• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.14-19
• /
• 2001

Interests and importance of down-scale combustor is increasing with the emerging need for miniaturized power source which is now a bottleneck of micro system development. But in down scaled combustor increased heat loss compared to thermal energy generation inhibits the usability and application of the device, so as a preliminary work of down scaled combustor fabrication. Modeling tool for the device should be established, in this study modeling approach of closed vessel combustion phenomena that can express heat loss effect and resulting quenching is proposed and the result is compared with experiment data. From this model heat loss effect following combustor scale down can be further understood, and further more design parameter and analysis tool can be obtained.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2002.06a
• /
• pp.95-98
• /
• 2002

A numerical investigation on the flame propagation and extinction in a micro combustor is described. Previous measurements of $H_2-air$ flame propagation in a submilimeter scale combustor exhibited significance of wall effects on burning velocity and extinction. The heat transfer to wall becomes important not only in the cooling of burnt gases but also during the flame ropagation, which has be by and large ignored in macro scale combustor calculations. In order to take the heat loss into account the combustion calculation, we developed a numerical code with a heat transfer model that was determined empirically from measured data. PISO algorithm was used for differencing of conservation equations. $H_2-air$ reaction was modeled with 10 species - 16 steps. Comparison with measured data showed good agreement in flame propagation speed. Also the pressure decrease after flame extinction was accurately predicted by the model. A further study is desirable for a better quenching model that can predict the quenching location.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.39-45
• /
• 2003

As the size of a combustor decreases to a MEMS scale, heat loss increases and becomes a dominant effect on the performance of the devices. Existing models, however, are not adequate to predict the heat transfer and combustion processes in such small scales. In the present study, a semi-empirical model to calculate heat loss from a micro combustor is described. The model derives heat transfer coefficients that best fits the heat loss characteristics of a micro combustor that is represented by transient pressure record after combustion is completed. From conservation of energy equation applied to the burned gas inside the combustor, a relationship between pressure and heat transfer is reduced. Two models for heat transfer coefficients were tested; a constant and first order polynomial of temperature with its coefficients determined from fitting with measurements. The model was tested on a problem of cooling process of burnt gas in a micro combustor and comparison with measurements showed good agreements. The heat transfer coefficients were used for combustion calculation in a micro vessel. The results showed the dependence of flame speed on the scale of the chamber through enhanced heat loss.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2002.11a
• /
• pp.231-235
• /
• 2002

A theoretical and experimental study on the combustion process in a constant volume micro combustor is described. Unlike in a macro scale constant volume combustor, the heat loss to the wall plays a major role in flame propagation in a micro micro combustor. In order to analyze the effect of heat loss on combustion phenomena, pressure transition from ignition was measured. A number of cylindrical micro combustors with different diameter and depth were used for experiment to study the effect of length scales and shape factor. The diameter of combustor ranged from 7.5mm to 22.5 mm and the height of cylinder was from 1mm to 4mm. Initial pressure was also varied for the experiment. The diagnostic methods were severely limited due to the size of the apparatus and uncertainties of certain quantities to be measured in a small-scale environment. An analytical method to derive physical quantities that are essential for performance prediction from the pressure measurements is described.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.685-692
• /
• 2003

A numerical simulation of flame propagation in a micro combustor was carried out. Combustor has a sub -millimeter depth cylindrical internal volume and axisymmetric one-dimensional was used to simplify the geometry. Semi-empirical heat transfer model was used to account for the heat loss to the walls during the flame propagation. A detailed chemical kinetics model of $H_2/Air$ with 10 species and 16 reaction steps was used to calculate the combustion. An operator-splitting PISO scheme that is non-iterative, time-dependent, and implicit was used to solve the system of transport equations. The computation was validated for adiabatic flame propagation and showed good agreement with existing results of adiabatic flame propagation. A full simulation including the heat loss model was carried out and results were compared with measurements made at corresponding test conditions. The heat loss that adds its significance at smaller value of combust or height obviously affected the flame propagation speed as final temperature of the burnt gas inside the combustor. Also, the distribution of gas properties such as temperature and species concentration showed wide variation inside the combustor, which affected the evaluation of total work available of the gases.