Combustion performance of a domestic cooker burner at different design parameters and fuels

ABSTRACT

In this study, an a typical domestic cooker-burner was investigated numerically using parametrical research to observe the effects of four different fuels. Propane, natural gas, hydrogen, and biogas (three different compositions) were used in the simulations. Sixteen design parameters were examined for comparison, including four different fuel inlet pressures and four different fuel channel diameters. Simulation results were validated with experimental results and compared to each other. The comparison among all cases was given visually and graphically as emissions, temperatures, and efficiencies. In the mentioned pressure range, propane cases have shown almost independent behavior concerning the change in diameters, except for 0.25-mm-diameter cases. Furthermore, the temperature drop on the cooker’s bottom surface was observed at all pressure levels for natural gas and propane, with an increasing supportive fuel channel diameter after 0.30 mm in general. As predicted for the biogas cases, lower flame temperatures have been observed from visual Computational Fluid Dynamics results compared to the other gases due to their low calorific value. While unburnt hydrocarbons and CO emission levels were observed to be the highest for natural gas, NO appeared to be the highest, approximately three times higher than the average NO emissions of all fuel types for hydrogen among those of other fuels. Also, a higher average cooker bottom temperature, approximately 8% higher than the average surface temperature of all fuel types, was obtained for natural gas. Higher efficiency, about 50% higher than the average efficiency of all fuel types, was obtained for hydrogen fuel. Moreover, results showed that supportive fuel channel diameter was the most effective parameter for NO emissions.

KEYWORDS:

• Combustion
• cooker-burner
• inlet pressure
• fuel channel diameter
• Computational fluid dynamics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Murat Umut Yangaz

Murat Umut Yangaz graduated in 2012 from Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Uludag University. After working as an engineer in automotive industry for a brief period, he started his graduate education at Marmara University for his Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2013 and graduated in 2014. During this period, he was employed at Sakarya University as a research assistant. After graduation, he began to work at Marmara University, where he is currently doing his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Chemical Engineering.

Gokhan Coskun

Gokhan Coskun is associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Sakarya University. He received his BEng (2008), MSc (2010) and PhD (2014) from Sakarya University. He was a visitor researcher in the Internal Combustion Engine Division, Lund University, Sweden. He is working on combustion simulations, fuels and combustion studies in transport.

Mustafa Yılmaz

Mustafa Yılmaz is associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Marmara University. He received his BEng (1994) from Gaziantep University, MSc (1997) from Sakarya University and PhD (2009) from Marmara University. He is working on internal combustion engine simulations and renewable energy.

Hakan Serhad Soyhan

Hakan Serhad Soyhan has been a member of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, SU since 1992. He received his BEng (1992), MSc (1995) and PhD (2000) from Istanbul Technical University and undertook post-doctoral research in chemical kinetics at the Combustion Physics Division, Lund University, Sweden and on HCCI engines and chemical kinetics at Shell Global Solutions, Chester, UK. Currently, he is working on fuels and combustion studies in transport. He is the Head of Local Energy Research Association and Head of the Combustion Institute, Turkey. Professor Soyhan is the Founder and Director of TeamSan Co, a member of the Turkish Society of Mechanical Engineers, and an associate member of TUBITAK USETEG Committee on R&D projects of the Transportation, Defence and Energy Technologies Group.