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The surface combustor-heater with cyclic flow reversal combustion

Article  in  Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science (EXP THERM FLUID SCI) · October 2001
DOI: 10.1016/S0894-1777(01)00084-X

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 Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 25 (2001) 183±192
www.elsevier.com/locate/etfs

The surface combustor±heater with cyclic ¯ow reversal combustion

Sumrerng Jugjai *, Supawit Wongveera, Tawan Teawchaiitiporn, Kalayarat Limbwornsin
Combustion and Engine Research Laboratory (CERL), Department of Mechanical Engineering,
King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), 91 Sukswas 48, Bangmod, Tungkru, Bangkok 10140, Thailand
Received 10 October 2000; received in revised form 14 March 2001; accepted 16 July 2001

Abstract

A new surface combustor±heater (SCH) equipped with a concept of cyclic ¯ow reversal combustion (CFRC) was examined.
Existing designs of the SCH have typically relied on a one-way ¯ow combustion (OWFC) in which the ¯ow direction of the mixture
is ®xed. The new SCH, which is capable of working as both the CFRC and the OWFC, was built. It had an insulated combustion
section that was 45  75 mm2 and consisted of several 15 mm thick honeycomb ceramic plates of magnesia-stabilized zirconia with a
single tube of cooling water embedded. Lique®ed petroleum gas (LPG) diluted with air was supplied to the combustor in such a way
that the ¯ow direction was either ®xed (OWFC) or periodically changed at a regular time interval (CFRC). Comparison of per-
formance between the new SCH and the conventional OWFC was performed by measuring the axial temperature distributions,
thermal eciencies and emission characteristics. Results showed that hot zone location has a signi®cant e€ect on the performance of
the two systems. Under the same equivalence ratio and ¯ow velocity, the two systems yielded di€erent hot zone locations in relation
to a ®xed water tube and thus a di€erence in thermal eciencies and emission characteristics. With the same hot zone location the
CFRC yielded a preferable high thermal eciency in a much leaner mixture than the OWFC. As the equivalence ratio decreased,
thermal eciency of the CFRC signi®cantly increased, whereas that of the OWFC rapidly decreased. The half-period is directly
proportional to the thermal eciency through the hot zone location, which depends on the half-period. Too long half-period yields
asymptotic value of the thermal eciency with an increase in CO emission. The CFRC is very suitable for working at relatively high
¯ow velocity with preferable high thermal eciency, reduction in CO with low NOx emission. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All
rights reserved.

Keywords: Surface combustor±heater; Porous medium; Premixed combustion; Combustion augmentation; Heat transfer
enhancement

1. Introduction concept of surface combustor±heater (SCH) technology

In high-temperature applications, thermal radiation
plays an important role in the heat transfer enhance-
ment to the load. This could be done by using a multi-
phase medium (gas and solid phase) [1±3] instead of a
single phase (gas) due to better characteristics in ab-
sorbing and emitting of thermal radiation of the solid
phase than those of the gas phase. However, heat
transfer enhancement by the multiphase medium is
limited in that the carrier medium (¯uid phase) must be
gaseous. If the carrier medium is liquid (such as in this
study), the heat transfer in the multiphase medium
would be no longer enhanced. To solve this problem the
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +66-2-470-9111, +66-2-470-9128;
fax: +66-2-470-9111.
E-mail address: sumrueng.jug@kmutt.ac.th (S. Jugjai).
was proposed [4]. The SCH is a combustion heat
transfer device involving relatively cold heat exchange
surfaces (or tubes) embedded in a stationary bed of re-
fractory material of porous matrix in which a gaseous
fuel is burned. Unlike the conventional combustor, the
SCH technology can provide heat transfer simulta-
neously with the combustion process in which the tem-
perature distribution in the SCH can be controlled in
such a way as to minimize total emission. The natural
gas-®red SCH has a high combustion eciency and
®ring density, high heat transfer to the load, high ther-
mal eciency and a moderate turndown ratio [5,6].
However, most of the conventional SCHs are equipped
with the so-called conventional one-way ¯ow combus-
tion technique (hereafter referred to as OWFC) in which
the gas ¯ows in a speci®c direction.
With recent development in the state-of-the-art
technology of the superadiabatic combustion [7,8]

