Fabrication and test of a MEMS combustor and reciprocating device

Power production from phase change in MEMS and micro devices, a review

“…This effect has had the tendency to limit the heat production of the flame and hence, the combustion efficiency and power production of the device [11,12]. Lee et al noted that with generic combustion chamber dimensions below 2 mm, significant quenching occurred and operation was unstable [13]. Not only was combustion in these devices thermally quenched due to the proximity of the boundary walls, but also quenched due to the destruction of combustion radicals.…”

“…In addition, the design and fabrication methods of many MEMS-based actuators result in a device with large surface area and small volume. This combination has been shown to have a negative effect on small internal combustion devices due to flame and radical quenching [13]. The high surface area of the flat membranes employed by many of these actuators can lead to similar thermal losses.…”

Effect of finite heat input on the power performance of micro heat engines

“…In contrast to macro scale power sources, micro power supplies are compact, lightweight, and promise to deliver high power density [2]. Thus, in recent years, there has been significant research worldwide in the development of a variety of micro power generation systems [3,4]. Among these systems, micro heat engines attract major interest as they can be fabricated using mainstream MEMS processes and thus potentially integrated with a wide variety of microsystems [4].…”

Numerical Simulation of Flame Propagation Near Extinction Condition in a Micro Combustor

“…The smallest heat engines that are commercially available have an exhaust volume of 0.01 cubic inches, but these engines are still too bulky to be integrated into aforementioned mobile micro systems. Investigations on micro engines with typical a combustor volume of 1/10 of 0.01 cubic inches are under way, and preliminary results have been reported by a number of research groups [1,2,3,4]. Concepts of micro heat engines, which are being developed by these groups, include micro gas turbine by Mehra et al [2], micro rotary engine by Fu et al [3], and micro reciprocating engine by Lee et al [4].…”

“…Investigations on micro engines with typical a combustor volume of 1/10 of 0.01 cubic inches are under way, and preliminary results have been reported by a number of research groups [1,2,3,4]. Concepts of micro heat engines, which are being developed by these groups, include micro gas turbine by Mehra et al [2], micro rotary engine by Fu et al [3], and micro reciprocating engine by Lee et al [4]. Some related works have been reported on a micro burner [5] and micro rockets [6,7] as well.…”