Investigations on Micro-combustor for Its Performance Enhancement

In this work, a swirl micro-combustor has been explored for its performance improvement for the application in micro-thermo photovoltaic (MTPV) power generation. Heat circulation enhancement is studied using an annular ring inside the combustion chamber. To achieve this, distance of the annular ring (L) from the inlet and its height (H or inner diameter) are varied to investigate their effects on temperature distribution using computational fluid dynamics simulations. Results show that the location (L) and height (H) of the annular ring were found to have stabilizing and thermally enhancing effect. The annular rings, from the inlet, located at 55 to 66 percent of total combustor length and with low height, i.e. minimum opening up to 60% (higher inner diameter) produce a more uniform temperature distribution than that of other locations. MTPV systems require a uniform temperature distribution along the outer wall for efficient energy conversion beyond the capability of conventional combustors. Percentage normalized temperature standard deviation (%NTSD) is employed to quantify the optimal L–H combination. The parametric study reveals that the L2H1 or L5H2 configuration gives the lowest deviation (3.8%) and maximum average wall temperature (~1000 K) implying optimal uniform temperature distribution.