Alkaline earth metal enabled scalar imaging for high-pressure combustion

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

This project will develop a new research tool to enable improvements in the design process for combustors and engines. Exploiting the same principle that creates the bright colors of fireworks, this method uses light emission from hot metal atoms and their combustion products to measure the temperature and other combustion parameters. This method is simpler and cheaper than existing optical techniques and will advance both research and development applications. This project will study exactly how the brightness of the light emission at a range of colors is linked to the temperature and the composition of the fuel-and-air mixture. This knowledge then allows the use of digital photographs of the light emission for the desired measurements, even with three-dimensional resolution. This project will also create a platform for the engineering participants to integrate the research work with several efforts that aim to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion. For example, a project that develops new guidelines for introducing engineering concepts at the high school level is underway in collaboration with the School of Education. In addition, students involved with the research can benefit from an affiliated translational research program that supports the adaptation of university research results to commercially viable solutions. This project will use the spontaneous light emission from thermally-excited combustion products of an alkaline earth metal, specifically those of strontium, to develop a diagnostic tool for measuring temperature and equivalence ratio in high-temperature, high-pressure environments. Applications of this technique will enable advances in three-dimensional imaging diagnostics, enhance the fundamental understanding of combustion, and support the development of advanced combustion technologies by lowering the complexity and the cost of experiments. The physical processes that control the light emission depend on a range of factors and the influence of these factors will be studied to enable the quantitative analysis of the light emissions from the flames. The fundamental studies will be carried out in laboratory burners and optically accessible research engines. This effort will result in a model that can quantitatively describe the light emission under combustion conditions. Then, experimental applications for measurements will be demonstrated in modern direct-injection engines. These experiments will make use of borescopes as well as multiple high-speed cameras or light-field cameras, which can facilitate novel three-dimensional imaging.