Experimental Investigation into Combustion Torch Jet Ignition of Methane-Air, Ethylene-Air, and Propane-Air Mixtures

Abstract

Ignitability and the ignition delay time of a combustible mixture in a long combustion chamber, ignited by a hot combustion torch jet generated in a pre-chamber was investigated experimentally in relation to application as a viable igniter method for wave rotor combustors. Methane-air, ethylene-air, and propane-air in varying equivalence ratios were investigated as the combustible mixture in the combustion chamber. The effects of variation in the torch jet fuel, initial equivalence ratio in the pre-chamber, and nozzle geometry on the ignitability and the ignition delay time of combustible mixtures were observed and analyzed. The single-channel wave-rotor combustion rig at Combustion and Propulsion Research Laboratory at the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis was used for this study. High-speed video imaging techniques to observe the ignition and flame propagation in the combustion chamber and fast-response pressure transducers to measure the dynamic pressure fluctuations in the combustion chambers were used in the current study. The present work explains how the experimental procedure and preliminary testing was carried out in order to conduct the necessary testing to find the ignitability and ignition delay time of a combustible mixture. Ignitability of methane, ethylene, and propane were much broader in range compared to conventional spark ignitable lean and rich limit equivalence ratios. The methane and propane ignition lean limits were similar to radical activated ignition lean limits found in previous studies of the same fuels. Ethylene exhibited the widest range in equivalence ratios from 0.4 to 2.4, while methane had the narrowest ranging from equivalence ratio 0.4 to 1.4. The ignition delay studies indicated both chemical kinetics and mixing between the combustion torch jet and the combustible mixture were critical. The mixing phenomena dominated chemical kinetics; unlike in ignition delay studies conducted using shock heated ignition techniques. Ethylene-air mixtures had the shortest ignition delay times ~1 ms for lean but near-stoichiometric mixtures. Methane and propane indicated similar ignition delay time characteristics with lean near-stoichiometric mixtures. The fuel-air equivalence ratio which was used to generate the combustion torch jet and the torch jet nozzle geometry had a direct influence over the ignition delay time in the main chamber combustible mixture. The slightly rich fuel-air ratios used to generate the combustion torch jet had the lowest delay times in igniting the main chamber fuel-air mixtures.