure or together with air to be uniformly 
dispersed in the form of finer particles on the entire surface of the 
fabric. Furthermore, the fabric may have a suitable oxidation catalyst 
carried thereon.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Now, a pot-type oil burner according to the present invention will be 
described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawing. 
Referring to the figure, a pot-type oil burner is generally designated by 
reference numeral 10. The oil burner illustrated is a red-hot type space 
heater, however, it should be noted that an oil burner of the present 
invention is not limited to such red-hot type burner. 
The oil burner 10 includes a cylindrical pot 12 which is adapted to carry 
out the vaporization of fuel oil such as kerosene supplied thereto. In the 
embodiment illustrated, the pot 12 has a horizontal partition 14 arranged 
therein by which the pot 12 is divided into a lower chamber 16 and an 
upper chamber 18 communicated with each other through an opening 20 formed 
at the central portion of the partition 14. The lower chamber 16 acts as a 
vaporization chamber for vaporizing fuel oil supplied thereto and the 
upper chamber 18 acts as a mixing chamber for mixing vaporized fuel oil 
with air to form a combustible gas. The upper chamber 18 is provided at 
the side wall thereof with a plurality of through-holes 22 which serve to 
introduce therethrough into the chamber 18 air necessary to form a 
combustible gas and burn the combustible gas in a combination chamber. The 
upper chamber 18 also has a mixing means 24 provided therein, which is 
positioned above the opening 20. The mixing means 24 acts to form a 
combustible gas in the upper chamber 18 by uniformly diffusing in the 
chamber 18 a fuel oil vaporized in the lower chamber 16 and allowing the 
diffused oil to be mixed with air supplied via the through-holes 22 to the 
chamber 18. The lower chamber 16 is also provided at the side wall thereof 
with through-holes 26 for introducing air thereto, so that the chamber 16 
may accomplish ignition of vaporized fuel oil as well as the vaporization. 
Thus, it will be noted that in the embodiment illustrated, the pot 12 
carries out the vaporization, mixing and ignition of fuel oil. 
The oil burner 10 also includes an air supply means for supplying air to 
the pot 12 which comprises an air fan 28 provided at the outside of the 
burner and an air supply passage 30 defined in the burner and connected to 
the fan, the passage 30 being communicated with the interior of the pot 12 
via the through-holes 22 and 26 of the pot and an air supply pipe 32 
connected between the passage 30 and the pot. 
Furthermore, the oil burner 10 includes an oil supply means for supplying 
fuel oil to the pot 12, which comprises an oil tank 34 and an oil 
reservoir 36. The oil reservoir 36 is constructed to support the tank 34 
in an inverted manner and keep the level of fuel oil therein substantially 
constant. The oil reservoir 36 is communicated with the pot 12 through an 
oil supply pipe 38 so as to supply fuel oil from the reservoir 36 to the 
pot. In the embodiment illustrated, fuel oil is supplied by means of an 
electromagnetic pump 40 provided between the oil supply pipe 38 and the 
reservoir 36. 
Above the pot 12, a combustion chamber 46 is disposed which acts to burn 
therein a combustible gas formed in the upper chamber 18 of the pot 12 
utilizing combustion air supplied from the air passage 30 via the 
through-holes 22 thereto and heat of fuel oil ignited and burned in the 
pot 12. The combustion chamber 46 has an outer perforated combustion 
cylinder 48 and an inner perforated combustion cylinder 50 each formed of 
a ceramic material. A combustible gas supplied to the combustion chamber 
46 is burned on the outer surface of the inner cylinder 50 and the both 
surfaces of the outer cylinder 48 to red-heat the cylinders 48 and 50, to 
thereby allow the cylinders to emit heat rays. Reference numeral 52 
designates a transparent heat-permeable cylinder disposed around the outer 
combustion cylinder 48 and formed of a heat-resistant glass through which 
heat rays emitted from the cylinders 48 and 50 are discharged to the 
exterior of the burner. 
One of essential features of an oil burner of the present invention is that 
the oil supply pipe 38 is provided at the end portion thereof extending to 
the pot 12 with a nozzle pipe 54, which extends into the pot to allow fuel 
oil to be ejected in the form of fine particles into the pot 12. It is 
preferable that fuel oil ejected from the nozzle 54 is dispersed on the 
bottom surface of the pot as uniformly and widely as possible in the form 
of fine particles. For this purpose, the embodiment is constructed in a 
manner such that the air supply pipe 32 and oil supply pipe 38 merge into 
a single pipe 56 extending to the pot to allow fuel oil to be supplied to 
the pot together with air and the nozzle is formed at the end of the 
single pipe 56. This allows drizzle-like fuel oil carried on air to be 
sprayed on the entire bottom surface of the pot at a high velocity. 
