US-20260123792-A1 - BOOSTED OUTPUT GAS BURNERS FOR GAS-FUELED OUTDOOR COOKING APPLIANCES

Abstract

Boosted output gas burners for gas-fueled outdoor cooking appliances are disclosed. An example gas burner includes a housing and a tube. The housing includes a bottom wall, a front wall, a rear wall, a right sidewall, a left sidewall, and a top wall. The front wall includes an opening. The top wall includes first ports arranged in a first row and second ports arranged in a second row spaced apart from the first row. The tube is located at least partially within the housing. The tube extends through the opening of the front wall. The tube includes an inlet portion, a venturi portion located downstream from the inlet portion, and a mixing portion located downstream from the venturi portion. The inlet portion includes an open front end located externally from the housing. The mixing portion includes an open rear end located within the housing forward of the rear wall.

Inventors

• Sebastian Szulakiewicz
• Robert J. Farmer
• Lance G. Velez
• John R. Ciccone
• Paul R. Hunt
• Mohammed Shoeb

Assignees

• WEBER-STEPHEN PRODUCTS LLC

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20241107

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A gas burner for use with a gas-fueled outdoor cooking appliance, the gas burner comprising: a housing including a bottom wall, a front wall, a rear wall, a right sidewall, a left sidewall, and a top wall, the front wall including an opening, the top wall including a plurality of first ports arranged in a first row and a plurality of second ports arranged in a second row spaced apart from the first row; and a tube located at least partially within the housing, the tube extending through the opening of the front wall of the housing, the tube including an inlet portion, a venturi portion in fluid communication with and located downstream from the inlet portion, and a mixing portion in fluid communication with and located downstream from the venturi portion, the inlet portion including an open front end located externally from the housing, the mixing portion including an open rear end located within the housing and spaced forward of the rear wall of the housing, wherein the tube is configured to carry a combustible gas-air mixture from the inlet portion into and through the venturi portion and from the venturi portion into and through the mixing portion, wherein upon exiting the open rear end of the mixing portion, the combustible gas-air mixture is directed forward within the housing to respective ones of the first ports and respective ones of the second ports.
2. 2 . The gas burner of claim 1 , wherein the inlet portion of the tube is located externally from the housing.
3. 3 . The gas burner of claim 1 , wherein the venturi portion of the tube is located externally from the housing.
4. 4 . The gas burner of claim 1 , wherein the open rear end of the mixing portion of the tube is spaced forward of the rear wall of the housing by a distance that is greater than 5.0 millimeters and less than 20.0 millimeters.
5. 5 . The gas burner of claim 1 , further comprising an ignitor mounting bracket coupled to the tube and located externally from the housing.
6. 6 . The gas burner of claim 5 , wherein the ignitor mounting bracket is positioned over the venturi portion of the tube.
7. 7 . The gas burner of claim 1 , wherein the tube is centrally positioned within the housing between the first row of the first ports and the second row of the second ports.
8. 8 . The gas burner of claim 1 , wherein the second row of the second ports is parallel to the first row of the first ports.
9. 9 . The gas burner of claim 8 , wherein the second row of the second ports is spaced apart from the first row of the first ports by a distance that is greater than 2.0 centimeters and less than 5.0 centimeters.
10. 10 . The gas burner of claim 1 , wherein the top wall of the housing further includes at least one third port located proximate the front wall of the housing between the first row of the first ports and the second row of the second ports, wherein the at least one third port is configured to facilitate ignition of the combustible gas-air mixture via an ignitor located externally from the housing proximate the at least one third port, and to facilitate spreading the ignition of the combustible gas-air mixture to the first ports and the second ports.
11. 11 . The gas burner of claim 10 , wherein the at least one third port is configured as three or more ports arranged in a V-shaped formation including a central port, at least one first branch port located between the central port and a front one of the first ports of the first row, and at least one second branch port located between the central port and a front one of the second ports of the second row.
12. 12 . The gas burner of claim 1 , wherein the front wall extends upwardly from the bottom wall, the rear wall is spaced apart from the front wall, the rear wall extends upwardly from the bottom wall, the right sidewall extends upwardly from the bottom wall, the right sidewall extends between the front wall and the rear wall, the left sidewall is spaced apart from the right sidewall, the left sidewall extends upwardly from the bottom wall, the left sidewall extends between the front wall and the rear wall, the top wall is spaced apart from the bottom wall, and the top wall extends between the front wall and the rear wall and between the right sidewall and the left sidewall.
13. 13 . The gas burner of claim 12 , wherein the front wall, the rear wall, the right sidewall, and the left sidewall are integrally formed with the bottom wall to provide a base, wherein the top wall provides a cover for the base, and wherein the cover is coupled to the base.
14. 14 . The gas burner of claim 1 , further comprising a support bracket located within the housing between the front wall and the rear wall, wherein the support bracket supports the mixing portion of the tube within the housing.
15. 15 . The gas burner of claim 14 , wherein the support bracket is coupled to and extends upwardly from the bottom wall of the housing.
16. 16 . The gas burner of claim 1 , wherein the open front end of the inlet portion of the tube is configured to receive a nozzle of a gas valve.
17. 17 . The gas burner of claim 1 , further comprising an air shutter coupled to the inlet portion of the tube.
18. 18 . The gas burner of claim 1 , further comprising a mounting flange coupled to and extending rearwardly from the rear wall of the housing.
19. 19 . A gas burner assembly for use with a gas-fueled outdoor cooking appliance, the gas burner assembly comprising: a gas burner including: a housing including a bottom wall, a front wall, a rear wall, a right sidewall, a left sidewall, and a top wall, the front wall including an opening, the top wall including a plurality of first ports arranged in a first row and a plurality of second ports arranged in a second row spaced apart from the first row; and a tube located at least partially within the housing, the tube extending through the opening of the front wall of the housing, the tube including an inlet portion, a venturi portion in fluid communication with and located downstream from the inlet portion, and a mixing portion in fluid communication with and located downstream from the venturi portion, the inlet portion including an open front end located externally from the housing, the mixing portion including an open rear end located within the housing and spaced forward of the rear wall of the housing, wherein the tube is configured to carry a combustible gas-air mixture from the inlet portion into and through the venturi portion and from the venturi portion into and through the mixing portion, wherein upon exiting the open rear end of the mixing portion, the combustible gas-air mixture is directed forward within the housing to respective ones of the first ports and respective ones of the second ports; and a grease deflection bar positioned over the gas burner, the grease deflection bar having a lateral width that is greater than or equal to a lateral width of the top wall of the housing.
20. 20 . The gas burner assembly of claim 19 , wherein the second row of the second ports is parallel to the first row of the first ports, wherein the second row of the second ports is spaced apart from the first row of the first ports by a distance that is greater than 2.0 centimeters and less than 5.0 centimeters.

