Internal Combustion Engines and Sprays

• EXPERIMENTAL CHARACTERIZATION OF LEAN COMBUSTION INSTABILITY IN A LIQUID-FUELED SWIRLING COMBUSTOR

The GREEN ENGINE LAB supports research activities on lean combustion instability and the development of new technologies as plasma actuators for control of flame instability. The main activities are:

• •          Characterization of flame instability near lean blowout in partially premixed and non premixed liquid fueled combustor;

  •         Flame stability monitoring and characterization through high speed VIS, UV-VIS and NIR flame digital imaging and in particular OH*, CH* and CO2* chemiluminescence;

  •         Flame stability monitoring by statistical and spectral analysis of flame parameters;

  •          Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), Hotwire measurements and Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) measurements.

The lab is equipped with a 300 kW liquid-fueled swirling combustor. The burner can be operated with either non-premixed or partially premixed mode fuel injection, and it permits adjustable settings, allowing the study of a wide range of flame types. Air may be preheated up to 700 K with an electrical heater. In the present activity air was heated at 500K. The combustion chamber can be pressured up to 3.5 bara.

• INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES

The research activity, mainly experimental and in the field of compression ignition internal combustion engines, is focused on: 1) Combustion analysis in engines fueled with alternative - liquid and gaseous - fuels in dual fuel mode; 2) Combustion analysis and non-intrusive diagnostics; 3) Application of the optimization techniques in the engine field. The research activity is mainly developed at the "Engines" and "Combustion and Spray" laboratories. 

PUBLICATIONS