Active Control of Combustor Processes
Abstract
This paper describes results of several studies of sensors, actuators and control systems for active control of combustor processes. First, the paper discusses the performance of an adaptive active control system (ACS) for controlling detrimental combustion instabilities. This ACS consists of an observer that determines the time dependent characteristics of the instability in real time, a adaptive controller and a fueled a injector actuator. During control, the controller sends a time varying signal to the actuator and the corresponding system S response is determined by the observer in practically real time. These data are then used to determine the optimum control parameters. Results obtained in several studies demonstrate that this ACS can rapidly and effectively damp combustion instabilities without apriori knowledge of the characteristics of the instability. The second part of the paper discusses two open loop applications of synthetic jets (SJ) aimed to improve combustor mixing processes. Specifically, the paper describes studies whose objective was to improve the mixing between fuel and air and the combustor pattern factor. The results of these studies show that both improvements are possible. These studies also show that SJ can be used to enhance both small and large scale mixing processes and that they significantly improve the pattern factor.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADP011149
Entities
People
- A. Glezer
- B. T. Zinn
- J. I. Jagods
- Mark G. Allen
- Y. Neumeier
Organizations
- Georgia Tech