Description

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates generally to gas burners and, more specifically, to boosted output gas burners for gas-fueled outdoor cooking appliances. BACKGROUND Cookboxes of conventional gas-fueled outdoor cooking appliances (e.g., gas grills, gas griddles, etc.) are typically equipped with two or more atmospheric burners (e.g., burners that operate at atmospheric pressure and without forced induction) that are spaced apart from one another (e.g., a right burner and a left burner) and configured to provide zone-based heating within the cookbox. Atmospheric burners have existed for over one hundred years, and their use in gas-fueled outdoor cooking appliances is widely accepted. For any given atmospheric burner design, there are natural limits to the “low” and the “high” operating settings. The “low” setting (e.g., the lowest flow rate at which a combustible gas-air mixture travels through the burner) is limited by the burner's ability to prevent flashback. The “high” setting (e.g., the highest flow rate at which a combustible gas-air mixture travels through the burner) is limited by the burner's ability to prevent flame lift and/or combustion outputs (e.g., non-combusted carbon, carbon monoxide content in exhaust). Thus, the low-energy setting and the high-energy setting of any given burner is set such that the individual burner, and the complete system of burners within the gas-fueled outdoor cooking appliance, operate within safe conditions. For example, an individual burner of a Weber® Genesis II 310 model gas grill operates between a low setting of six thousand British Thermal Units per hour (6,000 BTU/hour) and a high setting of thirteen thousand five hundred British Thermal Units per hour (13,500 BTU/hour). The ratio between the high operational setting and the low operational setting of a burner is known as the “turndown ratio.” In the above example, the individual burner of the Weber® Genesis II 310 model has a turndown ratio of 2.25, calculated by dividing the high operational setting (13,500 BTU/hour) by the low operational setting (6,000 BTU/hour). When designing a burner for a gas-fueled outdoor cooking appliance, it is generally desirable to maximize the turndown ratio of the burner. Efforts to maximize the turndown ratio are typically bounded, however, by the above-described natural limits (e.g., the burner's ability to prevent flashback, and the burner's ability to prevent flame lift and/or combustion outputs), and/or by other design constraints. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an example gas burner constructed in accordance with teachings of this disclosure. FIG. 2 is a top view of the gas burner of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the gas burner of FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 4 is a right side view of the gas burner of FIGS. 1-3. FIG. 5 is a left side view of the gas burner of FIGS. 1-4. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the gas burner of FIGS. 1-5 taken along section A-A of FIG. 2. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the gas burner of FIGS. 1-6 taken along section B-B of FIG. 4. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the gas burner of FIGS. 1-7 taken along section C-C of FIG. 2. FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the gas burner of FIGS. 1-8, with the housing of the gas burner shown in phantom. FIG. 10 is a first isolated perspective view of the tube of the gas burner of FIGS. 1-9. FIG. 11 is a second isolated perspective view of the tube of the gas burner of FIGS. 1-9. FIG. 12 is a perspective view of an example gas burner assembly constructed in accordance with the teachings of this disclosure. FIG. 13 is a rear perspective view of the gas burner assembly of FIG. 12. FIG. 14 is a perspective view of an example cookbox assembly including the gas burner assembly of FIGS. 12 and 13. FIG. 15 is a top view of the cookbox assembly of FIG. 14. FIG. 16 is a top view of the cookbox assembly of FIGS. 14 and 15, with the cooking grate(s) removed from the cookbox assembly. FIG. 17 is a top view of the cookbox assembly of FIGS. 14-16, with the cooking grate(s) and the grease deflection bar(s) removed from the cookbox assembly. FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view of the cookbox assembly of FIGS. 14-17 taken along section D-D of FIG. 15. FIG. 19 is a perspective cross-sectional view of the cookbox assembly of FIGS. 14-18 taken along section D-D of FIG. 15. FIG. 20 is a cross-sectional view of the cookbox assembly of FIGS. 14-19 taken along section E-E of FIG. 15. FIG. 21 is a perspective cross-sectional view of the cookbox assembly of FIGS. 14-20 taken along section E-E of FIG. 15. Certain examples are shown in the above-identified figures and described in detail below. In describing these examples, like or identical reference numbers are used to identify the same or similar elements. The figures are not necessarily to scale and certain features and certain views of the figures may be shown exaggerated in scale or in schematic for clarity and/or conciseness. Unl