Collaborative Research Center 686

 

Model-Based Control of Homogenized Low-Temperature Combustion

The provision of energy plays an important role in industry and transportation as well as in the private sphere. In the foreseeable future necessary prerequisites include the availability of but more importantly, the effective technical use of fossil fuels, or rather the hydrocarbons they contain.

Some alternative concepts, such as fuel cells are still relied on. The use of fluid hydrocarbons is vital for transport routes, due to the hydrocarbons’ large energy density.

Burning hydrocarbons in conventional processes, such as high-temperature burning, has the disadvantage of emissions from nitric acid and soot (air pollution) as well as CO2 (greenhouse effect, climate change).

The further development of homogenized low temperature burning has the potential to remedy this: Due to homogenization (soot) and the low axmimum temperature (NOx), emissions are considerably decreased and the burning efficiency is actually increased. But there is one major disadvantage: using the process can lead to burning instabilities.

Since it cannot be expected that these instabilities can be fixed through burning technical measures alone, they should be controlled through intervention during the process. This requires an analysis of the burning process based on the physical and chemical foundations with a goal of controlling it.

The application of such regulation takes place on the basis of the use of the acquired realizations and the respective developed physical models. The regulation is thus model-based.

The development for the respective uses is the intended intermediate goal of this collaborative research center. In the future these models should serve in a reduced form as the foundation of a detailed investigation into burning processes, in order to determine the causes of the named instabilities.