Effect of Oxygen Mole Fraction on Static Properties of Pressure-Sensitive Paint

The effects of the oxygen mole fraction on the static properties of pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) were investigated. Sample coupon tests using a calibration chamber were conducted for poly(hexafluoroisopropyl methacrylate)-based PSP (PHFIPM-PSP), polymer/ceramic PSP (PC-PSP), and anodized aluminum PSP (AA-PSP). The oxygen mole fraction was set to 0.1–100%, and the ambient pressure (Pref) was set to 0.5–140 kPa. Localized Stern–Volmer coefficient Blocal increased and then decreased with increasing oxygen mole fraction. Although Blocal depends on both ambient pressure and the oxygen mole fraction, its effect can be characterized as a function of the partial pressure of oxygen. For AA-PSP and PHFIPM-PSP, which are low-pressure- and relatively low-pressure-type PSPs, respectively, Blocal peaks at PO2ref<12 kPa. In contrast, for PC-PSP, which is an atmospheric-pressure-type PSP in the investigated range, Blocal does not have a peak. Blocal has a peak at a relatively high partial pressure of oxygen due to the oxygen permeability of the polymer used in the binder. The peak of SPR, which is the emission intensity change with respect to normalized pressure fluctuation, appears at a lower partial pressure of oxygen than that of Blocal. This is because the intensity of PSP becomes quite low at a high partial pressure of oxygen even if Blocal is high. Hence, the optimal oxygen mole fraction depends on the type of PSP and the ambient pressure range of the experiment. This optimal value can be found on the basis of the partial pressure of oxygen.

Surface tension of liquid Ti with adsorbed oxygen and a simple associate model for its prediction

Surface tensions of electromagnetically levitated liquid Ti-samples were measured under the influence of oxygen. For this purpose, Ti-O samples were prepared by adding different amounts of TiO2 powder to pure Ti. The surface tension was found to strongly depend on the bulk oxygen mole fraction determined by chemical analysis. The results could be described by a simple model presented in the present work. In this model the Butler equation is applied and the formation of TiO2 – associates are taken into account. Non-ideal interactions ΔH≠0 between titanium and the associates also need to be taken into account. Good agreement with the experimental data is evident and also with a different model developed earlier by us.

Nitrogen Oxide Evolution in Oxy-Coal Combustion

This paper investigates emissions of NOx from pulverized coal burning in O2/CO2 environments.Such environments are pertinent to oxy-coal combustion, a promising “clean-coal” technology. The replacement of the inert nitrogen gas in air with carbon dioxide, which has different physical properties, alters the combustion conditions in the furnace. Hence, the purpose of thiswork is to theoretically examine the effects of (a) the oxygen concentration in the O2/CO2 gases,and (b) the resulting combustion temperatures, on the evolution of NOx. To achieve these goals apreviously published kinetic model was used, which assumes that fuel-bound nitrogen is releasedalong with the tars during coal devolatilization and converts mostly to hydrogen cyanide. A sizable fraction of hydrogen cyanide is then converted to NO. Flame simulations were performed using Cantera to investigate the relative impacts of temperature and oxygen mole fraction, and to understand the causes of the observed trends.

Experimental and Numerical Study on Oxygen Enhanced Methane Combustion in a Rapidly Mixed Tubular Flame Burner

