international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he

Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro

combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system

Ziqiang He a,b, Yunfei Yan a,b,*, Shuai Feng a,b, Xiuquan Li a,b,
Ruiming Fang a,b, Zhiliang Ou a,b, Zhongqing Yang a,b
a
Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of
Education, Chongqing, 400030, PR China
b
School of Energy and Power Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400030, PR China

highlights

Compared the performances of conventional and multi-channel micro combustors.

The influence of channel shapes on thermal performance is studied.

The arrangements of multi-channel micro combustor are investigated.

The influence of the equivalence ratio on thermal performance is studied.

article info abstract

Article history: Targeting at improving the energy output of the micro-thermophotovoltaic (MTPV) system,
Received 28 July 2020 the heat transfer performance and energy output of the conventional micro combustor
Received in revised form (CMC) and the multi-channel micro combustor (MCMC) with various channel shapes in the
4 October 2020 MTPV system are compared. The mean outer wall temperature of the MCMC with diamond
Accepted 19 October 2020 channel is improved by 86.5 K than that of the CMC at the inlet hydrogen mass flow rate
Available online xxx (m_ in;hydrogen ) of 1.64  10-6 kg/s. Furthermore, four arrangements of MCMC are compared in
this work. The double-layer MCMC with layers counterflow exhibits the highest total en-
Keywords: ergy conversion efficiency of 13.2% when the m_ in;hydrogen is 8.10  107 kg/s. The equivalence
MTPV system ratio (F) of premixed hydrogen/air plays a crucial role on the thermal performance of
Micro combustor DMCMC-layer counter flow. The outer wall temperature and its uniformity becomes better
Multi-channel as the equivalence ratio increases. The MPTV system with a DMCMC-layers counterflow
Energy output can obtain an energy output of 19.3 W when the m_ in;hydrogen is 1.64  10-6 kg/s and F is equal
to 1. Namely, the multi-channel micro combustor has the potential to be a novel energy
resource for the MTPV system.
© 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

* Corresponding author. Key Laboratory of Low-grade Energy Utilization Technologies and Systems, Chongqing University, Ministry of
Education, Chongqing, 400030, PR China.
E-mail addresses: he@cqu.edu.cn (Z. He), yunfeiyan@cqu.edu.cn (Y. Yan).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160
0360-3199/© 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: He Z et al., Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160
2 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Another significant challenge should be emphasized is that

Introduction
As the microelectromechanical system (MEMS) have devel-
oped so fast, the micro-thermophotovoltaic (MTPV) system
has the potential to be a novel and popular energy supply
system [1,2]. The MTPV system exhibits several advantages,
including absence of moving parts [3], high energy density [4].
The micro combustor is a very significant part for a MTPV
system [5,6]. The thermal performance of external walls of
micro combustors directly determines the energy output of
MTPV system.
For a MTPV system, there are two crucial challenges and
issues, which play a crucial part in the power output of
MTPV system. One is that the flame and combustion are
difficult to maintain in the micro scale, which brings ob-
structs to the stable working of MTPV system and high en-
ergy loss [7e9]. However, the hydrogen is a very flammable
fuel with high combustion efficiency. Zuo et al. [10] studied
the combustion performance of a micro combustor with
various elliptical aspect ratio shaped channels. The
hydrogen combustion efficiency in the improved one could
maintain higher than 96% even when the m_ in;hydrogen was
7  107 kg/s. Yang et al. [11] proposed a swirl micro burner to
raise the comprehensive performance and the results
showed the combustion efficiency was higher than 96% by
prolonging the residence time of hydrogen/air. Zhang et al.
[12] also stated that the hydrogen conversion efficiency
could reach 97% even when the inlet premixed hydrogen/air
velocity was 16 m/s for a micro combustor bombinating
with a bluff body and two cavities. Conclusively, it is noted
that the hydrogen can still obtain a high combustion effi-
ciency in micro/meso scale.
the energy conversion efficiency is too low in a MTPV system
[13e16]. Targeting at solving this issue, an effective and sim-
ple method is to raise the comprehensive thermal perfor-
mance of external walls in the micro combustor. Peng et al.
[17] used the porous medium to stabilize the flame and
improve the thermal performance, and they obtained a 2.02 W
energy output of MTPV system when the equivalence ratio,
propane blended ratio and fuel flow rate were 0.8, 12% and
400 mL/min, respectively. Ni et al. [18] investigated the ther-
mal performance and entropy generation of micro combustor
with various ribs shapes. They found that the micro
combustor with two ribs exhibits higher outer wall tempera-
ture than that of the micro combustor with one rib. Yang et al.
[19] proposed a converging-diverging micro combustor, and
the results showed that the new one exhibited higher and
more uniform outer wall temperature. Furthermore, when the
converging-diverging micro combustor had the smallest
dimensionless throat diameter of 0.4 and dimensionless
throat location of 0.375, it would obtain the most uniform and
highest outer wall temperature. Fontana et al. [20] introduced
the metal foams into the micro combustor to improve the heat
transfer performance, and the results showed that the mean
radiation emission efficiency could be improved by 24% than
that of the conventional one. Hiranadani et al. [21] obtained a
peak energy output of 5.6 W by integrating the micro
combustor and thermoelectric energy generator. Alipoor et al.
[22] designed a U-shaped micro combustor, and found that the
generation of secondary flows and preheating of fuel in U-
shaped micro combustor could effectively improve the flam-
mability limits and energy output. Ni et al. [23] designed a T-
shaped micro combustor and investigated the influence of
porous medium and ribs. The results showed that the T-

