Rotary Cup Oil Burner

My 1st attempt at bodging up a rotarty cup burner using nothing more than a rotating cup, a fan from a bus and a motor from a photocopier. The idea being I will make one for a steamboat. I am currently machining a new stainless steel cup for a propper prototype.

www.thesteamboatingforum.net

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• oil
• burner
• rotary
• cup
• steamboat

[madfran6]

not the correct atomization of fuel to air ratio !

[maltelec]

Aye well it was a bit of a bodge up.

[tonytiger75]

Rotary cup burners have been in use long before the 60ies, When I was growing up my church had two boilers from 1925 originally coal fired but some time around 1935 they were fitted with huge rotary cup type burners.

I think they were rated for somewhere around 900,000 BTU each.

[maltelec]

I suppose back in them days people didn't trust oil as much, so thought they needed an oil burner unit the same size as a coal boiler.

[rtdgreg]

Hi Simon, I was just looking up the history of spinning cup burners. My cousin was using them for power generation in the 70's. I thought Jay Carter originated the idea in the 60's.

Did you know about the Barrett car? - it's in the UK now.

[maltelec]

I've heared of the Barrett steam car, never seen it though. I have put the rotary cup on hold for now, I think my best idea is to use a vapourising oil burner as fast spinny things and a complete lack of any sustainable electrical power is a bit of a problem on a steam boat. I have many ideas though so keep an eye on my channel.

[tonytiger75]

I don't think it was a matter of trust, it just became more economical to switch to oil because the coal industry in WA (that's where the church is) died out some time during the depression so everyone was converting to oil heat. The burners were pretty well sized to the old boilers which held 900 gal of water each. Normally the burners were turned down to just let the boilers simmer along.

[ikestein1]

(More) I also have a steam boat project, 18' hull and 2-cylinder Stevenson type engine (both custim built. This hull and engine was given to me by an older man who lost intrest after years of work on it. I origionally built the oil burner to heat my shop but it is perfect for the boat except now I need to drive the rotary cup, pump and blower with a gas engine. I have gotten burnt out and have shelved the project for now, plus live steam requires a bit of a learning curve. Good luck with yours.

[ikestein1]

I'm a fellow rotary cup burner builder with way way to many hours invested in building and testing. My cup runs at approx 13,800 rpm (6 to 1 overdriven with 3450 rpm motor) I tried slower rpms but faster means smaller droplets. The cup is bell shaped,1-1/4" deep 7/8" at the back and 1-1/8" at the mouth and is fluted. I pump the oil through the axle. I use a 4" diameter flame retention tube with additional air. The burner can vary output from 70,000 - 500,000 btu. no smoke or odor. Thanks, Steve

[jommy99]

Nice burner, Have you seen the Barrett Steam Car? He uses a Spinning Cup Burner­-Belt Driven. I have had some luck with a small dremel motor, and even fast hard drive disk platter. Seems speed is the key factor not power. Barrett uses 8000 rpm. Mine could burn WVO clean at 6000+ RPM