Hydrogen/Oxygen Premixed Combustion Characteristics in Micro Porous Media Combustor

AbstractThe micro-combustor is a major component of the micro thermophotovoltaic system. In order to improve the stability and performance efficiency of micro-TPV conversion device, porous media combustor was designed. Porous media combustion can increase flame stability and gain higher conversion efficiency compared with free flame combustor. In this work, the effects of several major parameters on micro combustion, namely material of porous media, hydrogen to oxygen equivalence ratio, porosity of porous media and mixture flow rates were investigated using numerical simulation method. Results indicated that, even though at three different equivalence ratio conditions, SiC is still one of the most suitable porous media material. Besides, high flow velocity and big porosity both lead to high temperature gradient and big pressure drop. The interaction between these two parameters plays an important role in external wall temperature. Analyses reveal that with the appropriate parameters, micro combustor with porous media structure could greatly increase combustion efficiency. Present research will facilitate the optimization and improvement of micro-TPV conversion device