Analysis of the possibility of identifying incorrect operation of heating devices in real conditions

Abstract

The paper presents a preliminary stage of works aiming at a development of a method of identification of a wrong use of heating equipment under actual conditions of operation based on an a continuous analysis of oxygen level in the exhaust gas. The investigations were carried out on a test stand at the Chair of Thermal Engineering of Poznan University of Technology. For the tests, the author used a Q-EKO 15 boiler by Heiztechnik available in the Polish and European markets. In order to develop the method of identification of a wrong use of the boiler, the investigations were divided into two stages. In the first stage, the boiler was tested according to the PN-EN 303-5 standard using the manufacturer-recommended fuel. In the second stage of the investigations, an experiment was performed simulating a wrong use of the boiler burning waste material under actual conditions of operation. To this end, generally applied modifications in the boiler design were performed allowing the use of waste material as fuel. During the tests, the amount of oxygen O2 in the exhaust gas was monitored. It was observed that even slight attempt to operate the boiler incorrectly could be detected based on the analysis of the oxygen level in the exhaust gas.