Development of a portable power system with meso-scale vortex combustor and thermo-electric device

Abstract

In this study, a small scale power generation system with a meso-scale vortex combustor has been developed. The system was consisted of a couple of thermo-electric device and a heat medium. The medium was made of duralumin, 40 × 40 × 20 mm and 52 g weight, and the vortex combustion chamber of 7 mm inner diameter was embedded in it. It was found that a stable flame could be established in the narrow 7 mm channel even the mean axial velocity reached 1.2 m/s. And furthermore, the vortex flow significantly enhanced the heat transfer from the burned gas to combustion chamber, and as a result, the medium was heated to 300°C quickly (within 5 minutes) by the combustion of propane / air mixture for 145W input energy. The system could successfully generate 1.98 W (4.3 V and 0.46 A), which corresponded to the energy conversion rate of 0.7 % per unit thermo-electric device.