In order to permit operation with preheating of the combustion-supporting air to 50 or preferably 65 percent or more of the oven temperature, the air is fed to a ceramic burner tube through an annular nozzle directing it in an annular jet along the interior walls of the burner tube. For a burner of low back pressure having no restriction at the mouth of the ceramic burner tube, the ceramic burner tube fits over the end of the outer member of the annular nozzle and some of the combustion product gas, flowing from the oven into the burner structure for countercurrent of the preheating of the air supply, is sucked into the underpressure zone between the annular air jet and the inner wall of the burner tube through a small annular gap where the burner tube fits on the air-supply nozzle. For a burner design involving considerable back pressure, the ceramic burner tube fits within the outer wall of the annular nozzle with a very small clearance in the overlap and some of the supplied air, which is at higher pressure than the exit in gases, escapes through the gap around the outside of the burner tube and cools the burner tube and the adjacent overlapping portion of the air supply tube.
展开▼