Fig. 1 e Schematic diagrams of CMC and a MCMC with various shapes of channels.

Please cite this article as: He Z et al., Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160
 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx 3

shaped micro combustor exhibited more uniform tempera-
ture distribution than that of the conventional micro
combustor. Additionally, the porous medium was incapable to
improve the combustion performance, but was effective on
reducing heat loss and improving thermal performance. The
average external wall temperature in the new combustor with
double ribs was 11.94 K higher than that of the micro
combustor with single rib. Akhtar et al. [24] investigated the
combustion performance of premixed H2/air in non-circular
micro combustor. The trapezoidal-channel micro combustor
with low flow rate and triangular-channel micro combustor
with high flow rate showed the highest comprehensive energy
output. Kim et al. [25] investigated the flame characteristics of
a micro combustor with baffles, and the results showed that
the new combustor exhibited the similar reaction structures
with the swirl combustor. Amani et al. [26] proposed a novel
micro combustor combining baffle and cavity, and the average
temperature was improved by 36.4 K and the standard devi-
ation was decreased by 13.4 K. Zhang et al. [27] introduced the
high conductivity materials into the micro combustor, and
they found that the new micro combustor could obtain an
energy output of 5.2 W when the hydrogen/oxygen equiva-
lence ratio and inlet velocity were 0.5 and 1 m/s. The radiation
energy output of micro combustor directly determines the
energy output of MTPV system. Targeting at obtaining high
energy output, a series of methods, including internal ribs,
converging-diverging channels, metal foams, which can
effectively improve the thermal performance of micro
combustor, but with high pressure loss.
Furthermore, a series of studies indicated that the micro
combustor with multi channels can effectively improve the
thermal performance comparing the conventional plate micro
combustor. Meanwhile, the multi-channels design brings an
acceptable pressure drop for the micro combustor. Zuo et al.
[28,29] investigated the heat transfer characteristics of micro
combustors with two channels and four channels. They found
that the micro combustor with two channels and counterflow
exhibited better thermal performance, and the micro
combustor with four channels and counterflow was suitable
for MTPV system. Su et al. [5] designed a multi cylindrical
channels fueled with hydrogen for the MTPV system. They
obtained a 53.57 W radiation energy which was 6.17 W higher
than that of the conventional designed micro combustor at
the flow rate of 100 cm3/s and equivalence ratio of 0.8. Tang
et al. [30] inserted several separating plates into the micro
combustor for the heat transfer enhancement and obtained
an approximately 100 K improvement of average external wall
temperature than the conventional one. The results showed
that the increase of plate numbers could effectively improve
the outer wall temperature, which was suitable for the MTPV
system. Conclusively, it is summarized that the micro
combustor with multi channels could effectively improve the
emitter energy.
According to the literatures review above, the outer wall
temperature value and its uniformity have significant impact
on the energy output of MTPV system. Therefore, to obtain a
higher emitter energy in MTPV system, the thermal and en-
ergy performance of a conventional micro combustor (CMC)
and a multi-channel micro combustor (MCMC) are compared.
Moreover, the shape of channels, the arrangement of chan-
nels, and equivalence ratio of premixed hydrogen/air in the
MCMC were investigated in this paper.
Numerical model
The schematic diagrams of the CMC and MCMCs are displayed
in Fig. 1. The overall sizes of both CMC and MCMC are 32 mm

Fig. 2 e Schematic diagrams of MCMCs with various arrangements: (a) MCMC-concurrent flow; (b) MCMC- layers
counterflow; (c) MCMC- each channel counterflow.

