TY - JOUR
TI - CFD optimization of a pellet burner
AU - Westerlund Lars B
AU - Hermansson Roger L
AU - Cervantes Michel J
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2012
VL - 16
IS - 4
SP - 1175
EP - 1186
PT - Article
AB - Increased capacity of computers has made CFD technology attractive for the  design of different apparatuses. Optimization of a pellet burner using CFD  was investigated in this paper. To make the design tool work fast, an  approach with only mixing of gases was simulated. Other important phenomena  such as chemical reactions were omitted in order to speed up the design  process. The original design of the burner gave unsatisfactory performance.  The optimized design achieved from simulation was validated and the results  show a significant improvement. The power output increased and the emission  of unburned species decreased but could be further reduced. The contact time  between combustion gases and secondary air was probably too short. An  increased contact time in high temperature conditions would possibly improve  the design further.