New iScan Flame Scanner Handles Tough Application

February 4, 2000 -- The new iScan flame scanner, manufactured by Coen Company, Inc., performed flawlessly after installation on a multiple burner boiler at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, GA. One iScan scanner mounted on each burner discriminated between burner flames while scanning gas, oil and pilot flames at all firing rates. This is significant for the CDC because a previously owned UV type scanner could not discriminate between burners and repeatedly failed in the "Flame On" position.

The boiler is a B&W water cooled wall unit producing 40,000 pounds per hour of steam with three burners mounted one over two. The burners fire both gas and No. 2 oil with gas firing 95% of the time. Oil firing occurs during peak gas demand winter periods for approximately five days. The gas pilot rating is 1.3 mmBtu/hr. Normally, all three burners fire simultaneously and each burner can be shutdown with its own double block and bleed valve.

The close proximity of the burners to each other presented a special flame scanning challenge in discriminating from adjacent burner flames with different fuels and firing rates. The iScan sighted the flames during operation on main gas, main oil, pilot gas and at high and low firing conditions. The new scanner eliminated previous discrimination problems and enhanced safety. The iScan's simple windows based setup procedure only took only a few hours to adjust and set.

iScan uses a solid state sensor that operates in the near UV and visible region. The sensor measures wavelengths from 250-400 and 650-750 nanometers and is suitable for sensing gas, oil and coal flames.

Coen Company, Inc., 1510 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010. Tel: 650-697-0440; Fax: 650-686-5655.