Please cite this article as: He Z et al., Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160
4 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

long, 3 mm high and 15 mm wide. The two combustors are

8 0 19
designed with backward-facing steps, which can improve the < =
  X !
mixing intensity and the prolongation of the fuel residence V$!
v rEf þ p ¼ V $ keff VT  @ hj D j A
: ;
time [5]. For the CMC, the step region size is 5 mm wide, 2 mm j (4)

  
2
þ m V!v þ ðV!v ÞT  V $ !
vI $!
high and 2 mm long. For the MCMC, it is designed with various
v þ Shf
shapes, including circle, hexagon, square, diamond, flat- 3
transverse and flat-longitude. To maintain the fluid volume Energy conservation equation for solid region:
the same, the inlet and outlet sizes of circle (MCMC-circle),
hexagon (MCMC-hexagon), square (MCMC-square), diamond V $ ðkw $ VTÞ ¼ 0 (5)
(MCMC-diamond), flat-transverse (MCMC-flat-transverse) and
For the simulation process, the radiation and convective
flat-longitude (MCMC-flat-longitude) channel are 1.13 mm,
heat transfer of outer walls in the micro combustor are taken
1.24 mm, 1 mm, 1.41 mm, 1.21 mm (1 mm), 1 mm (1.21 mm)
into consideration. The DO radiation model is employed in
and 2.26 mm, 2.48 mm, 2 mm, 2.82 mm, 2.42 mm (2 mm),
this paper. Thereby, the wall thermal transfer energy (Qwall)
2 mm (2.42 mm), respectively. Fig. 2 displays three different
can be calculated below:
arrangements of double layer MCMCs, including double layer
 
MCMC with concurrent flow (DMCMC-concurrent flow), dou- Qwall ¼ hc , ðTwall  T∞ Þ þ εr , s, T4wall  T4∞ (6)
ble layer MCMC with layers counterflow (DMCMC-layers
counterflow) and double layer MCMC with each channel where hc is the coefficient of convective heat transfer, 25 W/
counterflow (DMCMC-each channel counterflow). All the (m2$K). Twall and T∞ are the outer wall temperature and
micro combustors are made up of quartz [31,32]. ambient temperature (300 K), respectively. εr and s are the
In this work, all the simulation cases are conducted by normal emissivity of outer walls and StephaneBoltzman
Ansys Fluent, which have been widely employed by a series of constant, and their values are 0.92 and 5.67  108 W/(m$K),
works [33,34]. The Reynold number is higher than 500 in this respectively.
work, the realizable k-ε model [35] is employed thereby, which The pressure loss (ploss) is given as follow:
has been verified by a series of works [36,37]. Moreover, for the ploss ¼ pinlet poutlet (7)
chemical reaction, the detail mechanism of premixed
hydrogen/air with 13 species and 19 elementary reactions is where pinlet is the inlet pressure and poutlet is the outlet pressure
employed [38e40]. The governing equations are as follow: (the gauge pressure is 0).
Continuity equation: The average outer wall temperature (Taverage) and the wall
temperature difference (△T) can be defined as follow:
V $ ðr!
vÞ¼0 (1) P
A T
Taverage ¼ Pwall;i wall;i (8)
Momentum conversion equation: Awall;i

 
2
rð!
v $ V!
v Þ ¼  Vp þ V$ m V! v ÞT  V $ !
v þ ðV! vI (2) DT ¼ Twall;max  Twall;min (9)
3

Species conservation equation: where Awall,i is the area of grid cell i on the outer wall, Twall,i is
the temperature value of grid cell i. Twall,max and Twall,min are
  !
V r!
v Yj ¼  V D j þ Rj (3) the maximum and minimum temperature value of the outer
wall.
Energy conservation equation for fluid region:

(a)
Central line temperature (K)

1800

1500
0.09
1200 0.1
1500 900 0.11
Exhaust gas temperature (K)

600
1350
300
1200 1200 (b)
Outer wall temperature (K)

1100
1050
0.09
1000
0.1
900
0.11
Experimental results [21] 900

750 Numerical results

800
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32
Inlet velocity (m/s) Axial location (mm)

Fig. 3 e Model validation. Fig. 4 e Mesh independency.

