The combustion chamber is an important component for the Stifling engine heated by natural gas. In the paper, we develop a combustion chamber for the Stifling engine which aims to generate 3-5 kWe electric power. The ...The combustion chamber is an important component for the Stifling engine heated by natural gas. In the paper, we develop a combustion chamber for the Stifling engine which aims to generate 3-5 kWe electric power. The combustion chamber includes three main components： combustion module, heat exchange cavity and thermal head. Its feature is that the structure can divide ＂combustion＂ process and ＂heat transfer＂ process into two appar- ent individual steps and make them happen one by one. Since natural gas can mix with air fully before burning, the combustion process can be easily completed without the second wind. The flame can avoid contacting the thermal head of Stifling engine, and the temperature fields can be easily controlled. The designed combustion chamber is manufactured and its performance is tested by an experiment which includes two steps. The experi- mental result of the first step proves that the mixture of air and natural gas can be easily ignited and the flame burns stably. In the second step of experiment, the combustion heat flux can reach 20 kW, and the energy utiliza- tion efficiency of thermal head has exceeded 0.5. These test results show that the thermal performance of com- bustion chamber has reached the design goal, The designed combustion chamber can be applied to a real Stifling engine heated by natural gas which is to generate 3-5 kWe electric power.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51161140332)
文摘The combustion chamber is an important component for the Stifling engine heated by natural gas. In the paper, we develop a combustion chamber for the Stifling engine which aims to generate 3-5 kWe electric power. The combustion chamber includes three main components： combustion module, heat exchange cavity and thermal head. Its feature is that the structure can divide ＂combustion＂ process and ＂heat transfer＂ process into two appar- ent individual steps and make them happen one by one. Since natural gas can mix with air fully before burning, the combustion process can be easily completed without the second wind. The flame can avoid contacting the thermal head of Stifling engine, and the temperature fields can be easily controlled. The designed combustion chamber is manufactured and its performance is tested by an experiment which includes two steps. The experi- mental result of the first step proves that the mixture of air and natural gas can be easily ignited and the flame burns stably. In the second step of experiment, the combustion heat flux can reach 20 kW, and the energy utiliza- tion efficiency of thermal head has exceeded 0.5. These test results show that the thermal performance of com- bustion chamber has reached the design goal, The designed combustion chamber can be applied to a real Stifling engine heated by natural gas which is to generate 3-5 kWe electric power.