0894-1777/01/$ - see front matter Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 8 9 4 - 1 7 7 7 ( 0 1 ) 0 0 0 8 4 - X
184 S. Jugjai et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 25 (2001) 183±192
(hereafter referred to as a cyclic ¯ow reversal combus-
tion technique, CFRC), attention has been focussed on
the application of this technique to replace the conven-
tional SCH which is equipped with the OWFC tech-
nique. The CFRC technique has a distinguishing
characteristic in that it is capable of creating an e€ective
internal heat recirculation from a hot exhaust gas to a
cool mixture, yielding a high combustion temperature,
preferable ¯ame stability and ¯ammability limit when
compared with those of the conventional OWFC [9].
The present study proposes a single-tube SCH
equipped with the CFRC technique. Combustion phe-
nomena and the heat transfer characteristics inside the
new SCH are experimentally elucidated. Performance of
the CFRC will be assessed by making a comparison with
those of the OWFC through thermal structure and
emission characteristics. The e€ects of various parame-
ters that are expected to control the heat transfer per-
formance and the combustion characteristics of the
CFRC such as equivalence ratio (U), half-period (thp )
and ¯ow velocity (u) are clari®ed.
2. Experimental apparatus
Fig. 1 shows the common experimental apparatus of
the SCH that is able to work as the CFRC and the
OWFC also. It consists of two main components, a
combustor and an alternating valve for periodically
changing ¯ow direction of a mixture in the combustor.
The combustor and the alternating valve are connected
by pipes for carrying the mixture and the exhaust gases,
respectively, into and out of the combustor. The exhaust
gas, of which the emission level varied with time when
operating the CFRC, is directed to a large mixing tank
Fig. 1. Experimental apparatus.
to stabilize the emission level before measuring. The wall
of the combustion chamber is lined with high-tempera-
ture cement allowing high-temperature combustion. The
space inside the combustion chamber is ®lled with a
stack of rectangular honeycomb porous ceramic plates
with each plate having six pores per cm (ppcm) and
being 15 mm thick. The component of the ceramic is
magnesia-stabilized zirconia. In the middle portion of
the combustor, a single water tube runs across the cross-
sectional area of the combustor to serve as a thermal
load. A spillover water supply system was used to make
sure that the water is fully ¯owing through the cross-
sectional area of the tube. A mixer is installed at the
outlet end of the water tube so that the water is well
mixed before its temperature is measured. A sight glass
is installed near the middle of the combustor wall for
observing the combustion ¯ame inside the combustor.
The alternating valve consists of a rotor and a
housing. The rotor is a solid steel cylinder having two
drilled holes for conveying the mixture and the exhaust
gases, respectively, into and out of the combustor via the
connecting pipes. The rotor alternates back and forth by
an external driving device comprised of an AC motor
and a reciprocating cam mechanism to periodically
change the ¯ow direction of the mixture (forward ¯ow
or backward ¯ow) into the combustor. A forward ¯ow is
de®ned as a clockwise ¯ow direction of the gas through
the connecting pipe, while a counter-clockwise ¯ow di-
rection is for the backward ¯ow. The time interval (or
half-period, thp ) for each ¯ow direction can be inde-
pendently adjusted from 2 to 120 s by time switches and
limit switches.
K-type sheath thermocouples of wire diameter 0.5
mm were used in the experiment at all measuring loca-
tions along the axial direction of the combustor. T1 and
 S. Jugjai et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 25 (2001) 183±192 185

