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Pulsonex Propulsion Burner/Boiler.
by Hakan Falk, "Energy Saving Now", Dec. 2003
Soon 15 years ago, during a visit in Sweden, I was invited to a friend and he wanted to show me his new Pulsonex burner/boiler I had heard about a new propulsion burner/boiler, but never seen one in action. The oil burner have a patented process of burning that gives exceptional efficiency and pollution free burning.
When it was time for me to change burner/boiler in my house, I decided to buy the Pulsonex and combine it with testing and an article at "Energy Saving Now", since it is quite an interesting and remarkable energy saving product. I bought it two years ago, when I visited Sweden, but the installation was delayed and took place one year ago. At the same time as installing the Pulsonex, I also installed thermal solar panels for hot water production.
To be able to make comparisons, I kept the 10 year old burner and boiler and arranged so I could easily switch between it and the Pulsonex.
How Pulsonex works.
 The basics for the Pulsonex, is a propulsion jet engine. We have used the description Pulsonex burner/boiler, but in reality the correct description should be Pulsonex propulsion engine.
It is an explosion chamber where the air/fuel mixture is lighted, instead of a jet force that would move the engine forward, it is a decompression and silencer chamber attached after the engine. Both the engine and the decompression chamber is encapsulated in a water deposit for cooling and capturing of the generated heat, with 93% efficiency. After this comes a humidity lock and an exhaust pipe.
Since this is not a burner, but an engine, it does not need a chimney and with such a high efficiency, it also works tremendously clean. Pulsonex has been tested with RME (Biodiesel from Rape seed) and passed those tests.
Pulsonex is more expensive than traditional burner/boiler, 1.5 to 2 times. The higher efficiency and price will however make it to break even after 4 to 5 years and save the total costs over 8 to 10 years, compared with traditional equipment.
Since no chimney is needed, it is also considerable savings in construction and installation, This savings make the total initial cost only marginally higher than traditional installation.
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Models and Performance.
Pulsonex is made in two models, one 27 kW output for home use and one 88 kW for commercial and apartment buildings. Both models can be coupled in parallel for higher capacity as needed.
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Technical data (Pulsonex Euro V)
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Nominal power:
Water volume:
Max pressure:
Connection dimension:
Weight:
Depth:
Width:
Height:
Annual efficiency:
Oil quality:
Fuse (min):
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Oil 27kW,
El 4/12kW
61 liter
2 bar
Æ 22 mm
130 kg
800 mm
595 mm
970 mm
90 %
EO 1
220V, 16/20A
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Technical data (Pulsonex P90)
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Nominal power:
Water volume:
Max pressure:
Connection dimension:
Weight:
Depth:
Width:
Height:
Annual efficiency:
Oil quality:
Fuse (min):
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Oil 88kW
110 liter
6 bar
R 32
285 kg
1120 mm
600 mm
1350 mm
90 %
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-
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Installation.
I installed the Pulsonex in parallel with the old equipment. Since the escape tube is so easy to install, I could do it separately and did not have to use the old chimney, which was kept for the old equipment. The installation of the Pulsonex was very straight forward and easy, I enjoyed it.
I cleaned the old chimney, boiler and burner well. The old burned was serviced and tuned for best economy. This was done to achieve the best possible performance in the comparisons. The old equipment was connected to th heating system, but a connection to water heating was not possible to maintain.
At the same time a system for solar heated hot water was installed, with the first of three 200 liter deposits. The hot water from the deposit was connected to a mixing valve and the Pulsonex heat exchanger for continuous hot water supply.
Service.
A traditional burner/boiler, need ideally a quarterly cleaning and service, to run with an yearly efficiency between 70% to 80%. With yearly service, its efficiency can degrade with 20% to 30% from beginning to end of service. Many will have longer interval and it is not uncommon to see equipment the run constantly at 60% to 70% of its nominal efficiency.
The Pulsonex have one yearly service of the engine and have no chimney to clean. It will maintain its efficiency and not degrade in the way a traditional equipment does.
For the comparisons I secured that both equipment was running at high efficiency and it can be argued that the traditional equipment got an advantage that is not valid in practical applications. The nominal capacity of the Pulsonex is 27 kW and the traditional equipment 60 kW.
Fuel Test & Comparisons.
To control the consumption I chose weeks that had a weather forecast of steady conditions. We filled up a 20 liter deposit and connected the equipment. Every 24 hours we measured how much that was left in the deposit, filled it up and changed equipment. We did this during 6 days with 3 days for each equipment. Up until now, we have done 6 periods of 6 days, during colder parts of spring and autumn.
The following has been observed,
- The Pulsonex have 25% less oil consumption, with surprisingly small variances during the periods.
- No capacity problems from the fact that Pulsonex have half the capacity, compared with the traditional system. This has nothing to do with heater type, but rather underscoring our experiences of systematic over dimensioning of HVAC.
- Less start/stop with Pulsonex and longer periods of working than the traditional equipment. Again caused by the dimensioning.
- Better comfort with the Pulsonex, with longer periods of warm radiators that compensate for colder surfaces. Again design and dimensioning, not equipment types
- Since maintained the same air temperature for both equipment, the Pulsonex was perceived as much warmer, again dependent on the in average warmer surface temperatures.
- The savings with Pulsonex, when comparisons was not done, was larger than when we tested. This probably cause that we could lower the air temperature a couple of degrees and still have better comfort. Again design and dimensioning, not equipment types
Availability and distributors.
Pulsonex was from beginning at the end of 1980's and until around 5 years ago, one of several product lines, with one of Sweden's largest HVAC suppliers. Pulsonex became the most popular home solution and when the company went bankrupt 5 years ago, 10,000+ units was installed in the Nordic countries. The bankruptcy was in no way related to the Pulsonex product line, which was a very small part in the company's activities. It was because Sweden was at the end of a 25 year long building boom and the company failed to scale down in time.
During the first years after the bankruptcy, Pulsonex production was taken over by people that was involved with the product earlier. I bought my Pulsonex from them. About one and a half year ago, the Pulsonex business reorganized and a new organization was created, with some financially stronger partners, which now produce and sells Pulsonex. One of the reasons why I have not published more information earlier, was the earlier insecurities. The company that now manufacture and sell Pulsonex is,
Katapuls AB
Lödarevägen 1
691 37 KARLSKOGA
Sweden
Tfn: +46(0)586-31380
Fax: +46(0)586-31386
E-post: info@pulsonex.se
web site: http://www.pulsonex.se/
Contact person: Stefan Berggren
The company have an organization in the Nordic countries and is looking for representation in other countries.
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Hakan Falk
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