Please cite this article as: He Z et al., Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160
 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

Table 1 e Pressure loss (unit: Pa) in various micro combustors at hydrogen mass flow rate of 1.22 £ 10¡6 kg/s.
Combustor Channel 1 Channel 2 Channel 3 Channel 4 Channel 5 Average
CMC 183.3 183.3
MCMC-circle 277.0 282.0 286.1 282.3 277.2 280.9
MCMC-hexagon 278.0 285.6 286.7 286.1 278.6 283.0
MCMC-square 308.5 316.5 322.1 317.7 306.0 314.2
MCMC-diamond 316.0 322.3 327.1 323.1 317.4 321.2
MCMC-flat-transverse 269.8 283.2 286.2 281.3 217.2 267.6
MCMC-flat-longitude 297.0 304.1 306.4 304.9 297.3 301.9

Table 2 e Pressure loss (unit: Pa) in MCMC-diamond at various mass flow rate.
Mass flow rate Channel 1 Channel 2 Channel 3 Channel 4 Channel 5 Average
8.10  107 kg/s 213.7 223.9 225.5 221.7 211.6 219.3
1.22  106 kg/s 316.0 322.3 327.1 323.1 317.4 321.2
1.64  106 kg/s 465.1 471.1 479.3 473.5 467.2 471.2

The total radiation energy (Qradiation) of micro combustor For the overall MTPV system, the total energy conversion
can be calculated as follow: efficiency of MTPV (htotal) can be calculated as below:
X 
Qradiation ¼ εr ,s Awall;i T4wall;i  T4∞ (10) QMTPV
htotal ¼  100% (12)
m_ in;hydrogen QLHV
The total energy output of MTPV system (QMTPV) is defined
where m_ in;hydrogen is the inlet hydrogen mass flow rate and QLHV
as:
is the hydrogen lower heating value, 119.96 MJ/kg [10].
QMTPV ¼ Qradiation ,hMTPV (11) To evaluate the temperature uniformity of micro
combustor outer walls, the non-dimensional temperature
where hMTPV is energy conversion efficiency of MTPV system
uniformity coefficient (Rwall, uniformity) is defined as follow [29]:
for thermal energy into electronic energy, which is equal to
15.4% [14,41]. P Twall;i Taverage
Awall;i Taverage
Rwall;uniformity ¼ P (13)
Awall;i

8.10×10-7 kg/s 1.22×10-6 kg/s 1.64×10-6 kg/s

1140 (a 8.10×10-7 kg/s 1.22×10-6 kg/s 1.64×10-6 kg/s

Mean outer wall temperature (K)

1120 15.0
(a)
Energy output of MTPV system (W)

1100
13.5

1080
12.0
1060
10.5
1040
9.0
1020
480 (b)
Outer wall temperature difference (K)

7.5
12.0 (b)
440
10.5

400
ηtotal (%)

9.0

360
7.5

320
6.0
CMC MCMC MCMC MCMC MCMC MCMC-flat MCMC-flat
-circle -hexagon -square -diamond -transverse -longitude
CMC MCMC MCMC MCMC MCMC MCMC-flat MCMC-flat
-circle -hexagon -square -diamond -transverse -longitude
Fig. 5 e Influence of the m_ in;hydrogen on outer wall
temperature performance for CMC and MCMC with various Fig. 6 e Influence of the m_ in;hydrogen on energy output of
channel shapes. (a) Mean outer wall temperature; (b) Outer MTPV system for CMC and MCMC with various channel
wall temperature difference. shapes. (a) Energy output of MTPV system; (b) htotal.

Please cite this article as: He Z et al., Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160
6 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 7 e Temperature field on the central channel of various arrangement of MCMCs.

