Investigation of heat sink of endothermic hydrocarbon fuels

Endothermic hydrocarbon fuels are advanced coolants for high-temperature structures of spacecraft. No data of tested-cooling-ability of endothermic fuels have been broadly discussed in literature. In this work a high-temperature flow calorimeter was designed, and the cooling capacity of six different hydrocarbon fuels were measured. Experimental results showed that these hydrocarbon fuels have capacity for cooling high-temperature structures, and that the cooling capacity of fuel N-1 can reach 3.15 M J/kg, which can nearly satisfy the requirement of thermal management for a Mach 3 cruise aircraft, whose heat sink requirement is about 3.5 M J/kg. The endothermic velocity of hydrocarbon fuels was also measured by the calorimeter.

Catalytic cracking of endothermic fuels in coated tube reactor

Suspensoid of HZSM-5 or HY zeolites mixed with a self-made ceramic-like binder was coated on the inner wall of a tubular reactor by gas-aided fluid displacement technology.The coated zeolites were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction(XRD),Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR)and scanning electron microscopy(SEM).The coating thickness is 10–20 mm and the particle size of the zeolites is in the range of 1–5 mm.In the coated reactor,cracking of endothermic fuels including n-dodecane and aviation fuel RP-3 was carried out separately under supercritical conditions at 600uC and 625uC to investigate their heat sinks and conversion of catalytic reactions.For the reaction catalyzed by HY(25%mass fraction)coating,the heat sink capacity of ndodecane are 815.7 and 901.9 kJ/kg higher than that of the bare tube at 600uC and at 625uC,respectively.Conversion of n-dodecane also increases from 42%to 60%at 600uC and from 66%to 80%at 625uC.The coated zeolite can significantly inhibit the carbon deposition during supercritical cracking reactions.

Research Progress of Catalysts and Initiators for Promoting the Cracking of Endothermic Hydrocarbon Fuels

Catalytic/initiated cracking of endothermic hydrocarbon fuels is an eff ective technology for cooling a hypersonic aircraft with a high Mach number(over 5).Catalysts and initiators can promote fuel cracking at low temperatures,increase fuel conversion and the heat sink capacity,and suppress coke deposition,thereby reducing waste heat.Catalysts mainly include metal oxide catalysts,noble metal catalysts and metal nanoparticles,zeolite catalysts,nanozeolite catalysts,and coating catalysts.Moreover,initiators roughly include nitrogenous compounds,oxygenated compounds,and hyperbranched polymer initiators.In this review,we aim to summarize the catalysts and initiators for cracking endothermic hydrocarbon fuels and their mechanisms for promoting cracking.This review will facilitate the development of the synthesis and exploration of catalysts and initiators.

Effect of cis/trans molecular structures on pyrolysis performance and heat sink of decalin isomers

Decalin is considered as an important compound of high-energy-density endothermic fuel,which is an ideal on-board coolant for thermal management of advanced aircraft.However,decalin contains two isomers with a tunable composition,and their effects on the pyrolysis performance,such as the heat sink and coking tendency have not been demonstrated.Herein,we investigated the pyrolysis of decalin isomers,i.e.,cis-decalin,trans-decalin and their mixtures(denoted as mix-decalin),in order to clarify the effects of the cis-/trans-structures on the pyrolysis performance of decalin fuels.The pyrolysis results confirmed that conversion of the tested fuels(600–725℃,4 MPa)decreased in the order cis-decalin>mix-decalin>trans-decalin.Detailed analyses of the pyrolysis products were used to compare the product distributions from cis-decalin,mix-decalin and trans-decalin,and the yields of some typical components(such as cyclohexene,1-methylcyclohexene,benzene and toluene)showed significant differences,which could be ascribed to deeper cracking of cis-decalin.Additionally,the heat sinks and coking tendencies of the decalins decreased in the order cis-decalin>mix-decalin>trans-decalin.This work demonstrates the relationship between the cis/trans structures and the pyrolysis performance of decalin,which provides a better understanding of the structure-activity relationships of endothermic hydrocarbon fuels.

Thermodynamic analysis for a chemically recuperated scramjet

Endothermic hydrocarbon fuel is regarded as an optimal fuel for a scramjet with regenerative cooling,which provides extra cooling through endothermic chemical conversion to avoid the severly limited cooling capacity when conventional fuels are adopted for cooling.Although endothermic cooling is proposed from the view point that the heat sink of a conventional fuel is insufficient,the heat-absorbing through endothermic chemical reaction is actually a chemical recuperation process because the wasted heat dissipated from the engine thermal structure is recovered through the endothermic chemical reaction.Therefore,the working process of a scramjet with endothermic hydrocarbon fuel cooling is a chemical recuperative cycle.To analyze the chemical recuperative cycle of a chemically recuperated scramjet engine,we defined physical and chemical recuperation effectivenesses and heating value increment rate,and derived engine performance parameters with chemical recuperation.The heat value benefits from both physical and chemical recuperations,and it increases with the increase in recuperation effectiveness.The scramjet performance parameters also increase with the increase in chemical recuperation effectiveness.The increase in chemical recuperation effectiveness improves both the performances of the fuel cooling system and the combustion system.The results of analysis prove that the existence of a chemical recuperation process greatly improves the performance of the whole scramjet.