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 (F=1), with the flow rate of fuel set at 4.48*10⁴ kg/s, and flow rate of air at 3.854*10³ kg/s. 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 NO_x 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.