T10 indicate the gas temperature at about 50 mm from
both ends of the stack of the porous ceramic plates,
whereas T2 ±T9 , which are equally spaced, represent
the solid phase temperatures (porous ceramic) inside the
combustor. T5 and T6 , respectively, do not represent
the wall temperatures of the water tube because the
walls are not welded together with the tube. They simply
represent the porous ceramic temperature in the vicinity
of the upstream and the downstream surface of the
water tube for the case of the forward ¯ow (clockwise
¯ow direction). They are measured so as to reveal e€ect
of the water tube on the burner thermal structure under
complex interaction between combustion, combined
mode of heat transfer and ¯uid dynamics. Tw;in and
Tw;out , respectively, represent the inlet and the outlet
temperature of the water ¯owing through the tube and
they are measured by mercury thermometers. The
thermocouple signals are digitized by a general-purpose
data logger, and then transmitted to a personal com-
puter.
Lique®ed petroleum gas (LPG) diluted with air was
used as fuel in the experiment. The composition of the
LPG was propane …C3 H8 † 40% (by volume) and butane
…C4 H10 † 60%, respectively, with a low heating value of
about 115 MJ=m3 (normal). An air compressor with
pressure regulator was used for supplying the combus-
tion air to homogeneously mix with the LPG prior to
entering the alternating valve. Both the combustion air
and the LPG were metered by calibrated rotameters.
Operating the CFRC was ®rst started by operating
the OWFC. This is done by ®xing the position of the
rotor either for the forward ¯ow or for the backward
¯ow so as to allow the mixture with an initial equiva-
lence ratio U close to one (ratio of the stoichiometric air
required to the actual air supplied) to ¯ow into the
combustor. The mixture was then ignited by a pilot
¯ame that was inserted through the sight glass pipe. The
combustion ¯ame was stabilized near the middle portion
of the combustor. An allowable maximum combustion
temperature of less than 1200 °C was controlled by
lowering the equivalence ratio U to about 0.8. After the
thermal equilibrium conditions of the OWFC were
reached, the water was then allowed to ¯ow through the
water pipe with a constant mass ¯ow rate of 310 g/min
Comparison of combustion temperature distributions,
emission characteristics and thermal eciencies of the
water tube were made so as to assess the performance
between the CFRC and the OWFC. Parametric studies
of e€ect of the parameters controlling the performance
of the CFRC such as equivalence ratio (U), half-period
(thp ) and ¯ow velocity (u) were carried out.
3. Results
3.1. Transient behavior and an ecient internal energy
recirculation from the exhaust gas to the mixture of the
CFRC system (without thermal load)
Fig. 2 shows a typical ¯uctuation in measured tem-
peratures of the CFRC system without water ¯owing
through the tube after the steady-state condition was
reached. The measured temperatures (except for T1 and
T10 ) were considered to be those of the solid (porous
ceramic) since the thermocouples are solid and they are
in thermal equilibrium with the porous ceramic. The
¯uctuation in temperature is caused by reversing the
¯ow direction of the mixture at regular time intervals.
The amplitude of the ¯uctuation depends on the loca-
tion of the temperature measured. The amplitude is
large in the vicinity of the combustor ends (T1 , T2 , T9 ,
and T10 ) and becomes relatively small in the middle
portion of the combustor (T3 , T4 , T5 , T6 , T7 , and T8 ).
During the backward ¯ow T9 is sharply decreased im-
plying an ecient preheating e€ect of the ¯owing mix-
ture by the porous ceramic, whereas T2 is rapidly
increased implying an ecient preheating e€ect of the
porous ceramic by the hot combustion gases. This no-
ti®es that a heat release e€ect (heat transfer from the
solid to the gas phase) and a heat storage e€ect (heat
transfer from the gas to the solid phase) are simulta-
neously occurring, respectively, at the vicinity of the
right-hand end and the left-hand end of the combustor
[8]. The reverse phenomenon is true for the forward ¯ow
during the next half-period thp .
1200

throughout the experiment. This could yield a 9±14 °C CL = 1.6 kW, u = 0.35 m/s, Φ = 0.4,t hp = 60 s
variation in the temperature of the water …Tw;out Tw;in †, 1000
T1
depending on the experimental conditions. Then, the T2
OWFC was switched to the CFRC by operating the 800 T3
alternating rotor with an initial half-period thp ˆ 60 s. T4
T, C

Steady-state condition of the CFRC was reached once T5

o

600
the constant amplitude and the constant average over a T6
half-period (thp ) of the ¯uctuation temperatures T1 ±T10 400
T7
were obtained. The emission measurement of the dry T8

combustion products was carried out by using a stan- 200

backward T9

dard combustion analyzer, which is capable of measur- flow

thp forward flow
T10

ing CO, CO2 , O2 , NOx and SO2 . 0

This experiment was conducted so as to understand -50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

