Hi:

I’m thinking of hypothetical purely-natural gas fired radiant heater
in which the significant emitter of thermal radiation is the flame
itself.

The fuel is purely-natural gas. By “purely natural”, I mean it is the
raw, unprocessed, and unrefined natural gas straight from the marshes.
In terms of oxidant/fuel ratio, the flame is stoichiometric. Oxygen
[O2] is the only oxidant to burn the fuel.

Each and every molecule of the fuel is fully-oxidized by the oxygen
but without there being any excess of oxygen.

There are 6 sides to this radiant heater. Left, right, back, front,
up, and down. The height of the left, right, front and back are the
same. The top and bottom are shorter in length than the heights of the
aforementioned. However, the top and bottom are of the same width as
the widths of the left and right. The front of the heater is what
faces the object intended to be heated. The front consists of eco-
friendly material that is completely transparent to all EM radiation
from 100,000 nm to 300 nm. The interior of the back of the heater
consists of eco-friendly material that completely reflects all
wavelengths of EM radiation from 100,000 nm to 300 nm. The interiors
of the left and right of the panel also consist of eco-friendly
material that totally reflects wavelengths of EM radiations from
100,000 nm to 300 nm. The bottom of the panel is where the flame is
emitted. The length of the flame is almost as long as the bottom of
the panel. The top of the panel is where hot gases from the combustion
escape – this is the exhaust and is as long as the flame. The material
on the front of this heater has a low-enough heat conduction
coefficient that it remains perceptibly cool even though it allows
thermal radiation to escape outward.

There are two pipes attaches to the bottom of this heater. One carries
the fuel, while the other carries a stoichiometric amount of oxygen.

This infrared heater is air-tight prior to combustion. Also, prior to
combustion, the only gas present in the heater is helium. Helium is an
easy-to-transport, non-reactive gas. There is a sufficient amount of
helium [but not more] such that the air pressure inside the heater
equates to the air pressure outside the heater – this is to prevent
any damage to the heating panel caused by pressure differences. Just
before ignition of the fuel, the correct amount of helium is removed
such that the high-temperature of the flame does not raise the
internal air pressure to the point of damage. Also, the ignition is
smooth and completely non-explosive. Just prior to the ignition, an
adequate amount of fuel and oxygen are discharged into the heater in
the slow, smooth, continuous manner. Now, when the amount of fuel [and
stoichiometric amount of oxygen] is enough for ignition and self-
sustaining combustion, an electric spark is discharged which causes
the fuel to catch fire. The amount of flame is adjustable in terms of
height and width – however the length is constant. At the lowest
setting there is just enough flame for the blue to be visible. At the
highest setting the flame nearly fills up the entire heating panel.

I’m thinking of two applications for this radiant heater:

1. Use mild versions of the heater in cold parts of the world in
outdoor public places to keep citizens warm – such as in the bus stops
in Northern Europe, where the climate is often cold and wet.

2. More intense versions of this heater can be used to cook food.
Think charred pork that’s bloody red on the inside.


Thanks,

Green Xenon