Micro adiabatic combustion engine : concept development, simulation and combustion experiments

Graduation date: 2009The current proliferation of portable electronic devices for personal\ud communication, business and entertainment has created a demand for high energy density\ud power supplies. A hydrocarbon fuel with a conversion efficiency of over\ud 15% can provide greater energy density than current battery technology for these\ud applications. Current micro-scale heat engines do not operate at an efficiency great\ud enough to displace the current electrochemical battery. The MACE concept was\ud developed to address the key issues limiting the current micro-scale heat engines: heat\ud losses to the surroundings, leakage, friction and combustion. This thesis covers the\ud development of a concept micro-scale engine which consists of two pistons,\ud connected by a regenerator. The pistons are driven by a specific motion linkage to\ud produce the desired flow patterns and to isolate heat to one region in the engine to\ud reduce losses. The engine utilizes catalytic combustion which was characterized\ud using a test apparatus to determine the effects of the equivalence ratio, volumetric\ud flow rates and volume amounts on the combustion temperature of propane-air on a\ud platinum catalyst under various flow conditions