Combustion Enhancement by Active Control

Abstract

Active control has many potential applications in the domain of combustion. Active instability control has been successfully demonstrated in a variety of laboratory combustors and its practical use is currently being explored. Active control methods also appear to be suited to the optimization of combustion system operation. The external controller may be used for example to extend the stability margin of the system, reduce the pollutant emission levels, augment the combustion and thermal efficiency, or modify the temperature distribution in the exhaust gases. This article describes applications of active control towards improving combustion, with specific attention paid to pollutant emissions reduction. Some background material on active combustion control is given, along with a discussion of strategies for NOx reduction, and a review of experiments on flame interactions with external perturbations. The possibilities for active management of the reactive region are described. Applications of active control are illustrated by typical results obtained in recent experiments.