• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.402-405
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• 2009

Present review introduces the constant volume combustion (CVC)-based hypersonic propulsion system development program recently initiated by DARPA for the hypersonic cruse vehicle (HCV).

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.326-329
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• 2008

DARPA's hypersonic propulsion program VULCAN is aimed for development of Mach 4+ capable engine by combining current production turbofan engine such as F119 with CVC (Constant Volume Combustion) engine. Final goal is a TBCC(Turbo-based Combined Cycle) engine by combining with dual mode ramjet/scramjet engine. CVC is a common designation of new concept of high efficiency engines, such as Pulse Detonation Engine (PDE) or Continuous Detonation Engine (CDE), which use the detonation as a combustion mechanism. Present paper introduces the internationally collaborative research activities carried out in Aerospace Combustion and Propulsion Laboratory of the department of Aerospace Engineering of the Pusan national University.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.14-21
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• 2008

Synthetic gas is defined as reformed gas from hydrocarbon-based fuel and the major chemical species of the synthetic gas are $H_2$, CO and $N_2$. Among them, hydrogen from synthetic gas is very useful species in chemical process such as combustion. It is a main reason that many studies have been performed to develop an effective reforming device. Furthermore, other technologies have been studied for synthetic gas application, such as the ESGI(Exhaust Synthetic Gas Injection) technology. ESGI injects and burns synthetic gas in the exhaust pipe so that heat from hydrogen combustion helps fast warmup of the close-coupled catalyst and reduction of harmful emissions. However, it is very hard to understand combustion characteristic of hydrogen under low oxygen environment and complicated variation in chemical species in exhaust gas. This study focuses on the characteristics of hydrogen combustion under ESGI operating conditions using a CVC(Constant Volume Chamber). Measurements of pressure variation and flame speed have been performed for various oxygen and hydrogen concentrations. Results have been analyzed to understand ignition and combustion characteristics of hydrogen under lower oxygen conditions. The CVC experiments showed that under lower oxygen concentration, amount of active chemicals in the combustion chamber was a crucial factor to influence hydrogen combustion as well as hydrogen/oxygen ratio. It is also found that increase in volume fraction of oxygen is effective for the fast and stable burning of hydrogen by virtue of increase in flame speed.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.1-9
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• 2005

An experimental study was carried out to obtain the fundamental data about the effects of radical ignition on premixture combustion. A CVC(constant volume combustor) divided into the sub-chamber and the main chamber was used. Numerous narrow passage holes are arranged between the main chamber and the sub-chamber. The products including radicals generated by spark ignition in tile sub-chamber derives the simultaneous multi-point ignition in the main chamber. We have examined the effects of the sub-chamber volume, the diameter and number of passage holes, and the equivalence $ratio({\Phi})$ on the combustion characteristics by means of burning pressure measurement and flame visualization. In a CVC, the overall burning time including the ignition delay became very short and the maximum burning pressure was slightly increased by the radical ignition(RI) method in comparison with those by the conventional spark ignition(SI) method. Combustible lean limit by RI method is extended by ${\Phi}=0.25$ compared with that by SI method. Also, In cases of charging the number and the diameter for the fixed total cross section of the passage holes, combustion period increased significantly at a sub-chamber with a single hole, but those of the other conditions had almost a similar tendency in the sub-chamber with 4 or more holes. regardless of equivalence ratio. Therefore, it was Proved that a critical cross section exists with the number of passage holes.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.22-34
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• 1997

Circumstances require improving diesel engine, and many studies have been done in constant volume chamber(CVC). Because the combustion mechanism of a diesel engine has many difficulties with non-homogeneous nature, there has been a limitation to analyzing the combustion mechanism with CVC. Studies are often given in a real engine, but also it has difficulties in modifying configuration of combustion chamber etc. To get more easy way for mote engine-like test, a rapid compression mechanism has been introduced. This study addresses to designing a rapid compression expansion machine(RCEM) driven by compressed air, and to applying it on IDI diesel combustion chamber which has a glow plug. RCEM is introduced first and its characteristics are tested, then spray/combustion characteristics of diesel spray impinging on a glow plug in RCEM combustion chamber are investigated. The results show active combustion in the system employing spray impinging on a glow plug so as to improve combustion efficiency.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2007

