DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MED415 PROJECT PHASE

I
Development of self-aspirating micro combustor for portable power generation
PRESENTED BY

31/01/2024
1
Abstract
The high energy density of hydrocarbon fuels creates a great opportunity to develop
combustion based micro-power generation systems to meet increasing demands for
portable power devices, micro unmanned aerial vehicles, micro-satellite thrusters, and
micro chemical reactors and sensors. In this project, the recent technological
development of micro-power systems and progress in fundamental understanding of
micro-scale combustion are studied. At first, micro-scale combustion regimes are
categorized by using different physical and chemical length and time scales and the
resulting non-dimensional parameters and their correlations to various combustion
regimes for micro and mesoscale combustion are discussed. Secondly, the recent
successful developments and technical challenges of micro-thrusters, micro internal
combustion engines, and micro chemical reactors summarized.
Abstract
Thirdly, the underlying fundamental mechanisms and ignition and flame dynamics in
micro-scale combustion are reviewed, respectively, in premixed, non-premixed,
catalytic, and non-equilibrium, micro-scale combustion systems. The conventional
concepts of combustion limits such as the flammability limit, quenching diameter,
and flame extinction and heat recirculation are revisited. The unique thermal and
chemical transport mechanisms such as flame structure interaction, radical
quenching, non-equilibrium transport appearing in micro-scale combustion are
discussed. New flame regimes and instabilities such as flame bifurcation, weak
flames, flame cells/streets, thermal and kinetic quenching, flameless low temperature
catalytic combustion, repetitive extinction and ignition, spinning flames, spiral and
multi- branched flames, symmetric and asymmetric oscillating flames are studied.
References
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