the combustion phenomena and the heat transfer char- t, s

acteristics of a single water tube embedded in the new
SCH equipped with the concept of the CFRC technique. Fig. 2. Typical temperature ¯uctuation of the CFRC system.
186 S. Jugjai et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 25 (2001) 183±192
Fig. 3 shows the corresponding transient changes of
the axial temperature distribution for the CFRC system
during a half-period thp ˆ 60 s. This transient behavior
is an important feature required for understanding the
¯ame displacement and its interaction with the water
tube in the porous body. However, determination of the
¯ame location is relatively dicult because of the limited
number of thermocouples placed in the combustor.
Thus, a hot zone (de®ned by the location of the apparent
temperature maximum) is adopted in this study, though
it is somewhat crude, to determine the ¯ame location.
This may, to some extent, cause an inaccurate determi-
nation of the ¯ame location, i.e. a temperature maxi-
mum observed at a speci®c geometrical position may not
mean that the ¯ame exists at the same position. At t ˆ 0,
immediately after change of the ¯ow direction from the
backward ¯ow to the forward ¯ow, the temperature
distribution is at the beginning of the half-period for the
forward ¯ow, which is equivalent to that at the end of
the previous half-period (backward ¯ow). Two hot
zones can be observed near the downstream end (at
x  175 mm) and the upstream end (at x  80 mm) of
the combustor. The downstream hot zone is due to the
heat release by combustion, while the upstream one is
attributed to mixing of the hot and the cool gas ¯owing
past the water tube. At t ˆ 15 s, a considerable decrease
in the inlet temperature was observed due to quenching
e€ect by the in¯owing cool mixture followed by com-
bustion resulting in a hot zone near the upstream end of
the combustor. As time t further proceeds, this upstream
hot zone tends to move at close to constant speed
downstream towards the water tube, while the down-
stream hot zone diminishes followed by an increase in
the outlet temperature. During this process, the steep
temperature distributions at the upstream end are dis-
placed almost in parallel. At the end of the half-period
(t ˆ 60 s), the temperature distribution is not similar to
that at t ˆ 0 s or at the end of the backward ¯ow, es-
pecially at the water tube which acts as a heat sink. This
may be attributed to the complex phenomena of com-
160 0
CL = 1.6 kW, u = 0.35 m/s,
140 0
Φ = 0.4, thp = 60 s
120 0
100 0
T, C
forward flow
o
80 0
60 0
T5 T6
40 0
20 0 water tube
bed length
0 0
-50 0 50 100 150 20 0
x, mm
Fig. 3. Transient change of axial temperature distributions during
half-period in the CFRC system (without thermal load).
bustion, heat transfer and ¯uid dynamics in the porous
body and a bias towards the initial condition in starting
up the combustor.
Fig. 4 shows comparison of temperature distributions
between the OWFC and the CFRC. The measured
temperature distribution at the end of the half-period for
the forward ¯ow of the CFRC is illustrated because of its
transient behavior. Unlike the CFRC system the OWFC
gives constant temperatures when it reaches the thermal
equilibrium condition. The steep increase in tempera-
tures at the upstream end for the two systems is nearly
equal. The CFRC yields a slightly lower maximum
temperature (T4 ) than the OWFC (T5 ). This is attributed
to the hot zone for the CFRC being located nearer the
upstream end than that of the OWFC, causing a greater
radiation heat loss to the upstream boundary. Despite
the lowering in the maximum temperature for the
CFRC, its equivalence ratio used in the experiment is
U ˆ 0:4, which is relatively lower than that of the OWFC
…U ˆ 0:52† at the same thermal input, CL ˆ 1:6 kW.
This is attributed to reversing the ¯ow direction of the
mixture through the combustor at regular time intervals.
Upon reversing the ¯ow direction of the mixture through
the other side of the combustor (i.e. the forward ¯ow),
the mixture is then e€ectively preheated by the hot po-
rous ceramic being heated by the hot combustion gas
from the preceding half-period (i.e. the backward ¯ow)
yielding a rapid decrease in T2 as shown in Fig. 3.
Therefore, an e€ective internal heat recirculation from
the hot exhaust gas to the cool mixture was then gener-
ated by means of the simultaneously occurring thermal
storage e€ect and the inter-phase heat transfer by the
convection and thermal radiation in the porous ceramic.
As a result, the time-averaged mean exhaust gas tem-
perature (Tex;av ) during a half-period of the CFRC is
relatively low at 657 °C when compared with the exhaust
gas temperature (T9 ) of the OWFC system, which is
approximately at 800 °C. This certi®es a more ecient
preheating e€ect from the hot combustion gas to the cool
mixture for the CFRC than for the OWFC. Both of the
16 00
t=0 s CL = 1.6 kW CFRC: u = 0.35 m/s, Φ = 0.4, thp = 60 s
t = 15 s
14 00
OWFC: u = 0.29 m/s, Φ= 0.52
CFRC: Tex, av
t = 30 s 12 00
t = 60 s T3 T4 T5
10 00 T6 T T8
7 T9
T, C
80 0
T10
60 0
forward flow
40 0
T2
20 0 T1 water tube
bed length
250 300 -50 0 50 100 15 0 200 250 300
x, mm
Fig. 4. Comparison of axial temperature distributions between the
OWFC and the CFRC (without thermal load).
 S. Jugjai et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 25 (2001) 183±192 187

systems yield the same temperature drop across the tube u = 0.29 m/s, Φ= 0.52, thp= 90 s for CFRC(1)
due to heat loss through the tube wall. u = 0.35 m/s, Φ= 0.4, thp = 90 s for CFRC(2)
CL = 1.6 kW
20 u = 0.35 m/s, Φ= 0.4, thp = 120 s for CFRC(3)