The equivalence ratio (F) of the premixed hydrogen/air can
be calculated below:
A0 =F0
F¼ (14)
A=F
where A0/F0 denotes the stoichiometric mole ratio of air and
fuel and A/F denotes the actual mole flow ratio of air and fuel.
Fig. 3 displays the results of model validation. The mixture
outlet temperature is compared with Wan’s experimental
results [42]. The peak deviation and average deviation be-
tween simulations and experiments are approximately 5%
and 3%, respectively. Thus, the above simulation process can
be employed in this work.
Fig. 4(a) and (b) demonstrate the central line temperature
and the outer wall temperature of the CMC with various mesh
sizes when the m_ in;hydrogen is 1.22  106 kg/s, respectively.
When the mesh sizes are 0.09 mm, 0.1 mm and 0.11 mm, the
mesh numbers are 3,323,998, 2,416,082 and 1,678,436, respec-
tively. The outer wall temperature of the CMC with various
mesh number do not exhibit obvious difference along the
axial direction. Furthermore, for the central line temperature,
the CMC with the mesh size of 0.1 mm is almost the same with
the CMC with the mesh size of 0.09 mm. The temperature
distribution along the flow path in CMC with mesh size of
0.11 mm shows obvious difference by comparing with the
CMC with the mesh size of 0.1 mm and 0.09 mm. Therefore, in
this work, the mesh size of 0.1 mm is chosen for all cases.
Results and discussion
Comparison between CMC and MCMC with different
channel shapes
Table 1 displays the pressure loss in different channels of
various micro combustors under the m_ in;hydrogen of
1.22  106 kg/s and F of 0.6. It is observed that the pressure
drops in all the MCMC are higher than that of the CMC.
Comparing the MCMC with different channel shapes, the
MCMC-diamond shows the highest pressure loss, follows by
MCMC-square, MCMC-flat-longitude, MCMC-hexagon,
MCMC-circle and MCMC-flat-transverse. For the MCMC with
various channel shapes, the pressure loss of the central
channel always exhibits the highest value, while the pressure

Please cite this article as: He Z et al., Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160

8.10×10-7 kg/s
1148
(a)
Mean outer wall temperature (K)
1144
1140
1136
1132
1128
480
(b)
Outer wall temperature difference (K)
400
320
240
160
SMCMC
-concurrent flow
Fig. 8 e Influence of the m_ in;hydrogen on outer wall
temperature performance for various arrangements of
multi-channel micro combustors. (a) Mean outer wall
temperature; (b) Outer wall temperature difference.
loss of the channel in MCMC becomes lower as the channel
becomes far from the central channel. This is due to that the
central channel can be heated by its both sides channel. Ac-
cording to the ideal gas equation, the velocity of the central
channel is higher than that of the other channel. Therefore, it
will lead to a higher pressure loss.
Table 2 displays the pressure drop in MCMC-diamond
when the m_ in;hydrogen is 8.10  107 kg/s, 1.22  106 kg/s and
1.64  106 kg/s and the F is 0.6. As the m_ in;hydrogen increases, the
pressure loss in all the channels in MCMC-diamond also in-
creases. This is because of that the it needs higher pressure to
push the mixed fuel/air into the combustor as the hydrogen
mass flow rate increases [10].
The outer wall temperature value and uniformity have a
huge influence on the energy output of MTPV system. Fig. 5(a)
displays the mean outer wall temperature of CMC and MCMC
with various channel shapes. The mean outer wall tempera-
ture rises as the m_ in;hydrogen increases for all cases. This is
because of that more hydrogen combustion will release more
thermal energy, which resulting in the temperature rising of
outer wall. Compared the performances of MCMC with
various channel shapes, the MCMC-diamond shows the
highest mean outer wall temperature under the same
m_ in;hydrogen . Compared with the CMC, the mean outer wall
temperature of MCMC-diamond is improved by 86.5 K at the
m_ in;hydrogen of 1.64  106 kg/s. Fig. 5(b) reveals the outer wall
temperature difference of CMC and MCMC with various
channel shapes. The outer wall temperature difference of
CMC and MCMC with various channel shapes increases with
the growth of the m_ in;hydrogen . Moreover, it is clearly noted that
the CMC shows the highest outer wall temperature difference.
Please cite this article as: He Z et al., Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160
international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx 7
1.22×10-6 kg/s 1.64×10-6 kg/s
For the MCMC, the solid region between two channels can be
regarded as a fin, which can effectively improve the heat
transfer performance. Furthermore, the MCMC has greater
heat transfer area than that of the CMC. For the MCMC, under
low m_ in;hydrogen , the MCMC-diamond exhibits the lowest tem-
perature difference. Under high m_ in;hydrogen , the MCMC-
diamond has the highest temperature difference. Compre-
hensively, the temperature difference for MCMC with various
channel shapes are almost the same.
Fig. 6(a) depicts the energy output of MTPV system for CMC
and MCMC with various channel shapes. Visibly, the change
tendency of MTPV system energy output is the same as the
mean outer wall temperature. This is because of that the outer
wall temperature of micro combustor directly determines the
MTPV system energy output. It is note that the MCMC-
diamond shows the highest energy output of 14.6 W at the
m_ in;hydrogen of 1.64  106 kg/s, while it is 10.5 W for the CMC.
Fig. 6(b) depicts the htotal for CMC and MCMC with various
channel shapes. The htotal decreases with the m_ in;hydrogen for all
cases. Comparing the performance of CMC and MCMC with
DMCMC DMCMC-layer DMCMC-each
counter flow channel counter flow various channel shapes, the total energy conversion effi-
ciencies of MCMC with various channel shapes are much
higher than that of the CMC. Under high m_ in;hydrogen , the total
energy conversion efficiencies of MCMC with various channel
shapes are almost the same. The MCMC-diamond exhibits the
highest total energy conversion efficiency of 12.0% at the
m_ in;hydrogen of 8.10  107 kg/s. As the m_ in;hydrogen , the energy
input of hydrogen increases, which leads to the reduction of
total energy conversion for all cases.
Conclusively, the MCMC exhibits superiority in enhancing
the thermal performance and higher energy output for MTPV
system than that of the CMC. Moreover, the channel shapes of
MCMC do not have a significant influence on the thermal
performance. However, it is still noted that the MCMC-
diamond exhibits the highest energy output.
Influence of MCMC channel arrangement
A lot of studies show that the channel arrangement for multi-
channel system has a great influence on its thermal perfor-
mance [28,29]. Therefore, in this section, the single-layer
MCMC-diamond (SMCMC) and the double-layer MCMC-dia-
mond with three arrangements, including DMCMC-
concurrent flow, DMCMC- layers counterflow and DMCMC-
each channel counterflow, are compared and investigated.
The equivalence ratio is kept at 0.6 for all cases.
Fig. 7 compared the temperature contours on the central
channel of various arrangement of MCMCs. Under the same
m_ in;hydrogen , the velocity of SMCMC is obviously higher than the
double layer MCMC. This is because of that the inlet area in
double layer MCMC is twice of the SMCMC. The high tem-
perature region in SMCMC is higher than that of the double
layer MCMC under the same m_ in;hydrogen . More thermal energy
will be brought of the micro combustor due to the high ve-
locity. That is why the mean temperature of SMCMC is lower
than that of the double layer MCMC. It is noted that the high
temperature region prolongs to the downstream of micro
combustor as the inlet hydrogen mass flow rate increases for
all cases. Moreover, it is found that the flame occurs in every
8 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

