Combustion, fuel injection, emissions, and excitement!

Combustion

From Britannica: Combustion, a chemical reaction between substances, usually including oxygen and usually accompanied by the generation of heat and light in the form of flame. The rate or speed at which the reactants combine is high, in part because of the nature of the chemical reaction itself and in part because more energy is generated than can escape into the surrounding medium, with the result that the temperature of the reactants is raised to accelerate the reaction even more.

The pictures on the right show a burning match and a campfire, and in between the successful operation of an original Whittle engine. A few little tidbits: Matches are lit by rubbing the chemically coated end over a suitable friction pad, and the resulting heat is sufficient to ignite the chemicals. Later, safety matches were invented, which separate some of the main chamicals. The striking surface on the matchbox contains red phosphorous and the chemical at the end of the matchstick contains potassium chlorate. Little rubbing is required for ignition due to the extreme reactivity of the two chemicals. If striking the match over any other surface will not generate sufficient heat for ignition, hence safe. Campfires are mesmerizing and I can enjoy them for hours. The yellow color of the flames is due to very small glowing soot particles within the flame which emit light and heat like a black body radiator. The blue and much less bright color flames we observe sometimes occur when sufficient oxygen is mixed with the outgasing fuel prior to combustion and the blue color is a direct result of photons emitted at that particular wavelength from hydrocarbon radical molecules, such as CH2.

Combustion processes and even more so our ability to understand and control them has been essential since the discovery of fire. Although setting fire to things is rather simple, the knowledge and mastering of the underlying physics and chemistry, and how to control combustion processes for safety and best engineering performance is far from trivial. Engineering applications of combustion science encompass nearly every aspect of science and engineering, from solids and fluids, thermodynamics, heat transfer, and multi-phase physics, to chemistry, material science, design, manufacturing, and controls, to name but a few. Despite the ongoing trend to move away from fossil fuel combustion and toward clean energy, there still is and in I3E’s opinion there will be a significant engineering need for high level combustion solutions for the foreseeable future, both for traditional fuels as well as hydrogen and other no-carbon or low-carbon fuels. I3E, with its long experience and exposure to combustion problems from science, technology development, to production is well suited to assist your company in your development needs. Below are a few sample pictures from areas we have contributed.