Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ON
ITS ADVANCEMENTS
IN
SUBMITTED TO:
Ms. Komal Sharma H.O.D - E.C.E
SUBMITTED BY:
Abhishek Sharma (100740418935) B. Tech. E.C.E 8th Sem.
Acknowledgement
It would be inappropriate to call this report complete and successful, if I dont thank the people who guided as in the preparation of this project. The submission of this project report gives me an opportunity to convey my gratitude to all those who have helped me to reach stage from where I have immense confidence to launch my career in the competitive world of electronics engineering. First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge my hearty thanks to the respected Ms. Komal Sharma, HOD (ECE) for being a source of perpetual inspiration and for providing me such a nice environment for training with timely help. I would also like to express my most sincere gratitude and indebtedness to Divisional Head of PDS group & my Project coordinator Mr. Manmohan Sandhu, Sc. E for his valuable help during the development of this project. Without his priceless suggestions and timely help I would not be able to complete this project. He has been a source of perpetual inspiration to me, towards a bright career. Not to forget the pain staking efforts of my college training and placement cell. Last but not the least I would express my utmost regards for the electronics and communication department of my Institute.
Abstract
Pulse detonation is a propulsion technology that involves detonation of fuel to produce thrust more efficiently than current engine systems. By literature survey and library research it is shown that Pulse Detonation Engine (PDE) technology is more efficient than current engine types by virtue of its mechanical simplicity and thermodynamic efficiency. As the PDE produces a higher specific thrust than comparable ramjet, scramjet engines at speeds of up to approximately Mach 2.3 to Mach 5, it is suitable for use as part of a multi-stage propulsion system. The PDE can provide static thrust for a ramjet or scramjet engine, or operate in combination with turbofan systems. As such, it sees potential applications in many sectors of the aerospace, aeronautic, and military industries. However, there remain engineering challenges that must be overcome before the PDE can see practical use. Current methods for initiating the detonation process need refinement. To this end, many government research bodies and a few private organizations around the world are working on PDS research & further development. In India only D.R.D.Os Terminal Ballistics Research Lab. (T.B.R.L) is working on such an advanced and challenging technology of Pulse Detonation System. Also, current materials used in jet engines, such as Nickel-based super-alloys, are inadequate to withstand the extreme heat and pressure generated by the detonation cycle. Apart of them installations of new piezoelectric sensors to measure <80 bar of pressure inside the PD tube and research to find new ignition system for work with minimum ignition energy (MIE) for propane/air mixture has done under my midterm training session.
Table Of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 THE BEGINNINGS ......................................................................................................... 1 WHAT IS DETONATION? ............................................................................................. 1 WHAT IS PULSE DETONATION ENGINE? ................................................................... 2 BRIEF LOOK AT VARIOUS PROPULSION SYSTEMS ................................................... 2 ALTERNATIVE CONSIDERATIONS FOR COMPARISON ............................................ 4 BRIEF WORKING OF PDE SYSTEM .............................................................................. 4 DETONATION VERSUS DEFLAGRATION .................................................................... 5 WAVE CYCLE ................................................................................................................ 6 DIFFICULTIES IMPEDING THE MATURATION OF PDEs ............................................ 7 2. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP FOR PDS ...................................................................................... 10 PDE MARK 2................................................................................................................ 10 FOR SUCCESSFUL PROPAGATION OF DETONATION ............................................. 11 3. LABVIEW AND DATA ACQUISITION ............................................................................... 13 HOW DOES LABVIEW WORK? ................................................................................... 13 BENEFITS OF LABVIEW .............................................................................................. 14 DATA ACQUISITION USING LABVIEW ..................................................................... 15 USE THE DAQ SOLUTION WIZARD ........................................................................... 15 INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING DAQ HARDWARE.............................................. 16 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LABVIEW, NI-DAQ AND DAQ HARDWARE ................ 17 LABVIEW FOR AUTOMATING TEST AND VALIDATION SYSTEMS ........................ 17 REASONS TO USE LABVIEW FOR AUTOMATING TEST AND VALIDATION .......... 18 LABVIEW AUTOMATION ........................................................................................... 19 4. INSTALLATION OF PIEZORESISTIVE SENSORS ............................................................... 20 EXPRESSION OF PIEZORESISTIVITY.......................................................................... 21 KISTLERS WATER COOLED ABSOLUTE PRESSURE SENSOR ................................. 22 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS .................................................................................... 23 APPLICATIONS ........................................................................................................... 23
