11/16/2022
By John Mack

The Francis College of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, invites you to attend a master's thesis defense on the "Design, Optimization, and Operation of a Modular Swirl Burner for Marine Propulsion Applications.”

M.S. Candidate: Oliver Dyakov
Defense Date: Friday, Nov. 18, 2022
Time: 4 to 5 p.m.
Location: Dandeneau Hall, Room 220

Committee Chair (Advisor): J. Hunter Mack, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UMass Lowell

Committee Members

  • David Willis, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Noah Van Dam, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Jonathan Perez de Alderete, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UMass Lowell

Brief Abstract:

Swirl stabilized burners are promising energy conversion devices for a broad range of applications, including distributed combined heat and power (CHP), microturbines that operate on a recuperated Brayton cycle, and other power generation strategies that rely on external combustion as a heat source. One potential deployment is as part of a propulsion system operating in a marine environment since low-swirl burners possess appealing advantages over current approaches (e.g., internal combustion engines) including fuel-flexibility and increased robustness. In this work, a laboratory-scale swirl burner (SB) was designed, developed, and tested to study several fundamental flame characteristics including flame geometry, operation limits, and stability. The experimental system includes: an optical combustion chamber using a quartz cylinder; piezo-electric devices to humidify salt-water from a reservoir before mixing with the intake air; a modular fuel rail that allows for the use of multiple different atomizers across a range of spray geometries; and a laser cut and stamped swirl vane to provide modularity of vane angle and swirl number. The SB was tested in tandem with the salt-air generation device to study flame characteristics. ASTM Grade Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) was investigated across a range of equivalence ratios.