Patent ID: 7901204

Claim:
A staged-air dual-fuel burner for the combustion of gaseous and non-gaseous fuels in a furnace, said burner comprising: (a) a primary air chamber for supplying a first portion of air; (b) a burner tube having an upstream end and a downstream end; (c) a fuel orifice located adjacent the upstream end of said burner tube, for introducing gaseous fuel into said burner tube; (d) a burner tip having an outer diameter mounted on said downstream end of said burner tube adjacent a first opening in the furnace, so that combustion of the gaseous fuel takes place downstream of said burner tip; (e) at least one non-gaseous fuel gun, said at least one non-gaseous fuel gun having at least one fuel discharge orifice for combusting the non-gaseous fuel downstream of said discharge orifice; and (f) at least one air port in fluid communication with a secondary air chamber for supplying a second portion of fresh or ambient air; (g) a peripheral tile which peripherally surrounds said burner tip, said peripheral tile having at least one radially disposed opening for placement of said at least one non-gaseous fuel gun within said openings of said peripheral tile; wherein said at least one non-gaseous fuel gun is radially positioned beyond said outer diameter of said burner tip so that a flame emanating from the combustion of the non-gaseous fuel is substantially aligned in parallel with a flame emanating from the combustion of the gaseous fuel; wherein each opening of said peripheral tile is sized to provide a gap between said peripheral tile and each said non-gaseous fuel gun effective for providing a portion of the air for combustion of the non-gaseous fuel, and each said gap between said peripheral tile and each said non-gaseous fuel gun is sized so that the air inflow is controlled so as to prevent incoming air from delaying vaporization of the non-gaseous fuel.