3.2. Comparison of performance between the OWFC and 16.17 % 15.98 % 15.98 %
the CFRC (with thermal load) 15

ηth, %
12.28 %
Fig. 5 shows comparison of the thermal structure in
terms of the axial temperature distributions between the 10
OWFC and the CFRC with water ¯owing through the
tube at various experimental conditions. For clarity only
the temperature values at the end of the considered half- 5

period for the forward ¯ow of the CFRC were plotted

throughout the studies. Large temperature drops across
the water tube were observed owing to the thermal ra-
diation loss and the forced convection heat loss, re-
spectively, from the porous ceramic and from the hot
gas to the water tube embedded. A more ecient in-
ternal energy recirculation for the CFRC than that of
the OWFC was again warranted by a lower time-aver-
aged mean exhaust gas temperature (Tex;av ) than the
exhaust gas temperature of the OWFC (T9 ) in every case.
At the same experimental condition of u ˆ 0:29 m/s and
U ˆ 0:52 (a comparison between the OWFC and the
CFRC(1)), the CFRC(1) yielded a slightly higher max-
imum temperature (T3 ) but lower thermal eciency gth
(ratio of rate of heat transferred to the water to the
thermal input, CL) than those of the OWFC as shown in
Fig. 6. These may be attributed to a di€erence in the hot
zone location of the two systems, i.e. the CFRC(1) with
higher level of heat recirculation tends to give a hot zone
established near the combustor entrance (at T3 ), whereas
the OWFC yields the hot zone stabilized deep inside the
porous medium (at T4 ). Therefore, more radiative heat
loss from the combustor entrance can be expected for
the CFRC(1) than for the OWFC. Furthermore, the
optical distance (multiplication product of the absorp-
tion coecient of the porous ceramic and the geomet-
rical distance) from the hot zone location to the water
tube for the CFRC(1) was relatively large causing a
reduction in the radiation e€ect from the high-temper-
0
(1) (2) (3)
OWFC CFRC
Combustion systems
Fig. 6. Comparison of gth between the OWFC system and the CFRC
system.
ature zone to the water tube, resulting in a low thermal
eciency. In view of the emission pollutants, the
CFRC(1) yielded a lower CO emission than the OWFC,
while the other quantities NOx and combustion e-
ciency gcomb for the two systems were nearly equal as
shown in Fig. 7. This is because the CFRC(1) was less
a€ected by ¯ame quenching than the OWFC.
Since the OWFC and the CFRC(1) yielded di€erent
hot zones at the same experimental condition (u ˆ 0:29
m/s, U ˆ 0:52, CL ˆ 1.6 kW) a reasonable comparison of
the heat transfer performance between the two systems
must be based on the same hot zone location, though
being somewhat crude. There are two possible methods
for moving the hot zone location of the CFRC(1) until it
comes close to the water tube: by increasing the ¯ow
velocity u or by increasing the half-period thp , while the
thermal input CL was kept constant at 1.6 kW. Both of
the methods were used in the experiment.
The ®rst one was done by increasing u from 0.29 m/s
(CFRC(1)) to 0.35 m/s (CFRC(2)) (U was inevitably

1600
OWFC: u = 0.29 m/s, Φ= 0.52

1400
CL = 1.6 kW CFRC(1): u = 0.29 m/s, Φ= 0.52 thp = 90 s
CFRC(2): u = 0.35 m/s, Φ= 0.4, thp = 90 s
CFRC(3): u = 0.35 m/s, Φ= 0.4, thp = 120 s
1200 Tex,av for CFRC(1)
T3 T Tex,av for CFRC(2)
4 Tex,av for CFRC(3)
1000
T5 T8
T, C

T7 T9
o

800
T10
600
forward flow
400
T2 T6
200 T1 water tube
bed length
0
-50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300

x, mm

Fig. 5. Comparison of axial temperature distributions between the Fig. 7. Comparison of emission characteristics and combustion e-
OWFC and the CFRC (with thermal load). ciencies (with thermal load).
188 S. Jugjai et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 25 (2001) 183±192