This experimental study was carried out to obtain both low emissions and high thermal efficiency by rapid bulk combustion. Two kinds of experiments were conducted to obtain fundamental data on the operation of a RI engine by a radical ignition method. First, the basic experiments were conducted to confirm rapid bulk combustion by using a radical ignition method in a constant volume chamber (CVC). In this experiment, the combustion velocity was much higher than that of a conventional method. Next, to investigate the desirable condition of engine operation using radical ignition, an applied experiment was conducted in an actual engine based on the basic experiment results obtained from CVC condition. A sub-chamber-type diesel engine was reconstructed using a SPI type engine with controlled injection duration and spark timing, and finally, converted to a RI engine. In this study, the operation characteristics of the RI engine were examined according to the sub-chamber's specifications such as the sub-chamber volume and the diameter and number of passage holes. These experimental results showed that the RI engine operated successfully and was affected by the ratio of the passage hole area to the sub-chamber volume.

• International Journal of Automotive Technology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.269-274
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• 2007

A prior fundamental study was executed using a constant volume chamber (CVC) to improve the burning characteristics of lean pre-mixture by the injection of active radicals generated in the sub-chamber of the CVC. The Radical ignition (RI) technique shows remarkable progress in the burning velocity and combustible lean limit compared with the results of the spark ignition (SI) technique. The optimum design value of the sub-chamber geometry is near $0.11cm^{-1}$ for the ratio of the total area of the holes to the sub-chamber volume $(A_h/V_s)$. In this study, based on the former experimental results, the additional works have been performed to examine the effects of the geometry change in the number $(N_h)$, the total section area $(A_h)$, and diameter $(D_h)$ of the passage holes on the combustion characteristics in the CVC. Also ambient conditions such as the initial temperature and the initial pressure of the mixture were selected as experimental parameters and the effects of residual gas at the chamber on the combustion characteristics were investigated. As a result, the correlation between the passage hole number and overall passage hole area was grasped. The effects of the initial temperature were significant, but on the other hand, those of the initial pressure were weak. A more detailed analysis on the residual gas is required in the future.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.150-156
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• 2010

Ethanol has properties of a lower setting point, higher oxygen contents, lower cetane numbers, and also higher volatility compared to biodiesel. Thus, biodiesel fuel can be improved in the fluidity of blending fuel and exhaust emissions by blended ethanol fuel. This research aims to understand combustion characteristics of biodiesel-ethanol blending fuel inside a constant volume chamber. High speed camera was applied to visualize the physics of development of combustion processes, and combustion pressure and exhaust emissions were measured at several blending ratios of ethanol and biodiesel fuel. This information may contribute to improve the performance of biodiesel engine and reduce emissions in future.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.42 no.10
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• pp.858-869
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• 2014

Most of the aerospace propulsion is based on the Brayton cycle, in which the combustion is held through the constant pressure process, but further improvement of performance by increasing compression ratio is challenged by mechanical limits. Detonation propulsions, regarded promising for high-speed propulsion for a lase decade, is more rigorously studied in these days as a game-changer for the improvement of thermodynamic efficiency of propulsion and power generation systems. Since, the additional compression by the strong shock of the detonation wave is considered increasing thermodynamics efficiency that is hardly achievable by the conventional compression systems. Present paper will give an introduction the latest technical trends on the Pulse Detonation Engines(PDEs) and the activities on the Pressure Gain Combustion (PGC) based on Constant Volume Combustion (CVC).

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.227-235
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• 2012

Finding an alternative fuel and reducing environmental pollution are the main goals for future internal combustion engines. The purpose of this study is to obtain low-emission and high-efficiency by hydrogen enriched LPG fuel in constant volume chamber. An experimental study was carried out to obtain fundamental data for the combustion and emission characteristics of pre-mixed hydrogen and LPG in a constant volume chamber (CVC) with various fractions of hydrogen-LPG blends. To maintain equal heating value of fuel blend, the amount of LPG was decreased as hydrogen was gradually added. Exhaust emissions were measured using a HORIBA exhaust gas analyzer for various fractions of hydrogen-LPG blends. The results showed that the rapid combustion duration was shortened, and the rate of heat release elevated as the hydrogen fraction in the fuel blend was increased. Moreover, the maximum rate of pressure rise also increased. These phenomena were attributed to the burning velocity which increased exponentially with the increased hydrogen fraction in the $H_2$-LPG fuel blend. Exhaust HC and $CO_2$ concentrations decreased, while NOX emission increased with an increase in the hydrogen fraction in the fuel blend. Our results could facilitate the application of hydrogen and LPG as a fuel in the current fossil hydrocarbon-based economy and the strict emission regulations in internal combustion engines.