In this paper we describe an experimental rig which has been built as a result of inspiration from the bombardier beetle. This beetle is such that it has the capacity to fire a spray of hot water, steam and noxious chemicals from a nozzle at the rear end of its abdomen in any direction it wishes (even over its head). An example of controlled combustion in nature, it has led to first to simulati...

This paper describes an evaluation of a neural network technique for modelling fuel spray penetration in the cylinder of a diesel internal combustion engine. The model was implemented using a multi-layer perceptron neural network. Two engine operating parameters were used as inputs to the model, namely injection pressure and in-cylinder pressure. Spray penetration length were modelled on the ba...

Separators are used to protect cathodes from biofouling and to avoid electrode short-circuiting, but they can adversely affect microbial fuel cell (MFC) performance. A spray method was used to apply a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) separator to the cathode. Power densities were unaffected by the PVA separator (339±29mW/m(2)), compared to a control lacking a separator in a low conductivity solution (1m...

We have studied the ignition of fuel sprays and simulated solid rocket fuels (SRF) by the photoignition of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with an ordinary camera flash. Our investigation includes the effect of solid additives such as aluminum nano-particles and solid oxidizers such as ammonium perchlorate (AP) on the photoignition characteristics. We have shown that by mixing CNT with ot...

We have studied the ignition of liquid fuel and certain solid fuels by the photoignition of single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). Our investigation includes the effect of solid additives such as aluminum nano-particles and solid oxidizers such as ammonium perchlorate (AP) on the photoignition characteristics. We have shown that by mixing CNT with other nanoparticles and powdered material, the ...

A new diagnostic has been developed that is capable of obtaining simultaneous two-phase velocity measurements in a gasoline direct-injection fuel spray. This technique utilizes a two-laser (double-pulse) twocamera (double-frame) setup to simultaneously image the injected fuel and entrained air to determine the 2D velocity vector fields of both phases using cross-correlation particle image veloc...

A computational analysis of flow in simplex fuel atomizers using the arbitrary-Lagrangian–Eulerian method is presented. It is well established that the geometry of an atomizer plays an important role in governing its performance. We have investigated the effect on atomizer performance of four geometric parameters, namely, inlet slot angle, spin chamber convergence angle, trumpet angle, and trum...

We report on a facile spray deposition method, which allows obtaining nanocomposite membranes for high-temperature polymer fuel cells characterized by high homogeneity and excellent proton conductivity. The proposed method is also green, as it requires much smaller amounts of solvents with respect to standard casting.

A comparative experimental and numerical study is conducted to establish the significance of the use of single-component over multi-component representatives of biodiesel, diesel and their blend for predicting spray tip penetration. Methyl oleate and methyl laurate are used as single-component representative fuels for biodiesel. The pure components n-heptane, n-dodecane and n-tetradecane are us...