The present study explores the utilization of a porous burner for thermoelectric power generation.The porous burner was tested\nwith butane gas using two sets of configurations: single layer porcelain and a stacked-up double layer alumina and porcelain.\nSix PbSnTe thermoelectric (TE) modules with a total area of 54 cm2 were attached to the wall of the burner. Fins were also\nadded to the cold side of the TE modules. Fuel-air equivalence ratio was varied between the blowoff and flashback limit and\nthe corresponding temperature, current-voltage, and emissions were recorded. The stacked-up double layer negatively affected\nthe combustion efficiency at an equivalence ratio of 0.20 to 0.42, but single layer porcelain shows diminishing trend in the\nequivalence ratio of 0.60 to 0.90. The surface temperature of a stacked-up porous media is considerably higher than the single\nlayer. Carbon monoxide emission is independent for both porous media configurations, but moderate reduction was recorded for\nsingle layer porcelain at lean fuel-air equivalence ratio. Nitrogen oxides is insensitive in the lean fuel-air equivalence ratio for both\nconfigurations, even though slight reduction was observed in the rich region for single layer porcelain. Power output was found to\nbe highly dependent on the temperature gradient.
Loading....