Another feature of the present invention is that a fabric 58 formed of a 
heat-resistant fiber such as a silica fiber, an asbestos fiber or the like 
is put down on the bottom surface of the pot and an electric heater 60 is 
arranged above the fabric 58. The fabric 58 is preferably a woven fabric 
although it may be a non-woven fabric. It is preferable that the fabric 58 
is spread on substantially the entire bottom surface of the pot and the 
heater 60 is disposed just above the fabric. Such feature allows fuel oil 
to be dispersed on the fabric to have a larger surface area. Also, such 
construction permits the fabric and pot to be readily heated to a high 
temperature. Thus, fuel oil can be readily and uniformly vaporized and 
continuously supplied to the combustion chamber 46. The fabric 58 is 
preferably formed into a fine reticulate shape to have a large area. The 
fabric may have a suitable catalyst such as platinum or the like carried 
thereon. The heater 60 is preferably formed of a ceramic material into a 
bar-like shape which has a heating element embedded in the outer periphery 
thereof, so that it may have good durability and utility. 
A further feature of the present invention is that the heater 60 is turned 
on after the fabric 58 and pot 12 are heated, preferably to a high 
temperature sufficient to vaporize fuel oil. This allows vaporized fuel 
oil to be continuously supplied to the combustion chamber from the start 
without any condensation in the pot. This may be carried out, for example, 
by connecting any suitable temperature sensor 60a and a temperature 
responsive controller 60b between the pot 12 and the electromagnetic pump 
40 and air fan 28, to allow the controller to actuate the pump 40 and air 
fan 28 when a predetermined temperature has been reached at pot 12. 
Alternatively, this may be accomplished as shown in FIG. 2 by connecting a 
timer 60c among the heater 60, the pump 40 and the fan 28 to permit the 
timer to actuate the pump and fan in predetermined time, for example, 
three minutes after the heater 60 is turned on. 
Now, the manner of operation of the pot-type oil burner will be explained 
hereinafter. 
First, the heater 60 is turned on to heat the pot 12 and fabric 58 to a 
temperature sufficient to vaporize fuel oil. Then, the air fan 28 and 
electromagnetic pump 40 are actuated to eject fuel oil in the form of fine 
particles from the nozzle pipe 54 onto the entire surface of the heated 
fabric 58 to instantly and uniformly vaporize a fuel oil. The vaporized 
fuel oil is constantly supplied to the upper chamber 18 of the pot without 
causing condensation of the vaporized fuel oil in the pot because the pot 
is previously heated to a high temperature, so that it may be mixed with 
air supplied through the holes 22 to readily form a combustible gas 
sufficient to allow a regular complete combustion. Further, a part of the 
vaporized fuel oil is ignited by the heater utilizing air introduced via 
the through-holes 26 into the lower chamber 16 of the pot and is supplied 
to the combustion chamber 46 together with the combustible gas. Thus, a 
regular complete combustion is initiated immediately after the ignition. 
As can be seen from the foregoing, the present invention is adapted to 
eject fuel oil in the form of fine particles from the nozzle onto the 
entire surface of the previously heated fabric to continuously and 
uniformly vaporize a fuel oil; thus, it is possible to effectively prevent 
uncombustion or incomplete combustion due to the local supply of fuel oil, 
unsufficient mixing of vaporized fuel oil with air and/or unsufficient 
heating of the pot, so that the complete combustion may be always carried 
out just after the ignition to effectively prevent the generation of bad 
odor and soot. 
In the present invention, the nozzle pipe may be arranged to allow 
drizzle-like fuel oil ejected therefrom to be sprayed on the entire 
surface of the fabric. This allows fuel oil to be more uniformly vaporized 
to from a combustible gas sufficient to carry out a regular complete 
combustion immediately after the ignition. 
The fabric may have an oxidation catalyst carried thereon. This permits 
fuel oil to be readily vaporized even if a fuel oil of bad quality is 
used. Also, this significantly reduces retention of tar in the pot. Thus, 
it is possible to keep an excellent ignition performance and the 
appearance of a regular complete combustion just after the ignition for a 
long period of time. 
As many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention may be 
made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to be 
understood that the invention is not limited to the specific embodiment 
thereof except as defined in the appended claims.