5. STUDY OF VARIOUS IGNITION SYSTEMS ........................................................................ 24 DETERMINATION OF MIE FOR PREMIXED PROPANE/AIR MIXTURE ................... 25 IGNITION SOURCES.................................................................................................... 25 MIE THEORIES............................................................................................................. 25 THE STUDY OF LEWIS AND VON ELBE ..................................................................... 26 THE ASTM METHOD .................................................................................................. 27 ELECTRICAL SPARK GENERATION CIRCUIT ............................................................. 27 THE STUDY OF MOORHOUSE ET AL. ....................................................................... 28 DETERMINATION OF SPARK ENERGY [RANDEBERG ET AL. (2006)] .................... 29 COMPARISON OF VARIOUS RESEARCHERS FOR DETERMINING MIE .................. 29 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT WORKS ................................................. 30 KUHNERS MIKE 3 APPARATUS ............................................................................... 30 # BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................... 31
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
The PDE is a propulsion system that has been receiving considerable interest in the last decade, due to the numerous Advantages that it offers over traditional jet engines. PDEs operate in an intermittent cyclical manner, by giving rise to detonation waves that combust the fuel-oxidizer mixture within the engine, release vast amounts of energy and develop much higher pressures than a deflagration process.
turbine engine concepts in the form of turbofan engines1. Beyond Mach 3.5, the ramjet is more effective until it reaches an upper limit of about Mach 6, above which the temperature of the
Decelerated air entering the combustor is high enough to cause the reactants to dissociate and the resulting expansion is not enough to provide the exhaust velocity needed to sustain ramjet operation. Therefore, at high supersonic flight speeds, it is not useful to decelerate the air flow to subsonic speeds, but rather to opt for a small amount of compression and deceleration using oblique shockwaves and to carry out the combustion at supersonic speeds, as in a scramjet4. Unfortunately, ramjets and scramjets have a high starting velocity, which is about Mach 0.8 for ramjets and about Mach 5 to 6 for scramjets. The only other engine system in use, with a wider range than the jet turbine, is the rocket, which can operate at all speed regimes, provided enough fuel and oxidizer are carried on board. Because of the need for the onboard storage of oxidizer, rockets have very low specific impulse. Rockets cannot be easily reused and are therefore limited to very specific applications such as in missiles and for space travel. The PDE is a big improvement over the pulsejet in that it makes use of detonation waves to compress and combust the fuel-oxidizer mixture, whereby the temperatures and pressures released and the available power are much higher than pulsejets, gas turbine engines or rockets.
PDE
Detonation combustion (pressure rise) Humphrey cycle (Higher cycle efficiency) Potentially lower SFC Simple architecture Compact Low cost to acquire, operate Broad operating range Reusable
Pulsejets
Deflagration combustion (pressure loss) Bryton cycle (Lower cycle efficiency) Very high SFC Simple Architecture Compact Low cost Subsonic Limited reusability
Turbofans
Deflagration combustion (pressure loss) Bryton cycle (Lower cycle efficiency) Acceptable SFC Complex architecture Bulky High cost Subsonic/low supersonic Limited reusability, salt water corrosion Mature technology high reliability Heavy, high T/W High-speed rotating parts
Rockets
Deflagration combustion (pressure loss) Bryton cycle (Lower cycle efficiency) Very high SFC Simple to complex architecture Bulky Low cost Limited operating range Limited reusability
New technology higher risk Lightweight, high T/W Few moving parts
spurred a growing worldwide interest in PDE research since the early 1990s, with the aim of realizing the next generation of propulsion systems to replace current gas turbines. Detonation is a supersonic combustion process, which may be modeled as a shock wave followed immediately by a reaction flame front, together traveling through the mixture at several times the speed of sound of the unburnt gas mixture. On the other hand, deflagration is a subsonic combustion process, ranging in speeds from less than a few m/s to nearly 1000 m/s, well below the speed of sound.
slower pace. In the case of scramjets, the flow may be moving at supersonic speeds, but the reaction is still termed as a deflagration process because of the lack of shock waves. Deflagration can be premixed or non-premixed (diffusive). For propulsion applications the premixed reaction is preferred over improperly mixed or unmixed diffusion reactions.
