Background
With the developments in chemistry and petrochemistry on one hand, and concern for the environment on the other, more and more requirements are being set for the emission of flaring systems.
Flaring systems have undergone considerable development, from a pipe with a perpetual flame to a well thought-out combustion system with pilot flame burners, purge gas, steam injection and automatic ignition.
By adapting production processes and reusing or compressing waste gases, emissions can often be reduced considerably, or can even be eliminated entirely. Despite minimising waste gas flows, flaring systems will always be necessary in case of maintenance (releasing the pressure in production systems), in emergency cases (purging safety valves) or when interrupting processes. The result is that a flaring system is present in many cases, though usually just in stand-by status (no gas exhaust).
A flaring system is in stand-by if gas can be exhausted at any random moment, without special provisions, and burned in a controlled manner. To this end, so-called pilot flame burners are installed that burn continuously and the flame is monitored. These pilot flame burners are mostly ‘monitored’ by means of thermocoupling and they are equipped with an ignition system.
Smitsvonk Holland BV has responded to these developments and has been selling complete pilot flame burner systems with integrated low-voltage ignition for a few years.
Smitsvonk Gas Electric Pilot Systems
Since the beginning of its development 50 years ago, the Smitsvonk low-voltage capacitor discharge ignition principle has demonstrated that it is a perfect fit for the application of pilot flame burner systems for flares. During the search for applications for the ignition system, which was new at that time, it appeared that, in certain cases, there is a need for simple but reliable electronic ignition for flares. Since safety had to be guaranteed to the full extent, no deviation was made from the trusted pilot burner with flame monitoring, but an integrated ignition was installed inside the burner, providing an ignition that was easy to operate without reducing safety. The Smitsvonk ignition system works as follows.
An electronically controlled capacitor gives two pulses per second to three integrated spark plugs in the pilot burner. As the spark plugs are fully integrated in the mixing ventury and flame stabiliser, no ignition rod is necessary. The spark plug electrodes are connected to each other by an insulator with a semiconductor surface and create a surface spark (see Figure 1).
Figure 1
The pulse is of the magnitude of eight or 16 joule per spark. This spark energy even creates a spark if the spark plugs are contaminated by moisture, liquid combustibles or dirt, thus guaranteeing a reliable ignition.
Figure 2
Figure 2 illustrates how the electronic pulse is led through the gas intake tube, which is electronically insulated. The three spark plugs are placed so that the mixture ignites easily but the spark plugs remain outside the hot combustion zone, guaranteeing as long a lifespan as possible.
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