To promote energy and environment security through combustion efficiency improvement as well as CO2 capture and sequestration (CCS), in this study oxygen enhanced combustion of methane has been investigated by using an inherently safe technique of rapidly mixed tubular flame combustion. As a new type of flame, the tubular flame has excellent flame characteristics such as negligible heat loss, aerodynamic stability and thermodynamic stability. Various applications have been proposed and demonstrated for determining the flammability limits, stabilizing a flame in a high speed flow, and obtaining a uniform and large-area laminar flame to heat iron slab or to reduce steel sheet surface. Especially, by individually injecting the fuel and the oxidizer into a cylindrical burner through four tangential slits hence, hence without flame flashback, the rapidly mixed tubular flame burner has been applied to analyze the characteristics of oxygen enhanced methane flame. To make a fundamental investigation, methane oxygen combustion has been attempted under various oxygen mole fractions with nitrogen and carbon dioxide as the diluents respectively. At first, nitrogen was added to the oxygen stream, and the oxygen mole fraction in the oxidizer was increased from 0.21 to 1.0. A stable, laminar tubular flame can be obtained from lean to rich when the oxygen mole fraction is no more than 0.4. And the maximum adiabatic flame temperature reaches around 2700 K. To enhance the mixing of fuel and oxidizer, nitrogen was also added to the fuel inlet to increase the injection velocity of fuel stream. The results show that by assigning the nitrogen to both the fuel and oxygen inlets to approach the same injection velocity, the flames become more uniform and stable. However, the range of stable tubular flame in equivalence ratio remains almost the same. Secondly, instead of nitrogen, carbon dioxide was used to dilute the methane/oxygen flames. Thus, the NOX emissions introduced by nitrogen will be greatly reduced, in addition, the main exhaust will be carbon dioxide and steam, which is beneficial for CCS. When carbon dioxide was only added into the oxygen stream, a stable tubular flame was obtained from 0.9 to 1.2 in equivalence ratio at the oxygen mole fraction of 0.21. With an increase of oxygen mole fraction, the stable tubular flame range enlarges in equivalence ratio, and up to the oxygen mole fraction of 0.50, stable tubular combustion could be achieved from lean to rich. By adding carbon dioxide to both the fuel and oxygen inlets to approach the same injection velocity, the upper limit of stable tubular flame increases much. Up to the oxygen mole fraction of 0.86, the stable combustion can be achieved at the stoichiometry, which gives a flame temperature around 3000 K. To fully understand the flame characteristics above, the chemical effects of carbon dioxide are numerical analyzed in comparing with the nitrogen diluted flames using the CHEMKIN PREMIX code with the GRI kinetic mechanism.

The Effect of Inlet Parameters on Fluid Flow and Cell Performance at Cathode of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

In this study, the fluid flow and cell performance in cathode side of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell were numerically analyzed. The problem domain consists of cathode gas channel, cathode gas diffusion layer, and cathode catalyst layer. The equations governing the motion of air, concentration of oxygen, and electrochemical reactions were numerically solved. A computer program was developed based on control volume method and SIMPLE algorithm. The mathematical model and program developed were tested by comparing the results of numerical simulations with the results from literature. Simulations were performed for different values of inlet Reynolds number and inlet oxygen mole fraction at different operation temperatures. Using the results of these simulations, the effects of these parameters on the flow, oxygen concentration distribution, current density and power density were analyzed. The simulations showed that the oxygen concentration in the catalyst layer increases with increasing Reynolds number and hence the current density and power density of the PEM fuel cell also increases. Analysis of the data obtained from simulations also shows that current density and power density of the PEM fuel cell increases with increasing operation temperature. It is also observed that increasing the inlet oxygen mole fraction increases the current density and power density.

The effect of molding pressure on the structural and electrical properties of Y1Ba2Cu3O7−δ superconductors

Measurements of structural and electrical properties as a function of the molding pressure in Y1Ba2Cu3O7−δ superconductors have been performed to investigate the texturing behavior. The magnitudes of the molding pressure were 0.5 × 103 N/cm2, 1 × 103 N/cm2, 2 × 103 N/cm2, and 4 × 103 N/cm2. As the molding pressure increases, the anisotropy of the crystal structure decreases and the crystal grows preferentially along the c-axis. As the molding pressure increases, since the size of the grain becomes larger due to the decreased porosity, denser textures are formed. This result indicates that the critical current density is improved, resulting in increased thermal stability at higher molding pressure. While the molding pressure does not affect the oxygen mole fraction below 500 °C, increases in the molding pressure have a remarkable effect on the formation of textures and on the onset temperature for the superconducting transition in Y1Ba2Cu3O7−δ. These results indicate that structural and electrical properties in Y1Ba2Cu3O7−δ superconductors are affected by the molding pressure during growth.