The Development of Combustion Laboratory Test Apparatus for Mechanical Engineers

Abstract

A combustion laboratory test apparatus has been developed and put to use in the mechanical engineering measurement course at the California State University, Sacramento. The objectives of this apparatus are to study the characteristics of a premixed flame for a range if air/propane mixtures (from near stoichiometric to rich to highly rich) and to examine the principles of chemical thermodynamics of combustion by comparing the calculated adiabatic flame temperature to the measured adiabatic flame temperature, and by doing an energy balance on the flame. The apparatus consists of a burner that is used to ignite a regulated air/propane mixture. A thin wire thermocouple is used to measure both the flame temperature profiles and the adiabatic flame temperatures for two different air/propane mixtures (rich and highly rich). Furthermore, a copper tank containing water is heated by a near-stoichiometric mixture flame, causing heat transfer from the flame to the water. The results show that approximately 83% of the heat released from the near stoichiometric flame is transferred to the water in the copper tank.