Document Type

Undergraduate Project

Date of Degree Completion

Spring 2020

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Engineering Technology

Committee Chair

Dr. Craig Johnson

Second Committee Member

Professor Roger Beardsley

Third Committee Member

Professor Charles Pringle

Abstract

Can small scale blacksmithing operations achieve a level of efficiency in their forge comparable to that of a large scale industry? The causes for the lack of efficiency needed to be pinpointed, and then the geometry of the existing design for the burner could be changed to fix the underlying issues, while still maintaining functionality. The problems with the previous design is the geometry of the intake giving an unknown air/fuel ratio, and the attachment of to the forge allowing the intake air to be contaminated by exhaust gasses. A burner needed to be designed that would solve these problems while maintaining the ability to output an oxidizing flame for when an oxidized workpiece is desired. The final approach for finding the optimal intake geometry was based on a ratio between the propane injector outlet area and the air inlet area. This ratio was calculated based off of the desired air/fuel ratio and the density ratio between air and propane. This approach was compared with flow rate analysis at various propane pressure settings. The result of this calculation is that for any set propane pressure, the height of the intake opening needs to be .232 inches high. The input pressure of the propane does not affect this result. The intake valve was still designed to be adjustable so it could still produce an oxidizing flame as desired. The optimized burner can be attached to a forge by a flange that prevents exhaust gasses from entering the intake.

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