Characteristics of Hydrogen Combustion in a Rapidly Mixed Tubular Flame Burner

Abstract

Hydrogen is a carbon-free fuel expecting to be used in either combustion devices or fuel cells. However, high diffusivity and reactivity of hydrogen may result in potential hazards of flame flash back in conventional combustion systems, which greatly restricts the wide application of hydrogen fuel in engines. In this study, an inherently safe technique of rapidly mixed tubular combustion is adopted to attempt the hydrogen combustion, in which fuel and oxidizer are individually injected into the cylindrical combustor. Two methods of fuel and oxidizer feeding are tested: (1) hydrogen and air are separately injected from fuel and oxidizer inlets, respectively. Measurements are conducted by varying air flow rate and equivalence ratio (Φ), in which a steady tubular flame can only be obtained below Φ = 0.35, above which the flame becomes unsteady. (2) N2 is adopted as the diluent in both H2 and O2 streams. By adding N2 in the fuel stream to approach the same mean injection velocity as that of N2 and O2 mixture in the oxidizer inlet, fuel/oxidizer mixing is much enhanced, and a steady tubular flame has been achieved at Φ = 0.5. Then the oxygen content in the overall mixture of N2 and O2 is gradually reduced from 0.21 to investigate the combustion characteristics. Flame structure, lean extinction limit, flame stability and laminar burning velocity as well as temperature are investigated under various oxygen contents and equivalence ratios. The results provide a useful guide to the safe operation of hydrogen combustion in the rapidly mixed tubular flame burner.