Experimental investigation of V-gutter flameholders

Abstract

Combustion characteristics and NOx emissions of propane and air mixture in a channel with a bluff body were investigated experimentally. Effects of the angle and type of the flameholder on the NOx emissions, blow-off limit, combustion efficiency, and exhaust gas temperature were examined. The results show that the NOx emissions are dependent on flameholder type and angle. Also it was observed that the perforated V-gutters considerably increases the blow-off performance. Moreover, the blow-off limit decreases as the geometrical size of flameholder is increased. In addition, the combustion efficiency increase first and then decrease with the increase of the angle. The physics of the combustion process behind V-gutter flameholdes has been discussed. On the basis of experiment authors presented a modified version of the formula for calculation of lean blow-off limits when using bluff bodies, such as V-gutter flameholders.