Burner Assembly and Heat Exchanger

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed that include providing a cooking system that comprises a burner assembly and a heat exchanger submerged in a vessel. The burner assembly includes a high velocity burner and a low velocity burner, the high velocity burner configured to provide the necessary high velocity, volumetric flowrate through a fluid duct of the heat exchanger that includes a plurality of compactly-arranged, alternatingly-disposed vertical and horizontal tubes passing through the fluid duct, and the low velocity burner configured to significantly reduce and/or substantially eliminate “lift off” that could result from operation of only the high velocity burner. The heat exchanger is submerged in the vessel with the tubes of the heat exchanger open to the vessel to allow ingress and egress of a fluid contained within the vessel.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A cooking system, comprising:
 a burner assembly; and   a heat exchanger, comprising:
 a plurality of walls that form a fluid duct configured to receive a combusted air/fuel mixture from the burner; and 
 a plurality of tubes disposed across the fluid duct and configured to receive fluid therethrough; 
   wherein the heat exchanger is connected to the burner assembly and disposed within a vessel.   
     
     
         2 . The cooking system of  claim 1 , wherein the burner assembly comprises a first burner configured to combust an air/fuel mixture at a first flowrate and a second burner configured to combust an air/fuel mixture at a second flowrate. 
     
     
         3 . The cooking system of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 an igniter configured to ignite the air/fuel mixture in each of the first burner and the second burner.   
     
     
         4 . The cooking system of  claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanger comprises a plurality of vertical tubes that extends between a top wall and a bottom wall of the fluid duct. 
     
     
         5 . The cooking system of  claim 4 , wherein the plurality of vertical tubes are open to the vessel to allow ingress and egress of a fluid within the vessel. 
     
     
         6 . The cooking system of  claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanger comprises a plurality of horizontal tubes that extends between a left side wall and a right side wall of the fluid duct. 
     
     
         7 . The cooking system of  claim 6 , wherein the plurality of horizontal tubes are open to the vessel to allow ingress and egress of a fluid within the vessel. 
     
     
         8 . The cooking system of  claim 1 , wherein the heat exchanger comprises a plurality of vertical tubes that extend between a top wall and a bottom wall of the fluid duct, and wherein the heat exchanger comprises a plurality of horizontal tubes that extend between a left side wall and a right side wall of the fluid duct. 
     
     
         9 . The cooking system of  claim 8 , wherein the wherein the plurality of vertical tubes and the plurality of horizontal tubes are open to the vessel to allow ingress and egress of a fluid within the vessel. 
     
     
         10 . The cooking system of  claim 9 , wherein the plurality of vertical tubes are arranged in a plurality of sets of rows between the left side wall and the right side wall, and wherein the plurality of horizontal tubes are arranged in a plurality of sets of rows between the top wall and the bottom wall. 
     
     
         11 . The cooking system of  claim 10 , wherein the sets of rows of vertical tubes are alternately spaced with sets of rows of the plurality of horizontal tubes. 
     
     
         12 . The cooking system of  claim 11 , wherein the heat exchanger is configured to transfer heat produced from combusting an air/fuel mixture in the burner assembly to a fluid within the plurality of vertical tubes and the plurality of horizontal tubes of the heat exchanger. 
     
     
         13 . The cooking system of  claim 12 , wherein the burner assembly comprises a plurality of heat exchangers connected to the burner assembly. 
     
     
         14 . The cooking system of  claim 12 , wherein the vessel is configured to cook a consumable food product. 
     
     
         15 . A method of operating a cooking system, comprising:
 providing a burner assembly configured to combust an air/fuel mixture;   providing a heat exchanger comprising a plurality of walls that form a fluid duct configured to receive a combusted air/fuel mixture from the burner assembly, and a plurality of tubes disposed across the fluid duct and configured to receive fluid therethrough;   disposing the heat exchanger in a vessel that contains a fluid;   allowing fluid to at least partially fill the plurality of tubes;   combusting the air/fuel mixture in the burner assembly; and   transferring heat resulting from the combustion of the air/fuel mixture to the fluid within the plurality of tubes.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the burner assembly comprises a first burner configured to combust an air/fuel mixture at a first flowrate and a second burner configured to combust an air/fuel mixture at a second flowrate. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the combusting the air/fuel mixture in the burner assembly comprises combusting the air/fuel mixture in each of the first burner and the second burner. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the allowing fluid to at least partially fill the plurality of tubes is accomplished by providing the heat exchanger with a plurality of tubes that are open to the vessel to allow ingress and egress of the fluid within the plurality of tubes. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the plurality of tubes comprises a plurality of vertical tubes disposed between a top wall and a bottom wall of the fluid duct and a plurality of horizontal tubes disposed between a left side wall and a right side wall of the fluid duct. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the plurality of vertical tubes are arranged in a plurality of sets of rows between the left side wall and the right side wall, and wherein the plurality of horizontal tubes are arranged in a plurality of sets of rows between the top wall and the bottom wall, and wherein the sets of rows of vertical tubes are alternately spaced with sets of rows of the plurality of horizontal tubes. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the transferring heat resulting from the combustion of the air/fuel mixture to the fluid within the plurality of tubes is accomplished by passing the combusted air/fuel mixture through the fluid duct and into contact with at least a portion of the plurality of tubes. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 cooking a consumable food product within the vessel with the heated fluid.