Analysis of flame stabilization limit in a cylindrical of step micro-combustor with different material through the numerical simulation

Abstract

The flame stabilization limit on micro-combustor had studied to support the micro power generator system. Micro-combustion became the crucial components in a micro power generation system as heat resource that will be converted into electricity. However, the unstable flame in micro-combustor became the main problem that faced by researchers, especially the excess of heat losses. The objective of this study is to observe the flame stabilization limit in a rearward facing step micro-combustor. This study was focused on the effect of micro-combustor material and flame stabilization through the numerical simulation. The micro-combustor material that was used in this study is quartz glass and stainless steel. Micro-combustor was divided into unburned region and burned region. The dimensions of micro-combustor are 3.5 mm inner diameter of unburned region, 4.5 mm inner diameter of burned region and 1 mm thickness. The results have shown that the material of micro-combustor and model of the flame holder have direct relationship with the characteristics of flame stabilization in the micro-combustors. The effects of the flame holder designs and micro-combustors dimensions on the flame stabilization were discussed in detail in this paper.