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Examination of Combustion Processes Using a Rankine Cycler

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Conference

2024 South East Section Meeting

Location

Marietta, Georgia

Publication Date

March 10, 2024

Start Date

March 10, 2024

End Date

March 12, 2024

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--45525

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/45525

Download Count

23

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Paper Authors

biography

Chuck H. Margraves University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

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Dr. Chuck Margraves is a UC Foundation Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. His current research focus is on STEM Education, particularly in the area of energy sustainability, at the collegiate and high school levels.

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biography

Samuel Thomas Mossbeck

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I'm a senior level Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

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Abstract

All mechanical engineering students at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga take a junior level Thermodynamics course covering topics involving power cycles and combustion processes. This course is followed by a senior level laboratory in which these topics are also examined experimentally. In 2019 a Rankine Cycler was added to the lab to enable students to investigate power generation through the use of a steam turbine. One limitation to this piece of equipment was that while the volume flow rate of fuel (propane) was measured, the air flow rate was not This limitation prevented the examination of combustion processes using a known air to fuel ratio, which is an important parameter in exhaust calculations. The project presented in this paper covers modifications to this equipment that now allows both the measurement of the air flow rate, as well as determining the exhaust species. These modifications will greatly increase students’ knowledge of the accuracy of a complete combustion assumption, as well as determine how exhaust products, such as CO2, can be measured.

Margraves, C. H., & Mossbeck, S. T. (2024, March), Examination of Combustion Processes Using a Rankine Cycler Paper presented at 2024 South East Section Meeting, Marietta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--45525

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