EnInnov 2020: From the Dawn of Mankind to the Digital Fire

Rare and precious 

Rabelais wrote in "Gargantua"  that what distinguishes Man from other creatures is its ability to laugh. If this say has recently been proven wrong - apes laugh, maybe bees too - one so far unchallenged trademark of Mankind is our ability to make fire! However, the fact that the extensive use of fire has a negative impact on the climate is nothing to laugh about.  The decarbonisation of our society is an ongoing process and this is a very good thing.

Fire will therefore become rare 

- and precious.

Digitalisation for Decarbonisation

While decarbonisation takes place in an ordered manner (energy, transport, heating...), some specific sectors will take longer to decarbonise because they need high temperatures, a lot of power and before all a safe process. Combustion Bay One e.U. focuses on the improvement of these thermal facilities (energy, process engineering, metallurgy, aviation) in order to improve the efficiency on the one side and reduce the environmental impact on the other side, until climate-friendly alternatives can be deployed. The proper management of the remaining fossil resources shall also be kept in mind. In a word, we have to buy time. 

In a hypothetical future world where combustion is indeed rare and precious, we intend to become the Guardians of Fire. Any improvement in combustion technology is therefore good to take. Recent progress shows that purely mechanical thermal systems have reached their limits. New progress involve better sensing and faster actuation, which is not straightforward in the direct proximity of a flame. Still, this is what we do, this is the digitalisation of combustion technologies.  These are the missions of Combustion Bay One e.U., an Engineering Office specialised in Advanced Combustion Management.

EnInnov 2020!

We will be present at the Energy Innovation Conference 2020 at TU Graz (12-14.02.2020) where we present commonly with FH Joanneum our progress in precision monitoring of combustion processes:

Paulitsch, N., Giuliani, F., and Andracher, L., 2020. 
Fortschrittliche Verbrennungs¨uberwachung durch simultane optisch, akustische Detektion der Flammenfront in einem Druckkessel. 
In 16th Symposium on Energy Innovation, TU Graz, EnInnov 2020.
Energieeffizienz 1, Session F5, Paper 5. 
Fr., 9:30-10:00, I3

The project emootion is financed by the BMVIT and the FFG in the frame of the Take-Off program, contract 861004. This is also the occasion for us to reveal our latest S3R ignition system (S3R=Safe, smooth, smart and reliable) as well as our newest pressurised combustion test rig.

 

It is not just about how to make fire, it is about how to make it right

Precision monitoring is a new milestone in the digitalisation process of thermal facilities. This is the key to smooth and optimised operation, meeting the best compromise between achieving the power level needed at the least levels of consumption and of gaseous emissions. It ensures the perfect control of the process, therefore its safety; it makes it more flexible, as it can reduce dramatically the operation costs.

We master pressure, temperature and mass flow-measurements, at quasi-static and under high-speed conditions. We manage the recorded data and can reduce it down to the essential log. We know how to set alarms, how to define fail-safe strategies, and how to manage in a smart way a safety margin.

More specifically, in terms of digitalisation of thermal facilities, CBOne is front-runner regarding the following technologies:

  • An advanced combustion turbulence control, extending the lean operation and able to reduce the part load consumption by 10% (MethaNull technology, paper GT2015-42377, patent A 50772/2014)
  • An advanced sensing system analysing the sound and light emitted by the flame (em(o)otion technologies, this contribution, pending joint patent A 50160/2017)
  • Advanced instrumented AM-designs for burners and fuel injection systems (rePorT technology, paper GT2018-75165, pending patent A 50516/2019)

At this point, we would like to thank our financial supporters as well as our technical partners. 

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