Emergency heater based on gas-fired catalytic combustion infrared technology: Structure, evaluation and thermal response

Abstract

Deaths caused by extreme cold occur frequently, emergency heating needs to be greatly enhanced. In present work, a porous media catalytic combustion emergency heater was designed with a self-developed 1% Pt/Al2O3·SiO2 catalyst. Some evaluation indicators of the natural diffusion heater (including thermal efficiency, combustion efficiency, ignition temperature, cold start performance, combustion plate temperature uniformity, and infrared wavelength distribution) were established experimentally. According to the results, the catalyst possesses high activity (T50 = 397.2 °C and T90 = 463.2 °C) and nanoscale loading uniformity. Controlling the gas flow rate at 1 L/min can achieve the 21.56% thermal efficiency and 99.90% combustion efficiency. The heater can be preheated successfully at 120 °C and its cold start limitation is −30 °C. The infrared energy peak wavelength range (3–10 μm) is matched to the absorption ranges of the human skin and common textiles. Besides, real-person heating was tested in the apparent temperature (AT) region of −14.8–12.4 °C. Subjects' skin temperatures, subjective thermal sensations, and optimization suggestions were collected, and the relationship between mean skin temperature and AT was modeled, which revealed the efficient heating capacity. Therefore, this paper opens up great prospects for practical emergency heating and evaluation method for alleviating the cold-stricken heating problems.