Abstract

The invention relates to a combustion apparatus, in particular a stove (100) comprising a combustion vessel and a flue (108) through which combustion gases are exhausted. The combustion vessel has one or more external walls (124) and a first internal dividing wall (113) to an interior side of which is provided a firebox (102), and to an exterior side of which is provided a cavity (112) defined between said internal dividing wall (113) and at least one of said external walls. The firebox has a flue outlet (104) in fluid communication with the flue and a valve (110) for selectively opening and closing the flue outlet. Within or at one end of the internal dividing wall (113) is provided a supplementary vent aperture (114) so that combustion gases can flow into the cavity, which is in turn also provided with a flue outlet, particularly when the firebox valve (110) is partially or fully closed. The invention is characterised by providing the supplementary vent aperture (114) and the cavity flue outlet towards first and second ends of the cavity (112) respectively such that combustion gases are constrained to flow through the cavity from said first end toward said second end when the firebox valve (110) is partially or fully closed and in so doing are reheated to some degree by virtue of the adjacency of the cavity and the firebox. In order to extract more energy from the re-heated combustion gases, and thus render the combustion apparatus more efficient, thermal energy extraction means is secured to at least one wall of the cavity adjacent which there is some flow of the combustion gases. Ideally, the thermal energy extraction means is either a plurality of thermoelectric generators (TEGs) or one or more conventional heat exchangers of a back-boiler arrangement.

IPC Classes  ?

• F24B 1/02 - Closed stoves
• F23L 11/00 - Arrangements of valves or dampers after the fire
• F24B 7/02 - Stoves, ranges, or flue-gas ducts, with additional provisions for convection heating with external air ducts
• F24B 7/04 - Stoves, ranges, or flue-gas ducts, with additional provisions for convection heating with internal air ducts
• F24B 9/00 - Stoves, ranges, or flue-gas ducts, with additional provisions for heating water
• H01L 35/00 - SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - Details thereof
• H01L 35/30 - SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; ELECTRIC SOLID STATE DEVICES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - Details thereof operating with Peltier or Seebeck effect only characterised by the heat-exchanging means at the junction