An Experimental Approach using Plasma Jets to Realize the Radicals' Effects for Improving Ignition and Combustion

Abstract

To introduce an alternative fuel to a combustion system or develop a more sophisticated system used in aeronautical and other engineering fields, the combustion characteristics of the fuel must be fully understood. Therefore, some effects of radical species, which are involved and play a significant role in the combustion process, must be understood to arrive at a new technology, such as for super-lean combustion or low-quality fuel utilization, which in turn would lead to solutions for recent energy issues. We have developed an original experimental apparatus which can selectively supply radicals appearing in the combustion process by making use of a plasma torch and can be used to understand their effectiveness. A series of trial experiments conducted with di-methyl ether as the test fuel demonstrate that the experimental method proposed is valid and practical, and can be used to evaluate the role of radical species for the ignition/combustion of various gaseous fuels.

Compatibility of Fuels and Radicals Found in Plasma Jets for Improved Premixed Combustion

“…and nitrogen plasma jets (N 2 P.J.) were conducted in order to compare the effectiveness of oxygen atoms and nitrogen atoms in DME-air mixture combustion; spectroscopic measurements in a previous paper 6) reported the presence of O and N atoms in O 2 P.J. and N 2 P.J., respectively.…”

“…In a previous report, 6) we showed that the proposed approach was appropriate for evaluating and comparing the effectiveness of each radical species in terms of ignition limits and combustion completeness for dimethyl ether (DME), CH 3 OCH 3 , a promising next-generation alternative fuel, 7) as a test trial case under some conditions.…”