Effect of Application of Electric Force to Diesel Fuel Droplets Charged Through Millikan Oil-Drop Experiment on Physical and Thermal Characteristics of Flame

Abstract

This paper proposes a new feasible method to allow continuous change in the primary injection spray cone angle of liquid fuel droplets, which are injected from nozzles in liquid fuel combustion systems, to control the flame shape and thermal characteristics of the flame. The method is based on electric force applied to fuel droplets charged through frictional effects between the internal surface of the nozzle and the fuel flow as the liquid fuel is sprayed (based on the Millikan oil-drop experiment). A sprint computational fluid dynamics code was developed to investigate the effect of application of electric force to charged diesel fuel droplets, which were injected from a pressure swirl atomizer, on physical and thermal characteristics of a two-dimensional axisymmetric turbulent jet diffusion flame. The results show that an electric field applied to charged fuel droplets (electric force) changes the spatial distribution of the liquid fuel droplets in the flame reaction zone. An applied electric force in (−y) direction diverts the fuel droplets towards the axis centerline of the furnace and, consequently, decreases the primary injection cone angle and increases the concentration of the evaporated droplets around the axis centerline, which enhances the fuel-oxidant mixing rate and raises the flame temperature. Unlike an applied electric force in (−y) direction, an applied electric force in (+y) direction decreases the flame temperature. However, as the primary injection cone angle is decreased, an applied electric force in (+y) direction increases the flame temperature.