“EFD.Lab helped us design a better air heater. Based on the analysis results, we even took out some of the parts we normally used as extra reserves to cover any eventuality,” said Ad Heijmans, development manager at Eclipse. The entire design and verification process took less than two months: two weeks for analysis and the rest on communicating with their customer.

Eclipse Combustion is an international manufacturer of industrial gas burners. Eclipse products are used in “low” temperature environments such as dryers and in industrial furnaces where performance, efficiency and reliability are essential. For a successful application, users require high combustion efficiency where the fuel is burned without excess emission to comply with environmental regulations.

Eclipse needed to design an air heater with a gas burner to meet their customer requirements. Their customer wanted to reach a temperature of 500° C with a temperature distribution of ±100° C by using an Eclipse burner which produced 1700° C flue gases. The main challenge was to mix the hot and the cold air without cooling the flame too much. To further complicate the matter, the customer needed to get a uniform temperature as fast as possible in as small a chamber as possible.

Eclipse used Autodesk Inventor to construct a solid model and EFD.Lab to test the proposed design before it was built. Whereas in the past Eclipse would design the system and allow for extra reserves, with EFD.Lab Eclipse created a virtual prototype of the burner which could be easily tested and modified. The final design featured a mixing chamber that was smaller than anticipated and still met the temperature requirements. In the end, the burner was built with a temperature distribution of ±150° C. “Our customer wanted a better temperature distribution but we proved to them that within the given parameters meeting those requirements were physically impossible. After seeing the analysis results our customer was very satisfied with the proposed design.”

Most surprisingly though is the fact that the main reason they invested in the technology has gradually evolved. “We initially decided to invest in EFD.Lab flow simulation software to solve design problems. Now we find and solve issues before they even become problems.”

Eclipse Combustion uses EFD.Lab to ensure optimal mixing of gases, improve efficiency and reduce emissions in industrial gas burners.