Effect of Channel Diameter on the Combustion and Thermal Behavior of a Hydrogen/Air Premixed Flame in a Swirl Micro-Combustor

Xiao Yang, Zhihong He, Lei Zhao, Shikui Dong and Heping Tan
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Xiao Yang: Key laboratory of Aerospace Thermophysics, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Zhihong He: School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Lei Zhao: Key laboratory of Aerospace Thermophysics, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Shikui Dong: Key laboratory of Aerospace Thermophysics, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
Heping Tan: Key laboratory of Aerospace Thermophysics, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: Improving the flame stability and thermal behavior of the micro-combustor (MC) are major challenges in microscale combustion. In this paper, the micro combustions of an H 2 /air premixed flame in a swirl MC with various channel diameters ( D in = 2, 3, 4 mm) were analyzed based on an established three-dimensional numerical model. The effects of hydrogen mass flow rate, thermal conductivity of walls, and the preferential transport of species were investigated. The results indicated that the flame type was characterized by the presence of two recirculation zones. The flame was anchored by the recirculation zones, and the anchoring location of the flame root was the starting position of the recirculation zones. The recirculation zones had a larger distribution of local equivalence ratio, especially in the proximity of the flame root, indicating the formation of a radical pool. The combustion efficiency increased with an increasing D in due to the longer residence time of the reactants. Furthermore, the MC with D in = 2 mm obtained the highest outer wall temperature distribution. However, the MC with D in = 4 mm had a better uniformity of outer wall temperature and large emitter efficiency due to the larger radiation surface. An increase in thermal conductivity boosts the thermal performance of combustion efficiency, emitter efficiency, and wall temperature uniformity. But there is a critical point of thermal conductivity that can increase the thermal performance. The above results can offer us significant guidance for designing MC with high thermal performance.

Keywords: micro combustion; hydrogen; swirl micro-combustor; channel diameter; flame anchoring (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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