decreased from 0.52 to 0.4) at a constant thp ˆ 90 s. The

hot zone then moved closer to the water tube and was
located at the same position as that of the OWFC (at the
location of T4 ) as shown in Fig. 5. This resulted in a
signi®cant increase in the porous medium temperature
at both sides of the water tube (T5 and T6 ). Conse-
quently, gth markedly increased from 12.28% (CFRC(1))
to 15.98% (CFRC(2)), which is comparable to that of
the OWFC as shown in Fig. 6. However, the increase in
gth for the CFRC(2) was sacri®ced to a relatively large
increase in the CO emission when compared with that of
the OWFC as shown in Fig. 7. This behavior may be
attributed to a combined e€ect of the decrease in the
corresponding adiabatic ¯ame temperature and a
change in the local quenching as the apparent hot zone
moves closer to the water tube. There is the possibility of
excessive quenching caused by inaccurate determination Fig. 8. E€ect of U for the CFRC (with thermal load).
of the ¯ame location. If the ¯ame was over-pushed to-
wards the water tube, complete combustion cannot be
achieved, leading to a considerable increase in the CO
emission. Flame locations should therefore be calcu-
lated, instead of assumed to be the apparent hot zone
location. Because of the low temperature levels and
relatively low equivalence ratio low NOx is expected. In
the investigated operating range, NOx emission values
stayed below 4 ppm. The CFRC(2) has proved, though
being inferior in CO emission, to be superior in the heat
transfer performance to the OWFC, since the CFRC(2)
is capable of providing a relatively lean combustion
condition with a comparable thermal eciency.
The second possible method involves an increase in
displacement time of the hot zone. This was done by
increasing the half-period thp from 90 s (CFRC(2)) to
120 s (CFRC(3)), while u and U, respectively, were ®xed
at 0.35 m/s and 0.4. As shown in Fig. 5 the porous
medium temperature at both sides of the water tube (T5 Fig. 9. E€ect of U for the OWFC (with thermal load).
and T6 for the CFRC(3)) were slightly increased when
compared with those of the CFRC(2). The axial tem-
perature distribution as well as the hot zone location the OWFC. The temperature pro®les of the CFRC
and the temperature drop across the water tube for the system were those at the end of a typical half-period
CFRC(2) and CFRC(3) were nearly identical with the (thp ˆ 60 s) of the forward ¯ow. In this study, attention
exception of the downstream side of the water tube was focussed on a study of the e€ect of the equivalence
where the CFRC(3) yielded lower T7 , T8 and T9 than the ratio within the range studied on the heat transfer per-
CFRC(2). Both systems yielded the same thermal e- formance for each system independently rather than a
ciency of gth ˆ 15:98% and nearly constant values of direct comparison of the performance between them.
NOx and gcomb with the exception of CO emission of the The equivalence ratio is expected to have a dominating
CFRC(3), the value of which is increased further as e€ect on the thermal structure, since the thermal input is
shown in Fig. 7. It seems that a certain optimum value proportional to it. The maximum combustion temper-
of thp can result in an e€ective increase in gth because the atures of the two systems markedly decreased with U.
hot zone is located at the appropriate position in rela- The hot zone location of the CFRC also changed with U
tion to the water tube. If thp exceeds the optimum value, from the position of T3 to T4 , whereas that of the OWFC
gth would no longer increase, only the CO emission. was still ®xed at the position of T3 . Unlike the com-
Detailed study on the e€ect of thp on gth will be described bustion temperatures, the porous medium temperature
afterwards. for each system at both sides of the water tube (T5 and
T6 ) were almost constant irrespective of U. Variation of
3.3. E€ect of equivalence ratio U the thermal eciencies gth with U for each system is
shown in Fig. 10. Two possible advantages for
Figs. 8 and 9, respectively, show the e€ect of the the CFRC over the OWFC were observed from the
equivalence ratio U on the thermal structure in terms of experiment. The CFRC has shown a tendency in lean
the axial temperature distributions for the CFRC and combustion when compared with the OWFC, e.g. the
 S. Jugjai et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 25 (2001) 183±192 189

Fig. 11. E€ect of U on emission characteristics.

Fig. 10. E€ect of U on gth of the OWFC and the CFRC.

self-sustained combustion condition for the CFRC at

even U ˆ 0:36 was still maintained, whereas that of the
OWFC was limited at a relatively high U ˆ 0:5. At
U ˆ 0:5 a gradual decrease in the combustion tempera-
ture of the OWFC was initially observed before it de-
creased steeply at a certain value at which ¯ame
extinction occurred. Therefore, U ˆ 0:5 is the lean limit
for the OWFC when using u ˆ 0:29 m/s. In addition, the
CFRC yielded steeper downstream temperature gradi-
ents of the tube than the OWFC, even though U for the
CFRC was relatively low. The CFRC, therefore, was
expected to provide a more ecient thermal radiation
transfer from the porous ceramic to the downstream
side of the water pipe than the OWFC. A comparable
thermal eciency of gth ˆ 15:5% for the CFRC (at Fig. 12. E€ect of thp on axial temperature distributions (with thermal
U ˆ 0:36) and gth ˆ 16:17% for the OWFC (at U ˆ 0.52) load).
was observed in Fig. 10, even though the CFRC yielded
a relatively lean combustion condition when compared
with the OWFC. The second advantage for the CFRC distributions of the CFRC. When thp was increased from
over the OWFC is that gth for the CFRC tends to be 30 to 120 s, the maximum temperature was moderately
inversely proportional to the equivalence ratio U, changed, whereas the apparent hot zone location tends
whereas that of the OWFC rapidly decreases with U. to move towards the tube (from the position of T3 to T4 ).
This opposite phenomenon potentially results from the This could yield an increase in the porous medium
e€ect of change in the ¯ow direction of the mixture into temperature at both sides of the water tube (T5 and T6 ),
the combustor at regular time intervals of the CFRC. including the heat transferred to the water tube by
This could yield a drastic improvement in the internal convection and by thermal radiation from the porous
heat recirculation, ¯ame location, mixing and the heat ceramic. Therefore, gth almost linearly increased with thp
transfer coecient between the porous ceramic plates as shown in Fig. 13. The maximum gth of 15.98% was
and the gas. Both of the systems yielded increase in CO reached at thp ˆ 90 s. It seems that the half-period of
emissions and decrease in the combustion eciency thp ˆ 90 s is the optimum value for this experiment.
gcomb as U decreases as shown in Fig. 11 owing to the When thp was further increased up to 120 s there were no
decrease in their corresponding adiabatic ¯ame tem- signi®cant changes in gth as well as NOx emissions with
peratures. Again, a small amount of NOx of less than 5 the exception of the CO emission as shown in Fig. 14. If
ppm was produced by the two systems during this the half-period thp is further increased, ¯ame blow-o€
combustion process because of the low combustion occurs owing to a strong quenching e€ect as the ¯ame
temperature levels. comes close to the water tube.