by the combustion tube and various components38. In industrial fuel gas transmission tubes that experience detonations, a large bulge is seen at the location where deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) occurred. Consequently the region of DDT has to be reinforced. Making the whole tube of uniform thickness and rigidity may not be a feasible option for saving weight and design costs in a practical engine. Therefore, the regions of high stress intensities have to be identified. The deflagration process causes more heat buildup in the tube, since it is slower and lingers longer in the tube. Once the detonation wave has been created, it prefers a clean tube free from major barriers, which create drag and strip energy from the detonation wave. It has been noted from experiments that the location of the DDT device is where most of the heating takes place. The DDT devices can be heavily damaged and expelled out of the tube by the high pressures. These and other factors will be discussed in more detail later. 1.9.4 Inlet and Nozzle Design Unless the PDE is operated in a single chamber rocket mode, external flows heavily influence the dynamics of the engine. Moreover, the free stream airflow has to be diffused efficiently without raising the static temperature above the auto ignition point of the fuel, and then correctly diverted to the combustion chamber with no dead zones in the path. At supersonic speeds, shockwaves will form within the inlets and if the valves are suddenly closed the inlet can unstart. Hybrid PDEs or PDE with bypass flows also result in complex designs to ensure a smooth flow of air through the engine as well as the proper filling and purging of the combustors. Nonetheless, inlet design is not a concern in this study. 1.9.5 Valving Design The speed and consequently the thrust of a PDE can be effectively controlled with the help of valves. Thrust control is an essential requirement for an aircraft during takeoff, landing and for maneuvering. In a multi-combustor PDE, acoustic interactions of inlet and exhaust flows between the various chambers introduce added complexity to the system. Also, for high supersonic flight, valves and other flow control components pose a barrier that create drag or lead to the formation of shock waves. These are issues that will have to be dealt with in the design of a flight-weight PDE. 1.9.6 Ignition System The initiation of detonation can be achieved by transferring a large amount of energy into the fuel-oxidizer mixture, such as from a laser ignition system or arc discharge ignition system. High voltage low energy ignition systems have been in use on automobiles and in aircraft engines for about a century. One of the concerns is that the igniter itself has to survive the harsh detonation environment of the PDE. The various ignition systems will be compared in detail later on.
1.9.7 Fuel Selection PDEs, like gas turbine engines, can theoretically run on any type of conventional fuels, whether gaseous or liquid. In addition, coal particles, in the range of 10 m, forms highly detonable mixtures with air and may be used for a ground-based PDE-power generation system. The fuel delivery systems will have to be developed for special fuels. The sizing of the engine is dependent on the cell size of the fuels. Various fuels will be analyzed in more detail later. 1.9.8 Minimization of harmful or undesirable exhaust products Although detonations can ensure thorough burning of the fuels, preventing the formation of CO or soot, the higher temperatures can result in the formation of NOX. More research, possibly into the application of catalytic converters, need to be done to resolve the issue of adverse by products. 1.9.9 Vibration and Noise Vibration and noise are two of the factors that need to be dealt with when combining a PDE with other onboard aircraft systems. But these can be solved with active noise suppression and damping. Noise can also be minimized by increasing bypass for subsonic engines. 1.9.10 Control System, Diagnostics Instrumentation and Data Acquisition Systems Detonation is a very unsteady process and is prone to fail if the conditions are not just right within the combustor. Therefore, the conditions have to be monitored and controlled using a closedloop feedback system. Once the physical structure of the engine has been built and the overall geometry, including the DDT devices, has been set, the only control inputs to the combustor are the filling (which can be subdivided into mass flow rate, fuel-oxidizer ratio, mixing, timing of the valves, selection of the combustor, etc.) and the ignition (timing and ignition energy). But the status of the combustion and the location and speed of the detonation has to be determined. Therefore, sensors are required within the combustion chamber which can survive the severe temperatures and pressures caused by the detonations. The sensors allow the control system to regulate the valve timing and flow rates and the ignition settings so that the engine will produce the required thrust at the required speed. As detonation occurs at supersonic speeds, the computer onboard has to be able to process data from the various sensors at very high speeds. Present day computer systems are very small and fast, making PDE control possible. The author believes that the reason PDEs were not a reality until now has been due to the lack of small and fast computerized control systems. However, sensors are still not adequately developed to meet the requirements of the PDE. All transducers are affected by heat. When transducers are subjected to the extremely high temperatures and repeated shock pressure loading in a test PDE, they produce significant errors in their readings and may be destroyed after a few minutes of continuous exposure.
