The development of dynamic simulation tools for fuel cell systems and fuel cell/gas turbine (FC/GT) systems is required to understand the response of fuel cell systems to both scheduled and unscheduled perturbations. These tools supply the foundation on which control strategies can be developed and tested before they are actually implemented in a physical system. For high temperature fuel cell ...

At subcritical pressures, atomization devices in chemical-propulsion systems must ensure proper rupture of the liquid volume through aerodynamic shearing and homogeneous dispersion of the liquid droplets in the combustion chamber. The gas environment in the combustor is typically hot as a result of the heat released by chemical reactions, with part of its enthalpy being employed in vaporizing t...

A hypergolic system is a combination of organic fuel and oxidizer that ignites spontaneously upon contact without any external ignition source. Although their main usage pertains to rocket bipropellants, it only recently hypergolics have been established from our group as revolutionary preparative method for the synthesis different types carbon nanostructures depending on fuel-oxidizer pair. In...

Two novel system configurations were proposed for oxy-fuel natural gas turbine systems with integrated steam reforming and CO2 capture and separation. The steam reforming heat is obtained from the available turbine exhaust heat, and the produced syngas is used as fuel with oxygen as the oxidizer. Internal combustion is used, which allows a very high heat input temperature. Moreover, the turbine...

Two power plant schemes that reduce CO2 emission and employ natural gas reforming were analyzed and discussed. The first one integrates natural gas reforming technology for efficiency improvement with an oxy-fuel combined power system (OXYF-REF), with water as the main work fluid. The reforming heat is obtained from the available turbine exhaust heat, and the produced syngas is used as fuel wit...

Acrylonitrilebutadiene-styrene (ABS) thermoplastic is evaluated as a potential fuel for hybrid rocket motors and compared to the widely used fuel material Hydroxyl-Terminated Polybutadiene (HTPB). For this project Nitrous Oxide (N2O) is used as the matching oxidizer. ABS is widely mass-produced for non-combustion applications including household plumbing and structural materials. Analytical pre...

Control over drop size distributions, injection rates, and geometrical distribution of fuel and oxidizer sprays in bi-propellant rocket engines has the potential to produce more efficient, more stable, less polluting rocket engines. This control also offers the potential of an engine that can be throttled, working efficiently over a wide range of output thrusts. Inkjet printing technologies, ME...

Passenger vehicles fueled by hydrocarbons or alcohols and powered by proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells address world air quality and fuel supply concerns while avoiding hydrogen infrastructure and on-board storage problems. Reduction of the carbon monoxide concentration in the on-board fuel processor’s hydrogen-rich gas by the preferential oxidizer (PrOx) under dynamic conditions is cru...

An experimental study on pulse detonation engine (PDE) is conducted using hydrogen/air mixtures. Several key issues for PDE development, including valve operation, injection, mixing, filling, cycle repetition, ignition timing, DDT distance and propagation of detonation/quasi-detonation, are investigated. The fuel and oxidizer are injected into PDE from opposite sidewall directions to be well mi...

Fast Reacting Nano-Composite Energetic Materials: Synthesis and Combustion Characterization Report Title Energetic composites are mixtures of solid fuel and oxidizer particles that when combined offer higher calorific output than monomolecular explosives. The composites traditionally deliver energy as diffusion limited reactions and thus their power available from reaction is much smaller than ...