3.4. E€ect of half-period, thp 3.5. E€ect of ¯ow velocity, u

Fig. 12 shows the e€ect of the half-period thp on the Since the OWFC yields a narrower operating ¯ow
thermal structures in terms of the axial temperature range than the CFRC, attention has been focussed on
190 S. Jugjai et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 25 (2001) 183±192

20

Φ = 0.4, u.thp = 21 m
15

ηth , %
10

0
0. 30 0.36 0.42 0.48 0.54 0.60 0.66 0.72

u, m/s
Fig. 13. E€ect of thp on gth of the CFRC. Fig. 16. E€ect of u on gth of the CFRC.

20 100 axial temperature distributions of the CFRC. The ¯ow

CL= 1.6 kW, Φ = 0.4, u = 0.35 m/s velocity u has an e€ect on the ¯ame location while the
experimental conditions require a ®xed ¯ame location.
CO, ppm x 10 ; NOx, ppm

98
15
However, it is impossible in this study to determine the
exact ¯ame location because there is a limit number of
the thermocouples used. Thus, in this study, the ap-
96
ηcomb, %

CO
-2

10
ηcomb parent hot zone instead of the ¯ame location was
NOx 94
controlled in studying the e€ect of the ¯ow velocity.
Based on the transient behavior, the displacement of
the hot zone inside the porous medium during a half-
5
92

period can be considered to be proportional to the

0 90
product of the ¯ow velocity and the half-period uthp . If
0 30 60 90 120 150 uthp is kept constant, the e€ect of the ¯ow velocity on
thp, s displacement of the hot zone remains the same. Thus,
the production constant of uthp ˆ 21 m was used in the
Fig. 14. E€ect of thp on emission characteristics and gcomb of the CFRC experiment. As expected, the gas temperature increased
system (with thermal load). signi®cantly throughout the entire region of the
combustor when u increased from 0.35 to 0.65 m/s at a
constant U ˆ 0:4. The hot zone location was ®xed at
16 00 the position of T4 , the value of which is maximum in
14 00
u = 0.65 m/s
u = 0.47 m/s
Φ = 0.4, u.thp = 21 m every case. The temperatures surrounding the water
u = 0.35 m/s tube T5 and T6 almost linearly increased with u. How-
ever, a moderate increase in gth with u was observed as
Tex, av, for u =0.65 m/s
12 00
Tex,av, for u = 0.47 m/s T4
Tex,av, for u = 0.35 m/s T7 T8 shown in Fig. 16. This is because the increase in the
10 00 T5 T9 heat transferred to the water tube, which is directly
T3
T, C

proportional to the increase in the thermal input (CL)

o

80 0 T10
or u, was balanced by an increase in the heat loss from
60 0
forward flow the combustor by convection. As u increased, the CO
40 0 T6 emission signi®cantly decreased, whereas the NOx
T2 emission slightly increase from 2 to 5 ppm because of
T1 water tube
20 0
bed length
an increase in the combustion temperature as shown in
0
Fig. 17.
-50 0 50 10 0 150 20 0 250 30 0

x, mm

Fig. 15. E€ect of u on axial temperature distributions of the CFRC 4. Practical signi®cance/usefulness
(with thermal load).
A commercial new SCH having high combustion
temperature at relatively high ¯ow velocity, low equiv-
studying the combustion and the heat transfer char- alence ratio, preferable ¯ame stability and ¯ammability
acteristics at an extended ¯ow velocity of the CFRC limit would have many potential applications to replace
system. Fig. 15 shows e€ect of the ¯ow velocity u on the conventional OWFC. These may include:
 S. Jugjai et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 25 (2001) 183±192 191

20 100 mance with a leaner combustion condition than the

Φ = 0.4, u.thp = 21 m/s OWFC. The CFRC can not only maintain relatively
high thermal eciency at a relatively small equiva-
CO, ppm x 10 ; NOX, ppm

98
15
lence ratio, but also yield preferable ¯ame stability
and ¯ammability limit together with an ecient inter-

ηcomb, %
nal heat recirculation from the hot exhaust gases to
96

the cool mixture in comparison with the OWFC.

