Investigation of energy conversion and flame stability in a curved micro-combustor for thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) applications

Akhtar, Saad; Khan, Mohammed N.; Kurnia, Jundika C.; Shamim, Tariq

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.01.097

Cited by 87 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Curved design (including coiled tubes) has been widely adopted to achieve higher heat and mass transfer as well as better performance mixing and reaction [26]. This curved design has also been implemented as a micro-combustor for thermo-photovoltaic application [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Evaluation of Potential Catalyst Savings for Ventilation Air Methane Catalytic Combustion in Helical Coil Reactors with Selective Wall Coating

et al. 2019

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During active mining operation of a gassy underground mine, large amounts of methane will be released from the mine ventilation shaft. To eliminate the harmful effects of this ventilation air methane and minimize the wastage of this potential energy resource, considerable effort has been devoted to converting this alternative fuel using catalytic combustion. This study numerically investigated the reaction performance of ventilation air methane (VAM) in helical coil tubes of various configurations utilizing a computational fluid dynamics (CFDs) approach. Several key factors affecting the catalytic combustion performance such as curvature, inlet Reynolds number, and cross-section aspect ratio were evaluated. Recalling the high cost of the catalyst used in this reaction—platinum—optimization of catalyst usage by implementing selective catalyst coating was conducted and investigated. For evaluation purposes, the reaction performance of the helical coil tube was compared to its straight counterpart. The results gave a firm confirmation of the superior performance of the helical coil tube compared to the straight one. In addition, it was found that the selective inner wall coating in the circular cross-section at a higher Reynolds number gave rise to the highest figure of merit (FoM), defined as the net energy produced per mg of catalyst platinum.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Evaluation of Potential Catalyst Savings for Ventilation Air Methane Catalytic Combustion in Helical Coil Reactors with Selective Wall Coating

et al. 2019

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“…113 Furthermore, compared to straight micro-combustor, energy conversion of a curved micro-combustor was found higher in micro-TPV application. 114 Yang et al 115 inserted a block in a micro-planar combustor to push the flame to the combustor's wall and claimed that the block can significantly increase the mean wall temperature. Tang et al 116 found that the uniformity of microcombustor wall temperature could be considerably improved by separating the micro planar combustor into multiple channels.…”

Section: Enhancement Of Efficiency In Micro-tpvmentioning

confidence: 99%

Micro-power generation using micro-turbine (moving) and thermophotovoltaic (non-moving) systems

Hosseini

2019

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part A:

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Combustion-based micro-power generation is a serious candidate for substitution of traditional batteries. As the volume of combustion system decreases to small-scale combustors, ignition and combustion stability are becoming considerable challenges due to short residence time and large heat loss. To overcome these shortages, several experimental investigations have been implemented to generate micro-power using both moving (micro-turbines) and non-moving (thermophotovoltaic) systems. Although the goal of both systems is to generate micro-power via combustion phenomenon, the approaches to the goal is different. Nevertheless, combustion instability and various shortages in burner and combustor have been noticed by several researchers regardless of the micro-power generation method. In this paper, a review about recent development in application of small-scale combustion in micro-power generation and micro-thruster systems using micro-turbine and thermophotovoltaic systems is presented. The special focus of this paper is on flame regimes, fuel/oxidizer mixing, flame stability conditions, heat recirculation, non-equilibrium transport, flame-wall thermal and kinetic couplings, and improvement of energy conversion efficiency.

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“…Zuo et al [29] found that the efficiency and emission power of the microelliptical combustor are 2.17% and 0.68 W higher than those of the microcircular tube combustor when the long axis-short axis ratio and hydrogen mass flow rate are 1.9/1.18 and 7 × 10 − 7 kg/s, respectively. Akhtar et al [30] found that the outer wall temperature of the curved groove combustor increases by 110 K and that the energy conversion rate increases by 7.84% compared with the straight groove. Aravind et al [31] proposed a three-backwardfacing-step microcombustion chamber with a recirculation hole and added a porous medium (ceramic cotton) to the combustion chamber.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Investigation of the Combustion in an Improved Microcombustion Chamber with Rib

Chen

Liu

2019

Journal of Chemistry

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This study proposes an improved microcombustor with a rectangular rib to improve the temperature level of the combustor wall. Moreover, the OH mass fraction, temperature distribution, and outer wall temperature of the original and improved combustors of premixed hydrogen/air flames are numerically investigated under various inlet velocities and equivalence ratios. Results show that the improved microcombustor enhances heat transfer between the mixture and wall because its recirculation zone is larger than that of the original, thereby resulting in high wall temperature. Conversely, thermal resistance in the horizontal direction increases with upstream and downstream step lengths. Consequently, the outer wall temperature decreases with step length in the improved combustor. A high equivalence ratio (e.g., 0.6) may result in the destruction of the combustor because the wall temperature has exceeded the acceptable temperature of wall material quartz. Therefore, the improved microcombustor is recommended for micro-thermo-photovoltaic systems.

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Investigation of energy conversion and flame stability in a curved micro-combustor for thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) applications

Cited by 87 publications

References 49 publications

Numerical Evaluation of Potential Catalyst Savings for Ventilation Air Methane Catalytic Combustion in Helical Coil Reactors with Selective Wall Coating

Numerical Evaluation of Potential Catalyst Savings for Ventilation Air Methane Catalytic Combustion in Helical Coil Reactors with Selective Wall Coating

Micro-power generation using micro-turbine (moving) and thermophotovoltaic (non-moving) systems

Numerical Investigation of the Combustion in an Improved Microcombustion Chamber with Rib

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