Chapter 2
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP FOR PDS
Since, there are four basic experimental setups are studied but because of available resources and experimental environments only one could be adopted for research & trails. Experimental Setups for Pulse detonation Systems are:
Bantam Pulsed Detonation Engine PDE Mark 1 PDE Mark 2 PDE Mark 3
Propane and oxygen were chosen as the fuel and oxidizer for the study. The main detonation tube was made from ASME Schedule 80 stainless steel pipe with an i.d. of 24.3 mm and an o.d. of 33.4 mm, in the form of four detachable flanged sections that could be bolted together as shown in
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Figure 4.4 to form one continuous combustor with an overall length of about 80 cm, giving it an L/D ratio of 32.9. The four sections were the gas injection section, the ignition section, the DDT section and the blow-down section, which contained the pressure transducer ports.
For successful propagation of Detonation: ASME Schedule 80 Stainless Steel pipe 24.3 mm i.d., 33.4mm o.d. Total length of PDE tube = 800 mm, L/D=~33 D > 13 , where is cell size, Cell size of Propane-Oxygen = 1.3mm , D/ = 18.7 > 13
The gas injection section contained four in. FPT tapped ports located on a thick flange, in a perpendicular fashion so that the gases entering the tube impinged on each other to improve the mixing of propane and oxygen. Three ports were allocated to oxygen injection and one was reserved for propane. Since the volumetric ratio of propane to oxygen for stoichiometric condition is 1:5, the proper flow rates were achieved by regulating the oxygen supply pressure to about 85 psig (6.8 atm) and that of propane to about 42 psig (3.86 atm).
Purge air was injected in from a in. FPT port on the rear end wall at 85 psig (6.8 atm). The DDT section was approximately 160 mm in length. The flanged construction allowed the DDT devices to be easily inserted into the tube and reassembled before testing and then quickly disassembled for inspection right after the test. The 400 mm long detonation blow-down section housed six pressure transducer ports spaced 65 mm apart. The ignition system used for this study was a lowenergy inductive ignition based on those found in automobiles. It consisted of an ignition driver
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circuit (Mallory HyFire Ia, Part No. 29026A) and an ignition coil (Mallory Promaster Coil, Part No. 24440). Together, they were rated to emit sparks at 135 mJ, although this was reduced for the PDE tests with a resistor. The ignition system was powered by a 12 V lead acid automotive battery. The ignition plugs were assembled from 14 mm metric thread bolts and were arranged in a fashion. There were two plugs, a high-voltage plug and a ground plug. The high-voltage plug was constructed by first inserting a in. ceramic tube through an axially drilled hole in the bolt, with about 0.25 in. of its length protruding out of the end of the bolt. Then, a 5/32 in. diameter 2% lanthanide tungsten rod was inserted through the ceramic tube with about 0.25 in. of it projecting outside the end of the ceramic tube. The ceramic tube and the tungsten rod were glued in place in the bolt with high-strength epoxy. The ground plug only had the tungsten rod inserted right through the concentric hole with about in. of it projecting out of the end of the bolt. The tungsten rods were those used for TIG welding. The spark gap could be adjusted by screwing the bolts in or out. The spark gap was kept at about 2 to 3 mm. A 3 kW, 25 W high-power resistor was placed in series with the high-voltage electrode to reduce the current and energy output of the ignition coil. Compressed air was supplied at about 90 psig, whereas propane and oxygen were supplied from gas bottles at about 44 psig and 90 psig respectively. The exhaust of the PDE was directed towards the exhaust chamber of the hypersonic shock tube facility at the ARC. The whole PDE setup was mounted onto a slider and rail mechanism that allowed the PDE to move smoothly when unrestrained, allowing the thrust to be measured. The sampling rate was set at 240 kS/s for a period of 5 s of data writing, during which time the data would be written in text form and saved on a host computer. The test times ranged from 15 to 30 seconds. The computer was linked with the 1042Q chassis by means of a 100 m long fiberoptic cable to provide electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding to the data signals. LabVIEW 8.6 is used to create programs for data acquisition and for the valve controller TTL generator (counter output). This PDE design also does not consider water cooling. As a result, the external parts of the detonation tubes were cooled by wrapping wet pieces of cloth on them and continually wetting the cloths with running tap water.
