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Innovative Designs of Microcombustor for Portable Power Applications.

Conference Paper · November 2018

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 Innovative Designs of Micro Combustors for Portable Power Applications.
B. Aravind, Sudarshan Kumar
Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076, India

ABSTRACT
A couple of compact thermoelectric based power generators were prototyped in the present study. A detailed comparison
of the performance of single and dual micro combustor based power generators were carried out. Dual micro combustor
offers better thermal characteristics than the single combustor due to increased flame-surface interaction and enhanced
heat recirculation through solid walls. Power output of 3.89W with a conversion efficiency of 4.03% and power output
of 4.52W with a conversion efficiency of 4.66% were achieved for single and dual micro power generator respectively.

1. Introduction 2. Details of Micro Combustor

The interest in MEMS devices has increased, over the
past few decades [1]. These devices require a reliable
power source, which is a major challenge. The most
advanced Lithium-Ion batteries have only an energy
density of 0.2 kWh/kg, thereby making them insufficient
to power for long duration and causing adverse
environmental effects on its disposal. Hence, there is an
urgent need for light weight, compact, long duration
power supply with high energy density[2]. Till now, many
micro power generation based systems have been
successfully tested including micro-gas turbine, micro-
thermoelectric device and the micro thermo photovoltaic
system. A catalytic combustor was coupled to a TEG
and a conversion efficiency of 2.85% was achieved
with a 9.86W of electric power output by Merotto et al.
[3]. Yoshida et al. [4] were able to produce 184mW
power with 2.8% efficiency of conversion. A couple of
microcombustor configuration based micro power
generators are used in the present study. Two TEG
modules are installed with appropriate heat sinks to
achieve maximum power output from the setup. The
compactness of the system and power output with high
conversion efficiency demonstrates the possibility of its
application in several portable scale power generators
like remote, stand-alone, military and aerospace
applications.
2. Conceptual Design of Micro Power Generator
Fig.2 Schematic of single and dual micro combustor.
Fig. 2 shows the schematic diagram of a single and
dual micro combustor configurations consisting of one
and two micro combustors respectively, in a rectangular
aluminium chamber of size 30×30×30mm3. Each micro
combustor consists of three cylindrical backward facing
steps and two recirculating holes of 4 mm diameter[5].
The inlet diameter of the microcombustor is 2mm and is
gradually increased to 6mm. The dimensions of the
combustor are the same as that of author’s previous
studies[5]. The steps given in the micro combustor create
a sudden flow expansion thereby inducing local
recirculation near the steps. Along with these combustors,
two 4mm diameter holes are provided to expel the
combustion products. These holes also help in the
extraction of excess enthalpy from exhaust gases and
preheat the fresh incoming mixture and concurrently
transfer of excess heat to thermoelectric modules.
3. Results and Discussion

Fig.1 Conceptual design of TEG power generator.

Fig. 1 depicts the working principle of a combustion
driven thermoelectric power generator system. It
essentially consists of three parts namely, micro
combustor, thermoelectric generator (TEG) and a heat
sink. The heat source is the microcombustor and the water
cooling jacket acts as the heat sink. By the principle of
Seebeck Effect, the difference in temperature is utilized
to convert the thermal energy to electricity by the thermo-
electric generator.
Fig.3 Comparison of thermal performance of single
and dual combustor.
It can be seen from Fig.3 that the average surface
temperature reaches around 673K for a 6m/s mixture
velocity. However, the surface temperature drops
significantly to safe operating limits of the modules
(<523K) while mounting the modules to the micro
combustor. There is a notable rise in the heat transfer
from the exhaust gas to the combustor for the dual
combustor configuration when compared to single micro

Corresponding author: B. Aravind

E-mail address: aravindbpillai69@gmail.com
 combustor (ΔTdual<ΔTsingle). This is because of the
increased flame–wall interaction and better heat
recirculation. Comprehensively, around 15K rise is
observed for a dual combustor configuration compared to
a single combustor configuration. The overall power
output and conversion efficiency of the micro power
generator system is higher when it uses a dual combustor.
Thermal input and power output as a function of mixture
flow rate are compared when =0.9, for dual and single
micro combustor configurations, as shown in Fig. 4. The
trend for the power curve is observed to be increasing
which additionally gives an insight that power outputs are
higher for higher mixture flow rates.
Fig.4 Variation of output power with mixture
velocity.
The maximum power output of 3.89W and 4.6W is
obtained for single and dual combustors respectively,
with a mixture flow rate of 2.35g/min (Uin=10m/s) and an
approximate power input of 97W. The efficiency of
conversion (ηcon) for the two combustor configurations
follows a similar trend as shown in Fig 4. The ηcon is a
strong function of the combustor wall temperature
because the electric power output is dependent on the ΔT,
(TH-TC) across the TEG as shown in Fig.5.
Fig.5 Comparison of conversion efficiency for single
and dual combustor power generator.
The profile of the temperature on the combustor wall and
enhanced flame-surface interaction in the dual combustor
will have a higher influence on the increasing temperature
of the wall. An increase in the residence time of the
reacting mixture in different zones helps in increasing the
heat transfer to the solid wall. This can be clearly seen
from the increase in ΔT (TH – TC) of the dual combustor
as shown in Fig. 5. A 10-20K increase in temperature
difference from single to dual combustor leads to an
increase of around 0.2 to 0.6% in ηcon for the dual
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combustor system. Recent numerical studies [6, 7] also
predict similar improvements in thermal characteristics
of multichannel micro combustors over a single channel
micro combustor. Numerical modelling of flame
stabilization behavior in a dual microcombustor is
currently being done to obtain a better and deeper
understanding of the combustion and thermal behaviour.
4. Concluding Remarks
A detailed performance comparison of single and dual
microcombustor based thermoelectric micro power
generators were carried out in the present study. The dual
combustor based system had a power density of
0.14mW/mm3 with a conversion efficiency of 4.66%,
whereas the single combustor based system showed a
power density of 0.12mW/mm3 with a conversion
efficiency of 4.03%. A superior temperature profile and
higher surface temperature was offered by the dual
microcombustor due to increased flame–surface contact
and better heat recirculation providing better
performance over the single micro combustor. A
maximum power of 4.03W and 4.5W were obtained for
=0.9 at a mixture inlet velocity of 10m/s. The important
advantages of the current system include, (1) improved
thermal and flame stability characteristics of the dual
microcombustor, (2) high power density and high
conversion efficiency of the system, (3) easy to fabricate
from the perspective of application (4) rapid startup time
for system and non-decaying performance with time.
References
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[3] Merotto L, Fanciulli C, Dondè R, De Iuliis S. Appl
Energy. 162, (2016), 346-53.
[4] Yoshida K, Tanaka S, Tomonari S, Satoh D, Esashi M.
J. Microelectromechanical sys. 15, (2006), 195-203.
[5] Aravind B, Raghuram GKS, Kishore VR, Kumar S.
Energy Convers Manag. 165, (2018), 224-34.
[6] Su Y, Cheng Q, Song J, Si M. Energy Convers Manag.
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