Abstract
Combustion phenomena in a sub-millimeter scale combustor have been investigated. To evaluate scale effect on flame propagation characteristics, a cylindrical combustion chamber with variable depth was built in-house. The combustor was charged with premixed gas of hydrogen and air and ignited electronically. A piezo electric pressure transducer recorded transient pressure after the ignition. Measurements were made at different test conditions specified with chamber depth and initial pressure as parameters. Visual observation was made through a quartz glass window on top side of the combustion chamber using high speed digital video camera. From the pressure data, available work was estimated and compared with energy input required for stable ignition. The preliminary results suggested that the net thermal energy release is sufficient to generate power and enables a combustor of the size in the present study to be used as the energy source of a micro power devices .
