Effects of Fuel Flow and Airflow Swirl on Thermal Performance of a Miniature-Scale Combustor for Direct Energy Conversion Systems

Abstract

Micropower generation and micropropulsion are two emerging fields where micro- and miniature-scale combustors are anticipated to play a significant role. Today, there is a growing interest in combustion-based direct energy conversion modules such as thermoelectric and thermophotovoltaic micropower generators. In this study, the effects of swirl addition to fuel flow and airflow on combustor operational envelope, flame blowout limit, combustion efficiency, exhaust gas temperature, mean outer wall temperature, emitter efficiency, and normalized temperature standard deviation of a miniature-scale (mesoscale) combustor are studied under various equivalence ratios. The findings demonstrate that swirling flows improve the flame blowout limit and operational envelope of the combustor; however, this improvement is more significant for airflow swirl. Besides simultaneous swirling flows of fuel and air result in the highest blowout limit. Additionally, it has been shown that swirl addition improves combustion efficiency and causes a significant amount of heat to be generated, which raises the temperature of the exhaust gas, the mean outer wall temperature, and the emitter efficiency. Furthermore, mean outer wall temperature and emitter efficiency have the highest values for simultaneous swirling flows of fuel and air. It is also observed that increasing the fuel flow swirl number generally lessens the normalized temperature standard deviation (NTSD) and consequently improves the combustor wall temperature uniformity, while for the airflow swirl case, a swirler with 30° vane angle for airstream has a lower NTSD than a 45° vane angle swirler. The results obtained in this study provide useful information for designing a combustion-based direct energy conversion module.