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Mass Airflow Sensor and Flame Temperature Sensor for Efficiency Control of Combustion Systems

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2015, Master of Science in Engineering, University of Akron, Electrical Engineering.
A premixed mixture for a combustion process is said to be stoichiometric when the amount of air provided is just enough to burn the fuel completely. A parameter called the equivalence ratio gives a measure of the closeness of the combustion system to stoichiometric combustion. In practice, excess air is provided in a combustion system to avoid production of harmful flue gases. The amount of fuel and air intake in a combustion process along with their degree of mixing affects its efficiency. This thesis describes the design of a mass airflow sensor and a flame temperature sensor that can be used to estimate mass airflow rate and equivalence ratio respectively, thereby enabling control of the efficiency of combustion systems. The mass airflow sensor designed for this thesis is an inline airflow sensor that can be used to measure combustion intake air in the temperature range between -40°F to 140°F and mass airflow rate between 0 kg/hr to 120 kg/hr. The mass airflow sensor is based on the principle of constant temperature difference thermal mass airflow meter. Thermistors are used as resistive elements for the mass airflow meter discussed in this thesis. The sensor was calibrated considering the wide range of operation of temperature; and mechanical and electrical tolerance of thermistors used in the sensor. The performance of the sensor with disturbances in combustion air intake and the effect of dust being deposited on the sensor were also studied. The flame temperature sensor is based on using Silicon Nitride hot surface igniter as a dual purpose sensor for both ignition and temperature measurement. The flame temperature measurement is based on resistance variation property of the Silicon Nitride hot surface igniter with temperature. The flame temperature of the combustion system along with the knowledge of mass airflow rate of air intake was employed to calculate the equivalence ratio of the system between 0.6 and 1. Different types of sensors from Kyocera and CoorsTek with different dimensions of sensor element and supporting ceramic element were studied during the research. The mass airflow sensor provides amount of airflow intake of the combustion system, which can be used to control the airflow intake blower motor. On the other hand, the flame temperature sensor can be used to estimate the equivalence ratio of the system. Collectively mass airflow sensor and flame temperature sensor can be used to estimate the airflow rate and fuel flow rate entering the combustion system. Therefore, a closed loop control system can be designed to control the combustion efficiency using these two sensors.
Nathan Ida (Advisor)
Joan Carletta (Committee Member)
Kye-Shin Lee (Committee Member)
149 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Shakya, R. (2015). Mass Airflow Sensor and Flame Temperature Sensor for Efficiency Control of Combustion Systems [Master's thesis, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1447679976

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Shakya, Rikesh. Mass Airflow Sensor and Flame Temperature Sensor for Efficiency Control of Combustion Systems. 2015. University of Akron, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1447679976.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Shakya, Rikesh. "Mass Airflow Sensor and Flame Temperature Sensor for Efficiency Control of Combustion Systems." Master's thesis, University of Akron, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1447679976

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)