channel of the MCMC for all cases. The difference between
four channel arrangements of MCMC is that the flame
spreading directions are different, due to the arrangements of
channel inlet and outlet for various MCMCs.
Fig. 8(a) and (b) reveals the mean outer wall temperature
and temperature difference of four micro combustors under
various inlet hydrogen mass flow rates. The increase of inlet
hydrogen will result in the rise of mean outer wall tempera-
ture and temperature difference for all cases. Comparing the
four design of MCMCs, the DMCMC-layers counterflow ex-
hibits the highest mean outer wall temperature and lowest
temperature difference, follows by DMCMC-each channel
counterflow, DMCMC-concurrent flow and SMCMC. Zuo et al.
[29] found that the four channel with counterflow for each
channel exhibits the best thermal performance than the four
channel micro combustor with concurrent flow or layers
counterflow. The results in our study is different from their
work. The reason is contributed to two factors. One is that the
multi-channel design is employed in our work, which induces
that the combustion characteristics is different from the four-
channel design. Another is that the combustor materials in
our work is quartz, while it is steel in Zuo’s work [29]. The
thermal conductivity of quartz is much lower than the steel,
which is adverse to the heat transfer. Conclusively, the multi-
channel design with layer counter flow is more suitable for the
low thermal conductivity and multi channels. Moreover, the
mean outer wall temperature of DMCMC- layers counterflow
can reach up to 1215.6 K at the m_ in;hydrogen of 1.64  106 kg/s.
Fig. 9(a) displays outer wall temperature uniformity coef-
ficient of four arrangements of MCMCs at various inlet

Fig. 9 e The outer wall uniformity of three micro combustors. (a) The non-dimensional temperature uniformity coefficient;
(b) The temperature contours of outer walls of four designs of MCMCs.

