Impacts of inner/outer reactor heat recirculation on the characteristic of micro-scale combustion system

Flame stability and thermal performance of two different heat recirculation micro-combustors (inner reactor heat recirculation (IHR) and outer reactor heat recirculation (OHR)) are investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and compared together. A two-dimensional steady state CFD model including temperature dependent properties, laminar flow and transport, one step chemical reaction, surface-to-surface radiation, and heat conduction within solid walls has been carried out to assess flame propagation velocity, flame thickness, excess enthalpy, heat loss, and emitter efficiency. It is observed that both cases significantly extend flammability and blow-off limits due to preheating of the reactive mixture. The maximum flame propagation velocities of IHR and OHR in stoichiometric mixture are predicted 160.2 cm/s and 126.1 cm/s, respectively. It is found that super-adiabatic flame temperature takes place when dimensionless excess enthalpy is positive and it is maximum in the stoichiometric equivalence ratio. Heat loss can be varied from 245.8 to 248.6 W for IHR and from 249.6 to 254 W for OHR configuration. Therefore, there is a relative improvement in the Thermal quenching limit of IHR. It is concluded that IHR micro-combustor profoundly affects flame characteristic and stability, but OHR presents a higher range of emitter efficiency. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.