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Chapter 3
LABVIEW AND DATA ACQUISITION
LabVIEW (short for Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench) is a powerful programming environment used by engineers and scientists to help with asks like manufacturing, quality testing and data acquisition. It is a graphical software development tool that allows them to create powerful software applications that assist them in their research or work. During NASAs 1997 Mars Mission, LabVIEW was used to monitor the Sojourner Rovers position and status during its exploration of the planets surface. LabVIEW is a program development environment, much like modern C or BASIC development environments, and National Instruments LabWindows/CVI. However, LabVIEW is different from those applications in one important respect. Other programming systems use text-based languages to create lines of code, while LabVIEW uses a graphical programming language, G, to create programs in block diagram form. LabVIEW, like C or BASIC, is a general-purpose programming system with extensive libraries of functions for any programming task. LabVIEW includes libraries for data acquisition, GPIB and serial instrument control, data analysis, data presentation, and data storage. LabVIEW also includes conventional program development tools, so you can set breakpoints, animate the execution to see how data passes through the program, and single-step through the program to make debugging and program development easier.
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The interactive user interface of a VI is called the front panel, because it simulates the panel of a physical instrument. The front panel can contain knobs, push buttons, graphs, and other controls and indicators. You enter data using a mouse and keyboard, and then view the results on the computer screen. The VI receives instructions from a block diagram, which you construct in G. The block diagram is a pictorial solution to a programming problem. The block diagram is also the source code for the VI. VIs are hierarchical and modular. You can use them as top-level programs, or as subprograms within other programs. A VI within another VI is called a subVI. The icon and connector of a VI work like a graphical parameter list so that other VIs can pass data to a subVI. Because you can execute each subVI by itself, apart from the rest of the application, debugging is much easier. Furthermore, many low-level subVIs often perform tasks common to several applications, so that you can develop a specialized set of subVIs wellsuited to applications you are likely to construct.
LabVIEW communicates with most instruments through instrument drivers, which are libraries of VIs that control programmable instruments. LabVIEW instrument drivers simplify instrument control and reduce test development time by eliminating the need to learn the low-level programming protocol for each instrument. Instruments obey a set of commands to respond to remote control and requests for data. When you use LabVIEW instrument drivers, you run intuitive, high-level command VIs, such as the Read DC Voltage VI for a digital multimeter or the Configure Time Axis VI for a digital oscilloscope. The driver VI you call automatically sends the appropriate instrument-specific command strings to the instrument. The foundation for LabVIEW drivers is the VISA (Virtual Instrument Software Architecture) VI library, a single interface library for controlling GPIB, VXI, RS-232, and other types of instruments. Drivers using VISA are scalable across instrument I/O interfaces.
Interfacing Code compilation Large libraries Code re-use Parallel programming Ecosystem
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The physical phenomenon may be electrical (voltage, current or resistance), optical (light intensity), mechanical (strain, speed, pressure, etc.), thermal (temperature), or anything else to be measured. The sensor reacts to changes in the phenomenon and produces a relative signal that may be transmitted, recorded, and analyzed. Signal Conditioning involves amplifying and filtering the signal in order to prepare it for analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion. An A/D Converter samples the analog (continuous) signal and converts the amplitude at each sample time to a digital value suitable to the computer. In the laboratory, the digital multimeter and digital oscilloscope perform this operation. In order to automate the process of acquiring data, a computer program must be written to control the hardware, collect the data, analyze the data, and present the results. Traditional programming languages (like Basic and C) may be used to accomplish this task, but they require a great deal of programming. Furthermore, traditional programming languages do not provide an easy way to produce and display graphs.
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by selecting ToolsData AcquisitionDAQ Channel Wizard. The DAQ Channel Wizard also can be accessed from the DAQ Solution Wizard.
NI-DAQ driver software provides LabVIEW with a high-level interface to DAQ devices and signal conditioning hardware.
