Electronic control module and method for controlling the operation and safety of at least one radiant tube burner

Abstract

The invention relates to a control module for controlling at least one radiant tube burner, the burner comprising a fuel supply valve, an oxidant supply valve and a combustion fume discharge conduit, wherein the control module comprises: a means for measuring the quality of combustion, installed in the combustion fume discharge conduit of said at least one burner, a unit for measuring the fuel flow rate, a unit for measuring the oxidant flow rate, and a means for driving said at least one burner, acting on the opening percentages of the oxidant and fuel supply valves of said at least one burner in order to adjust the ratio of the oxidant flow rate to the fuel flow rate on the basis of the information delivered by the means for determining combustion quality.

1 . A control module for at least one radiant tube burner, the burner comprising a fuel supply valve, an oxidant supply valve, a combustion flue gas exhaust duct, a fuel flow measuring device, and an oxidant flow measuring device, a combustion quality measuring device installed in said combustion flue gas exhaust duct in at least one burner, the control module comprising:
 a means for controlling said at least one burner, acting on opening percentages of the oxidant and the fuel supply valves of the at least one burner to adapt a ratio of an oxidant flow rate/a fuel flow rate depending on information delivered by the combustion quality measuring device.   a means for calculating fuel combustion power Va using data provided by the combustion quality measuring device, the fuel flow measuring device and the oxidant flow measuring device, the calculated fuel combustion power Va value being compared with a theoretical value in order to detect a deviation exceeding a predefined threshold.   
     
     
         2 . The control module according to  claim 1 , wherein the combustion quality measuring device comprises a residual oxygen sensor. 
     
     
         3 . The control module according to  claim 1 , wherein the control module is configured to control two radiant tube burners, the combustion power Va of the fuel being calculated for each burner from the data supplied by the oxidant and fuel flow measuring devices and the information delivered by the combustion quality control device, the values of Va obtained for the two burners being compared in order to detect a deviation exceeding a defined threshold. 
     
     
         4 . A radiant tube burner comprising a fuel supply valve, an oxidant supply valve, a flue gas exhaust duct, a fuel flow measuring device, and an oxidant flow measuring device, a combustion quality measuring device installed in a combustion flue of said at least one burner, and a control module according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
         5 . A method for controlling at least one radiant tube burner, the burner comprising a fuel supply valve, an oxidant supply valve and a flue gas exhaust duct, the method comprising:
 controlling operation of at least one burner with a regulation of an opening percentage of the oxidant and fuel supply valves of said at least one burner according to a desired oxidant/fuel ratio from information delivered by a combustion quality measuring device installed in a combustion flue gas exhaust duct of said at least one burner,   calculating a combustion power value Va of fuel supplying at least one burner, from data supplied by oxidant and fuel flow measuring devices and the information delivered by the combustion quality measuring device of at least one burner, and comparing this combustion power value Va with a theoretical value in order to detect a deviation exceeding a defined threshold.   
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 5 , further comprising:
 controlling two radiant tube burners,   calculating a fuel combustion power value Va for each burner, from data provided by the oxidant and fuel flow measuring devices and information delivered by the combustion quality measuring device of said burner, and comparing the Va values obtained for the two burners in order to detect a deviation exceeding a defined threshold.