Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Heat Transfer in Vortex Combustion Engines
Heat transfer phenomenon in a recently developed vortex engine has been surveyed. Cooler walls, better combustion performance and more stable relative to the other engines, make these engines very interesting. These advantages have been obtained by using a bidirectional swirl flow, containing a cool outer and a hot inner vortex, traveling upstream and downstream respectively. The most eminent benefit of these combustion chambers, having highly reduced wall temperature, is the result of convective heat release from the wall by the outer vortex. A thorough numerically and experimentally investigation has been performed on radiation and convection heat transfer to realize the exact heat transfer behavior of this engine. Results from flame structure observation indicate that flame area is much larger in vortex engine in comparison to regular engines due to vortex stretching of the flame which increases radiation heat transfer to walls. In spite of this increase, heat removal by outer swirl flow is high enough not only to compensate for increased radiation but also reduces the wall temperature substantially.