Please cite this article as: He Z et al., Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160
 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx 9

hydrogen mass flow rates. The lower the non-dimensional designs. For four MCMC designs, the htotal decreases as the
temperature uniformity coefficient is, the more uniform the m_ in;hydrogen increases. The DMCMC-layers counterflow always
outer wall temperature distribution is. Comparing the four exhibits the highest total energy conversion efficiency, follows
designs of multi-channel micro combustor, the DMCMC- by DMCMC-each channel counterflow, DMCMC-concurrent
layers counterflow exhibits the lowest non-dimensional flow and SMCMC. When the m_ in;hydrogen is 8.10  107 kg/s,
temperature uniformity coefficient, follows by DMCMC-each the DMCMC-layers counterflow exhibits the highest total en-
channel counterflow, DMCMC-concurrent flow and SMCMC. ergy conversion efficiency of 13.2%.
It means that the DMCMC- layers counterflow has the most
uniform outer wall distribution among four designs. Fig. 9(b) Influence of equivalence ratio
depictures outer wall temperature distribution of four
MCMCs. It is noted that the high temperature region in the As is known, the equivalence ratio plays a significant role on
SMCMC is the largest. Comparing the DMCMC-layers coun- the combustion characteristics. To investigated the influence
terflow and DMCMC-concurrent flow, it is demonstrated that of the equivalence ratio on the thermal performance of the
the high temperature region of the DMCMC-layers counter- DMCMC-layers counterflow. In this part, F changes from 0.5 to
flow is obvious smaller than that of the DMCMC-concurrent 1 with a step of 0.1 when the m_ in;hydrogen is kept at 1.64  106 kg/
flow. It means that the DMCMC-layers counterflow can s. Fig. 11(a) demonstrates the mean outer wall temperature of
effectively improve the temperature uniformity than that of the DMCMC-layers counterflow at various inlet hydrogen
the DMCMC-concurrent flow. For the DMCMC-each channel mass flow rates. The mean outer wall temperature increases
counterflow, the high temperature region occurs alternatively as the growth of m_ in;hydrogen . When the F is equal to 1, the mean
after the inlet for each channel. Conclusively, the DMCMC- outer wall temperature reaches up to the peak value of
layers counterflow design can effectively improve the tem- 1157.1 K. Since the m_ in;hydrogen is fixed, the reduction of F means
perature uniformity.
the increase of inlet air mass flow rate. The increase premixed
Fig. 10(a) reveals energy output of MTPV system for four
MCMC designs when the inlet hydrogen mass flow rates are
8.10  107 kg/s, 1.22  106 kg/s and 1.64  106 kg/s,
respectively. It is demonstrated that the energy output of
MTPV system increases with the rise of the m_ in;hydrogen . The
DMCMC-layers counterflow exhibits the highest energy
output of 18.6 W at the m_ in;hydrogen of 1.64  106 kg/s. This is
due to that the DMCMC-layers counterflow has the highest
mean outer wall temperature and the most uniform temper-
ature distribution. Fig. 10(b) displays the htotal for four MCMC

8.10×10-7 kg/s 1.22×10-6 kg/s 1.64×10-6 kg/s

(a)
18.0
Energy output of MTPV system (W)

16.5

15.0

13.5

12.0

10.5
13.5
(b)

12.0

10.5
ηtotal (%)

9.0

7.5

SMCMC DMCMC DMCMC-layer DMCMC-each

-concurrent flow counter flow channel counter flow
Fig. 11 e Influence of the equivalence ratio on outer wall
Fig. 10 e Influence of the m_ in;hydrogen on energy output of temperature performance for DMCMC-layers counterflow.
MTPV system for four MCMCs arrangements. (a) Energy (a) Mean outer wall temperature; (b) Outer wall
output of MTPV system; (b) htotal. temperature difference.

