Document Type
Article
Version Deposited
Published Version
Publication Date
10-3-2021
Publication Title
Energies
DOI
10.3390/en14196322
Abstract
Microcombustion attracts interest with its promise of energy dense power generation for electronics. Yet, challenges remain to develop this technology further. Thermal management of heat losses is a known hurdle. Simultaneously, non-uniformities in heat release within the reaction regions also affect the device performance. Therefore a combination of thermal management strategies are necessary for further performance enhancements. Here, a bench top platinum nanoparticle based microcombustion reactor, coupled with thermoelectric generators is used. Methanol-air mixtures achieve room temperature ignition within a catalytic cartridge. In the current study, the reactor design is modified to incorporate two traditional thermal management strategies. By limiting enthalpic losses through the exhaust and reactor sides, using multi-pass preheating channels and heat recirculation, expected improvements are achieved. The combined strategies doubled the power output to 1.01 W when compared to the previous design. Furthermore, a preliminary study of catalyst distribution is presented to mitigate non-uniform catalytic activity within the substrate. To do this, tailored distribution of catalyst particles was investigated. This investigation shows a proof-of-concept to achieve localized control, thus management, over heat generation within substrates. By optimizing heat generation, a highly refined combustion-based portable power devices can be envisioned.
Recommended Citation
Guggilla, Bhanuprakash Reddy, Jack Perelman Camins, Benjamin Taylor, and Smitesh Bakrania. 2021. "Examining Thermal Management Strategies for a Microcombustion Power Device" Energies 14, no. 19: 6322. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14196322
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Comments
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).