Research on Internal Combustion engines:

A lab-scale setup has been built to produce biodiesels from all kinds of edible and inedible feedstocks. A constant volume chamber with built-in-house control system, spray moment measurement sensor and high speed video camera has been designed and fabricated for spray properties characterization. An engine test bed with built-in-house data acquisition and control systems has been built in the lab which allows us to design our own fuel injection strateties to optimize the performance of the engine fueled by various fuels. Furthermore, as one of the very limited institutes, we have successfully developed an advanced numerical simulation platform with detailed chemical reaction mechanisms for various fuels incorporated by coupling KIVA4 and CHEMKIN.

Microscale combustion and micro thermophotovoltaic power generators:

We also study on the innovative power MEMS concept, i.e., micro-TPV power generator, which uses low bandgap photovoltaic (PV) cells to convert heat radiation i.e., from the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels in a micro combustor, into electricity. Different from other micro power generators such as micro turbine engine and micro rotary engines, the output power of Micro-TPV is proportional to the heat radiation from the surface of the microcombustor. As such, the high surface-to-volume ratio of micro combustor is very favorable for micro-TPV system to produce a high power density. Meanwhile, it does not include any moving parts, thereby it is easier to fabricate. A prototype micro-TPV power generator including a micro cylindrical SiC combustor, a simple nine-layer dielectric filter and a GaSb PV cells array was fabricated and tested by us for the first time as shown in the Figure, which was able to deliver an electrical power of 1.02 W.

Combustion optimization and emissions control in boiler systems:

Most recently, a major research grant was awarded aiming to develop a “state of knowledge” platform to support the development and design of new boilers with high efficiency and low emissions, to provide an advanced tool for optimization, trouble-shooting and risk assessment studies of existing units, and to give the most practical solutions for the problems faced by various boilers. Through this project, the formation mechanism of slagging and fouling in various boilers which has been troubling power plants will be disclosed.