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The NI LabVIEW graphical programming language is intuitive in nature, allowing you to spend less time addressing text-based syntax and more time solving complex test system challenges. LabVIEW is easier to quickly understand because it is implemented through icons that closely resemble visual models, such as flowcharts, that test engineers already use for problem solving.
The Save time and money by automating all of your test equipment in one environment. LabVIEW can connect to a wide variety of instruments ranging from traditional boxes to software-defined PXI modular instruments, so you can acquire nearly any measurement.
Instead of building your own test executive from scratch, you can use test management software to sequence your code, generate reports, and log results to databases. NI TestStand , the most popular test management software,has best-in-class integration with LabVIEW so you can easily debug LabVIEW code, create code templates to develop tests faster, and increase execution performance through low-level control of the LabVIEW run-time engine.
By building your application with LabVIEW, you can take advantage of the continuing NI pledge to support new OSs and technologies. Instead of worrying about how to support advances such as multicore processors and 64-bit processors, LabVIEW, as a commercial off-the-shelf software tool, helps you focus on testing your product.
Secure Your Investment with Long-Term Support and Legacy Code Integration
As a LabVIEW developer, you have access to world-class phone support and discussion forums in your local language. National Instruments is dedicated to the long-term support of LabVIEW, which means that NI helps you keep your application running for years to come. LabVIEW also helps you reuse legacy code in the form of DLLs, .NET assemblies, or .m files as you migrate to the LabVIEW platform.
With LabVIEW you can take advantage of the latest technologies, such as multicore processors and high-performancefield-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), helping to improve your test system performance inside the same software environment. LabVIEW evolves over time to integrate cutting-edge technologies for better system performance while saving you time and money.
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With LabVIEW, you can quickly and easily analyze your data using more than 850 built-in signal processing, analysis, and mathematics functions. Choose how you implement analysis in your LabVIEW application, whether inline or offline, to fully customize your algorithms, make better measurements, or get results faster.
With LabVIEW, you get more than just acquisition and analysis; you can also easily create user interfaces that display measurement-specific data and test results within the same environment. LabVIEW contains a full collection of test-specific drag-and-drop controls and indicators that intuitively describe your system to engineers, technicians, or operators.
Interact With Source Code Control, Validation, and Requirements Management Tools
When you develop large-scale test applications, you probably follow standard software engineering practices. LabVIEW helps you integrate with standard software engineering process systems such as requirements management and source code control. In addition, you can use LabVIEW tools for validation and software quality assurance.
Because millions of users have successfully adopted LabVIEW for a wide range of applications, you lower your risk by tapping into an extensive technical support network. You can find a wealth of example programs, white papers and Knowledge Base articles online. You also can participate in an extensive network of LabVIEW user groups, product partners, and select integrators around the world.
Get and set values on almost any control or indicator on any VI panel. Call VIs. Receive events sent from LabVIEW. Send log-messages from LabVIEW to SeqZap to trace the execution flow of the application.
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Chapter 4
INSTALLATION OF PIEZORESISTIVE SENSORS
A piezoresistive sensor is a device which makes use of changes in the resistivity of certain semiconductor materials when subjected to mechanical stress to effect an electronic action. This piezoresistive phenomenon is based on these materials tendency to undergo changes in their latent resistive characteristics when flexed by exposure to pressure or stress. This causes a corresponding change in any electrical current passing through the device which translates into a measurement or readout. Semiconductor materials commonly used in piezoresistive devices are generally the same basic metallic and silicone families used in most electronic components. These components are available with a wide range of sensitivity characteristics to suit the requirements of diverse industries. By strict definition, piezoresistors refer to resistors whose resistivity changes with applied strain. Metal resistors change their resistance in response to strain mainly due to the shape deformation mechanism. Such resistors are technically called strain gauges. The resistivity of semiconductor silicon changes as a function of strain. Silicon is therefore a true piezoresistor. When certain semiconductor materials are exposed to mechanical stress, their resistivity, or basic ability to oppose electrical current flow, changes. This change in the materials resistive character obviously changes its specific resistance value. This results in a rise or fall in any current passed through the device which is then used to indicate or measure the stress involved. The piezoresistive effect is harnessed to create a range of deflection sensitive semiconductor devices used to record and measure stress inducing forces such as acceleration