-2

10
CO
ηcomb 94 3. The equivalence ratio has a signi®cant e€ect on the
NOx heat transfer performance and the combustion char-
5
92 acteristics in both systems. Decreasing the equiva-
lence ratio decreases the combustion temperatures
of the two systems, thereby increasing their CO emis-
sions. In view of the thermal performance, the two
0 90
0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50 0.55 0.60 0.65 0.7 0

u, m/s systems give opposite results. The thermal eciency

of the CFRC signi®cantly increases as the equivalence
Fig. 17. E€ect of u on emission characteristics and gcomb of the CFRC ratio decreases, whereas that of the OWFC rapidly
system (with thermal load). decreases.
4. Half-period signi®cantly a€ects the thermal eciency.
Increasing the half-period within an optimum value
1. an integrated combustor and heat exchanger for increases the thermal eciency signi®cantly, because
burning low-heat-content and toxic gas (e.g. volatile the hot zone location is a strong function of the
organic compounds, VOCs) for the purpose of energy half-period. However, an increase in the thermal e-
saving and mitigation of the emission pollutants; ciency with half-period is accompanied by an increase
2. a state-of-the-art technology for a new version of a in the CO emission. Too long half-period, however,
surface combustor±heater and more advanced ther- has no signi®cant e€ect on thermal eciency but
mal systems such as highly ecient and high-capacity leads to a further increase in the CO emission and
boilers, steam superheaters and thermal ¯uid heaters ¯ame extinction.
for industrial applications. In the residential and 5. The CFRC yielded a well-stabilized ¯ame at a much
commercial areas, this concept may ®nd applications higher ¯ow velocity than the OWFC. Increasing the
in the development of highly compact, ecient water ¯ow velocity moderately increases the thermal e-
heaters and air heaters. ciency, because an increase in the thermal eciency
The research presented here elucidated several charac- with the ¯ow velocity is balanced by an increase in
teristic of the SCH equipped with the CFRC technique. the heat loss by convection. However, the ¯ow veloc-
With further development a commercial SCH of this ity a€ects the CO emission signi®cantly, because the
type may be possible. combustion temperatures strongly depend on the
amount of thermal input, which is linearly propor-
tional to the ¯ow velocity.
5. Conclusions

This research was undertaken to explore the feasi-

bility of the SCH equipped with the new concept of the 6. Recommendation and future research needs
CFRC of the mixture. The combustion phenomena and
the heat transfer characteristics of the new CFRC were Much work remains to be done to further investigate
evaluated by comparing its thermal eciencies and the the combustion regime and the heat transfer character-
combustion characteristics with those of the conven- istics within the new version of the SCH equipped with
tional OWFC. Operating parameters such as equiva- the concept of the CFRC. In particular, a better un-
lence ratio, half-period and ¯ow velocity expected to derstanding is needed of thermal structure with regard
control the performance of the new CFRC were clari- to radiative properties and physical properties of the
®ed. The following conclusions can be drawn from the porous ceramic used. Furthermore, it is recommended
experimental results. that development of the system with optimization design
1. Thermal eciency is a strong function of the hot zone for thermal eciency and emission characteristics is
location in relation to the ®xed water tube. With the de®nitely required for future work on this type of
same experimental condition of ¯ow velocity and combustor. This may not rely solely on experiments, and
equivalence ratio, both the CFRC and the OWFC mathematical and numerical modeling should give a
yielded di€erent apparent hot zone location in rela- signi®cant contribution. However, care should be taken
tion to the water pipe. However, the CFRC provided in simulating a real combustor. At least a two-dimen-
¯exibility in the apparent hot zone location by adjust- sional formulation should be considered so that all of
ing the half-period. the complex phenomena as well as the particular fea-
2. Basing on the same apparent hot zone location, the tures of the burner geometry may be incorporated to
CFRC can yield a satisfactory heat transfer perfor- obtain accurate predictions. The ability of the new SCH
192 S. Jugjai et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 25 (2001) 183±192
to be scaled up in capacity also needs to be examined
further.
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