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Micro Combustor

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2015) | Viewed by 22406

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Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Room OHE 430J, Viterbi School of Engineering, 3650 McClintock Ave., University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA
Interests: combustion; micro-scale power generation and propulsion; biophysics and biofilms; turbulence; internal combustion engines and control systems; low-gravity phenomena; radiative transfer
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Common fuels, such as hydrocarbons, contain at least 50 times more energy per unit mass than the best batteries. For this reason, every day, everywhere in the world, we convert fuels into electrical or motive power for the vast majority of our power needs. In contrast, despite the same advantage in energy density, not one of us has a fuel-powered laptop computer or cell phone, primarily because we have not found practical ways to scale-down existing fuel-driven power generation systems. With this motivation, researchers aim to develop small-scale combustion devices to convert fuel enthalpy into electrical, mechanical, chemical or propulsive power, particularly in applications where batteries are typically used. In light of this, we announce a Special Issue on “Microcombustors” and invite original contributions. We seek not only to report on recent developments, but also to mold the future of the field. Example topics include, but are not limited to, flame extinction and stability limits, fuel reforming, catalysis, coupling of combustion to power generation via thermoelectric, thermophotovoltaic, electrochemical or other means, and air breathing or rocket propulsion devices.

Prof. Dr. Paul D. Ronney
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • combustion
  • extinction
  • flame stability
  • quenching
  • catalysis
  • propulsion
  • micropower generation
  • reformers

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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6526 KiB  
Article
Energy Converter with Inside Two, Three, and Five Connected H2/Air Swirling Combustor Chambers: Solar and Combustion Mode Investigations
by Angelo Minotti
Energies 2016, 9(6), 461; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9060461 - 17 Jun 2016
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3621
Abstract
This work reports the performance of an energy converter characterized by an emitting parallelepiped element with inside two, three, or five swirling connected combustion chambers. In particular, the idea is to adopt the heat released by H2/air combustion, occurring in the [...] Read more.
This work reports the performance of an energy converter characterized by an emitting parallelepiped element with inside two, three, or five swirling connected combustion chambers. In particular, the idea is to adopt the heat released by H2/air combustion, occurring in the connected swirling chambers, to heat up the emitting surfaces of the thermally-conductive emitting parallelepiped brick. The final goal consists in obtaining the highest emitting surface temperature and the highest power delivered to the ambient environment, with the simultaneous fulfillment of four design constraints: dimension of the emitting surface fixed to 30 × 30 mm2, solar mode thermal efficiency greater than 20%, emitting surface peak temperature T > 1000 K, and its relative ∆T < 100 K in the combustion mode operation. The connected swirling meso-combustion chambers, inside the converter, differ only in their diameters. Combustion simulations are carried out adopting 500 W of injected chemical power, stoichiometric conditions, and detailed chemistry. All provide high chemical efficiency, η > 99.9%, and high peak temperature, but the emitting surface ∆T is strongly sensitive to the geometrical configuration. The present work is related to the “EU-FP7-HRC-Power” project, aiming at developing micro-meso hybrid sources of power, compatible with a thermal/electrical conversion by thermo-photovoltaic cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro Combustor)
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1383 KiB  
Article
Design and Experimental Study of a VCM-Based Stewart Parallel Mechanism Used for Active Vibration Isolation
by Weichao Chi, Dengqing Cao, Dongwei Wang, Jie Tang, Yifan Nie and Wenhu Huang
Energies 2015, 8(8), 8001-8019; https://doi.org/10.3390/en8088001 - 31 Jul 2015
Cited by 39 | Viewed by 8648
Abstract
This paper presents the design and experimental study of a voice coil motor (VCM)-based Stewart platform used for active vibration isolation. The high precision payloads carried on the satellites always require an extremely stable environment to work properly. Installing a vibration isolation device [...] Read more.
This paper presents the design and experimental study of a voice coil motor (VCM)-based Stewart platform used for active vibration isolation. The high precision payloads carried on the satellites always require an extremely stable environment to work properly. Installing a vibration isolation device between the vibration sources and precision payloads is an efficient method for dissipating vibration energy. A Stewart platform with active damping is designed to isolate the vibration transferring from the satellite to the payloads in six degrees-of-freedom. First, the kinematics and dynamical equations of a Stewart platform with spherical joints at both the base and top of each leg are established with Newton-Euler Method in task space and joint space. Second, the H Control Theory is employed to design a robust controller for the linearized system with parameter uncertainty, noise and sensor errors. Finally, an experimentation study on the vibration of the payload supported by a Stewart platform with VCM actuator is conducted. The feasibility and effectiveness of the vibration isolation system are verified by comparing the amplitude-frequency characteristics of the active control system with that of the passive control system and the system without damping. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro Combustor)
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Review

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3611 KiB  
Review
Overcoming the Fundamental Limit: Combustion of a Hydrogen-Oxygen Mixture in Micro- and Nano-Bubbles
by Vitaly Svetovoy, Alexander Postnikov, Ilia Uvarov, Remco Sanders and Gijs Krijnen
Energies 2016, 9(2), 94; https://doi.org/10.3390/en9020094 - 3 Feb 2016
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 9420
Abstract
Combustion reactions quench in small volumes due to fast heat escape via the volume boundary. Nevertheless, the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen was observed in nano- and micro-bubbles. The bubbles containing a mixture of gases were produced in microsystems using electrochemical decomposition of [...] Read more.
Combustion reactions quench in small volumes due to fast heat escape via the volume boundary. Nevertheless, the reaction between hydrogen and oxygen was observed in nano- and micro-bubbles. The bubbles containing a mixture of gases were produced in microsystems using electrochemical decomposition of water with a fast switching of voltage polarity. In this paper, we review our experimental results on the reaction in micro- and nano-bubbles and provide their physical interpretation. Experiments were performed using microsystems of different designs. The process was observed with a stroboscope and with a vibrometer. The latter was used to measure the gas concentration in the electrolyte and to monitor pressure in a reaction chamber covered with a flexible membrane. Information on the temperature was extracted from the Faraday current in the electrolyte. Since the direct observation of the combustion is complicated by the small size and short time scale of the events, special attention is paid to the signatures of the reaction. The mechanism of the reaction is not yet clear, but it is obvious that the process is surface dominated and happens without significant temperature increase. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro Combustor)
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