and pressure. This kind of sensor is typically constructed of semiconductor substrates such as germanium, polycrystalline silicone, amorphous silicon, and single crystal silicone. A typical sensor consists of a pressure sensitive semiconductor diaphragm with several n+ and p+ contacts attached to it. Electrical current is passed through the wafer at a rate depending on its resistance. This current transfer and resultant readout differs according to the resistance changes in the component when the diaphragm is exposed to pressure. These sensors range in complexity from simple piezoresistors with limited range and temperature stability to highly stable and accurate Piezo-FETs. The piezoresistive sensor is used in a wide variety of applications involving mechanical stress measurement. The automotive industry employs them as vacuum and pressure sensors or to give indication of oil and gas levels. They are also used in the medical field in devices such as blood
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pressure measurement equipment. Depth gauges used by deep sea divers also employ piezoresistive sensor technology to produce accurate depth readings. These devices are also used in aircraft altimeters and barometric pressure instruments. Pressure dependent sensors of this type are also often used in electronic measurement instruments which use circuits and components such as the Wheatstone bridge and bipolar transistors. Accelerometers used to measure positional orientation, acceleration, and vibration forces also utilize piezoresistive sensor technology to produce their readouts. This technology has also found its way into the domestic environment with many dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, and washing machine manufacturers using them in their products.
The resistance value is determined by both the bulk resistivity and the dimensions. Consequently, there are two important ways by which the resistance value can change with applied strain. First, the dimensions, including the length and cross section, will change with strain. This is easy to understand, though the relative change in dimensions is generally small. Note that transverse strains may be developed in response to longitudinal loading. For example, if the length of a resistor is increased, the cross section will likely decrease under finite Poissons ratios. Secondly, the resistivity of certain materials may change as a function of strain. The magnitude of resistance change stemming from this principle is much greater than what is achievable from the first one.
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Rugged design for exhaust pressure measurement for temperatures in excess of 1100 C Compact size Digital temperature compensation Media separated measuring element
Sensor Type 4049A utilizes a Wheatstone bridge implanted in a silicon measuring element to generate an electrical signal which is proportional to the applied pressure. The measuring element is situated behind a thin steel isolation diaphragm and an oil fill providing excellent media compatibility. This core element is placed within a cooling jacket whereby the internal temperature can be suitably managed and is somewhat independent of the applied hot gases. This approach allows the sensor to be exposed to gas temperatures in excess of 1100 C. Due to the constant water cooling and stable temperature, thermal effects are minimized therefore improving overall accuracy. Further performance improvements are made using analog and digital characterization techniques whereby, the effects of zero and sensitivity changes due to temperature can be further reduced without sacrificing signal bandwidth. The sensor requires cooling to avoid damage! By using
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4.4 Applications
The sensor can be used wherever the pressure of high temperature gaseous media has to be measured and limitations are set by conventional uncooled sensors. Applications such as: Exhaust manifold pressure Turbine pressure measurement (e.g. exhaust turbo charger) Measurement in combustion systems
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Chapter 5
STUDY OF VARIOUS IGNITION SYSTEMS
An explosion is often identified by a loud noise, or bang resulting from the sudden release of energy. A more precise definition in the present context (Eckhoff, 2005) is to define an explosion as an exothermal chemical process that, when occurring at constant volume, gives rise to a sudden and significant pressure rise. Accidental explosions in the process industries include gas, spray/mist and dust explosions. These three categories of chemical explosions have similar ignition and combustion properties. In the oil and gas industries, most gas explosions happen when combustible gas from accidental releases, mixes with air in the atmosphere and generates an explosive cloud. If the fuel/air ratio in the cloud is within the flammability limits, and there is a presence of an ignition source, an explosion will occur. The purpose of the ignition system is to generate a very high voltage from the PDE system and to send this to each sparkplug in turn, igniting the fuel-air mixture in the engine's combustion chambers. The coil is the component that produces this high voltage. It is an electromagnetic device that converts the low-tension (LT) current from the battery to high-tension (HT) current each time the distributor contact-breaker points open. The automotive ignition system has two basic functions: it must control the spark and timing of the spark plug firing to match varying engine requirements, and it must increase battery voltage to a point where it will overcome the resistance offered by the spark plug gap and fire the plug. The first step in understanding a PDE's ignition system is to learn about basic electricity.
