The Effects of Multiple Swirl Generator Inlets Circumferential Distribution to a Liquid Fuelled Ultra-High Swirl Flameless Combustion Characteristics

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental results of a simple cylindrical shaped, liquid fuelled flameless combustor which utilizes ultra-high swirl flow in the combustion process. 4 different swirl generator inlet configurations were tested in this work. Ethanol fuel were used during flameless mode. The experiments were conducted at equivalence ratio (=1), with the flow rate of fuel set at 30 ml/min, and flow rate of air at 400 scfh. The results revealed that by using all 12 tangential air inlets (swirl generator injectors), the swirl strength was reduced through evenly distributing the position of the injectors circumferentially. As a result, the combustor successfully suppressed the emission of NOx and CO to zero ppm for both gasses. It was also reported that flameless mode was established in all configurations, regardless of the swirl strength.