Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Heat Transfer in Vortex Combustion Engines

Abstract

Heat transfer phenomenon in a recently developed vortex engine has been surveyed. Cooler walls, better combustion performance and more stable relative to the other engines, make these engines very interesting. These advantages have been obtained by using a bidirectional swirl flow, containing a cool outer and a hot inner vortex, traveling upstream and downstream respectively. The most eminent benefit of these combustion chambers, having highly reduced wall temperature, is the result of convective heat release from the wall by the outer vortex. A thorough numerically and experimentally investigation has been performed on radiation and convection heat transfer to realize the exact heat transfer behavior of this engine. Results from flame structure observation indicate that flame area is much larger in vortex engine in comparison to regular engines due to vortex stretching of the flame which increases radiation heat transfer to walls. In spite of this increase, heat removal by outer swirl flow is high enough not only to compensate for increased radiation but also reduces the wall temperature substantially.

Criterion analysis and experimental study of combustion mechanisms in a bidirectional swirling flow and their relationship with pollutants emission

“…23,30 The analysis of the available theoretical and experimental results shows that analytical solution of the bidirectional vortex has been obtained in the papers, 31,32 as well as numerical and laboratory studies of bidirectional vortex engines and combustors have been carried out in many countries. [33][34][35][36][37][38] However, these studies do not suggest any generalization of the experimental data or criterion equations related to the description of the reacting bidirectional swirling flows. Such data are very important for engineering practice and can form the basis for creating methods for calculation and design of combustors.…”