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5.1 Determination of the Minimum Ignition Energy (MIE) for Premixed Propane/Air Mixture Minimum Ignition Energy (MIE) Concept
The term minimum ignition energy (MIE) is an important parameter in explosion hazard evaluation. It refers to the smallest amount of energy that an electric spark discharge must have to cause an ignition of a given gas mixture at given conditions. For the last century, many experimental studies have been done to investigate the true values of the minimum ignition energy for different hydrocarbon fuels. MIE values depend not only on the composition of the mixture, but also on the method of the spark generation and properties of the electric circuit. Parameters such as gas concentration, pressure, temperature, flow characteristics, spark gap length, and discharge duration also influence the MIE.
Open flames Glowing or smoldering materials Hot solid surfaces Burning metal particles and thermite flashes from impacts, grinding etc Electrical and electrostatic sparks, arcs, and other forms of discharges Jets of hot combustion gases Adiabatic compression Light radiation
Extensive reviews of the standard test methods and published experimental studies concerning the determination of critical ignition parameters, such as Tmin (minimum ignition temperature) and MIE (minimum ignition energy), for gaseous fuel-air mixtures can be found in the books of Babrauskas (2003) and Magison (1998). These parameters can vary substantially with the actual ignition source characteristics, the dynamics, pressure and temperature of the gas mixture.
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of Lewis and von Elbe (1961), the spark establishes instantly a small volume of hot gas immediately after the discharge. At first the temperature within this flame kernel increases rapidly, but as the ignition volume grows in size, the temperature decreases due to the flow of heat to the ambient unburned gas. In the adjacent layer of ambient gas the temperature rises and induces chemical reactions, so that a combustion wave is formed and propagates outwards. At the time that the temperature within the flame kernel has decreased to the order of normal flame temperature, the diameter of the flame kernel must have grown to a certain size for self-sustained combustion, i.e. ignition, to be established. The flame kernel has more or less a spherical shape. If the size is too small, the heat loss to the unburned gas continuously exceeds the heat gain by chemical reaction, so that the reaction will gradually cease, leading to the extinction of the combustion wave (after only a small amount of gas around the original spark has burned). The minimum ignition energy is the energy required to establish the flame kernel of the minimum critical size for subsequent selfsustained flame propagation. 5.4 The Study of Lewis and Von Elbe The classical MIE data reported by Lewis and von Elbe (1961) are often referred to as absolute standards. According to the results of their experimental work, MIE of propane/air mixture was 0.26 mJ at ambient conditions. The optimal concentration for ignition was about 5.3 % vol.
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Where U and i are the instantaneous spark voltage and current, measured across the spark gap during the life time of the spark pulse. The second term is the energy lost to the measurement resistors. The spark voltage as a function of time was measured by using a high-voltage probe. This probe had a capacitance of 3 pF and had to be taken into account for calculation of the total capacitance involved in the discharge. The current was measured by two independent probes to reduce the noise influence (which was pronounced for the low spark energies).
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The propane concentration of 5.2 vol. % was selected, because this was the concentration given the lowest ignition energy in the ASTM spark generator tests. About 50 tests were performed to determine the highest total spark energy below which there were no ignitions. A firm conclusion cannot be drawn due to the limited number of tests. However, the experimental data indicate a MIE value for 5.2 vol. % propane/air mixtures of 0.36 mJ, which is lower than the MIE value obtained by using the ASTM method (0.48 mJ). It was observed that the shape and amplitude of the tail/undershoot of the spark pulses varied from test to test, indicating that the synchronized-spark generator requires further improvement.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY Thesis:
THE DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF PULSED DETONATION ENGINE GROUND DEMONSTRATORS BY PHILIP KOSHY PANICKER PULSE DETONATION ENGINE TECHNOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW APSC 201 DETERMINATION OF THE MINIMUM IGNITION ENERGY (MIE) OF PREMIXED PROPANE/AIR BY MY NGO PULSE DETONATION PROPULSION SYSTEMS BY FRANK K. LU GETTING STARTED WITH LabVIEW BY NI.com
Web Links:
http://india.ni.com/ http://www.wikipedia.org/ https://www.google.com/ http://arc.uta.edu/research/pde.htm
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