Please cite this article as: He Z et al., Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160
10 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx
air/hydrogen mass flow rate also increases with the rise of F.
As is known, hydrogen is a very easy-burn fuel, which can
obtain a high combustion efficiency [3,10]. Thus, more inlet
premixed air/hydrogen mass flow rate will bring more ther-
mal energy out of the micro combustor. That is why the mean
outer wall temperature increases as the F increases. Fig. 11(b)
shows the outer wall temperature difference of the DMCMC-
layers counterflow at various equivalence ratios. It is
observed that the temperature difference decreases as the F
increases. When the F is 1, the temperature difference of
outer wall reaches to its minimum value of 216.7 K. Fig. 11(c)
depictures the temperature uniformity coefficient for the
DMCMC-layers counterflow under different equivalence ra-
tios. The temperature uniformity coefficient exhibits the same
change tendency as the outer wall temperature difference. As
the F increases from 0.5 to 1, the temperature uniformity
coefficient decreases from 2.76% to 2.48%. Generally, the
temperature distribution of the outer wall becomes more
uniform as the equivalence ratio rises.
Fig. 12(a) reveals the central line temperature distribution
of the DMCMC-layers counterflow outer wall for various
equivalence ratios. It is noted that the lowest temperature
occurs on the wall near the inlet. This is because of that the
inlet gas has the lowest temperature. The highest tempera-
ture occurs on the location around 4 mm. This is due to that
the flame front attaching to the combustor inner wall. It will
bring a highest outer wall temperature. It is noted that both
Fig. 12 e Influence of equivalence ratio on the temperature
distribution. (a) Central line temperature distribution of the
outer wall along the axial location; (b) Temperature
contours at the central surfaces of the DMCMC-layers
counterflow.
Please cite this article as: He Z et al., Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160
the lowest temperature and highest temperature increase
with the rise of the F. The increment of the lowest temper-
ature is obvious higher than that of the highest temperature.
According to Fig. 12(a), the temperature non-uniformity
mainly occurs in the location of 0  x  8 mm, while the
temperature is around 1175 K at the location of
8 mm  x  32 mm. Fig. 12(b) displays the temperature fields
of the central surface for the DMCMC-layers counterflow at
various equivalence ratios. It is noted that the high temper-
ature region occurs in the upstream of the channels. As the F
increases, the high temperature region becomes smaller.
Meanwhile, the peak value also becomes higher as F rises.
The outer wall temperature in the DMCMC-layers counter-
flow is determined by the heat transfer between combustor
wall and the mixture gas. The higher temperature gas at the
equivalence ratio of 1 will enhance the heat transfer, which
will improve the outer wall temperature. That is why the
minimum temperature and maximum temperature of cen-
tral line temperature in Fig. 12(a) will increase with the
growth of equivalence ratio.
Fig. 13(a) compared the energy output of MTPV system
at various equivalence ratios at the m_ in;hydrogen of
1.64  106 kg/s. The energy output of the MTPV system
increases with the growth of F. When the F increases from
0.5 to 1, the MTPV system energy output increases from
18.5 W to 19.3 W. Fig. 13(b) displays the htotal at different
equivalence ratios. The htotal also shows the same change
tendency of the energy output of MTPV system. This is due
to that the energy output and total energy conversion ef-
ficiency are determined by the temperature value and
uniformity of outer walls. When the F is 1, the htotal rea-
ches to the peak value of 9.7%.
(a)
19.2
Energy output of MTPV system (W)
18.9
18.6
18.3
18.0
(b)
9.6
9.4
ηtotal (%)
9.2
9.0
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Equivalence ratio
Fig. 13 e Influence of equivalence ratio on energy output of
MTPV system. (a) Energy output of MTPV system; (b) htotal.
 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx
Conclusions
In order to improve the energy output of MTPV system, the
multi-channel micro combustor is designed. In this work, the
thermal performance and energy output of the conventional
micro combustor and the multi-channel micro combustor
with various channel shapes in the MTPV system are
compared. Furthermore, the arrangement of MCMCs and the
equivalence ratio on the thermal performance are investi-
gated. The main conclusions are below:
(1) Comparing the performance of CMC and MCMC, the
outer wall temperature and energy output of MCMC is
obviously higher than that of the CMC. The pressure
loss in MCMC also is higher than the CMC. Furthermore,
the MCMC-diamond exhibits the best thermal perfor-
mance. At the inlet hydrogen mass flow rate of
1.64  106 kg/s, the MCMC-diamond exhibits the
highest energy output of 14.6 W and its mean outer wall
temperature is improved by 86.5 K than that of the CMC.
(2) The arrangement of MCMCs plays a crucial role on the
thermal performance and energy output. The MCMC-
layer counter flow shows the best thermal perfor-
mance with higher outer wall temperature and more
uniform outer wall temperature. When the inlet
hydrogen mass flow rate is 8.10  107 kg/s, the
DMCMC-layers counterflow exhibits the highest htotal of
13.2%.
(3) The equivalence ratio plays a crucial role on the thermal
performance of MCMCs. The outer wall temperature
and its uniformity becomes better as the equivalence
ratio increases. When the equivalence ratio is 1, the
MPTV system with a DMCMC-layers counterflow can
obtain an energy output of 19.3 W at the inlet hydrogen
mass flow rate of 1.64  106 kg/s.
Conclusively, MTPV system based on combustion has
become a good choice for the energy source of MEMS system
[21,43]. Overall, the multi-channel micro combustor has the
potential to be widely employed, especially the MCMC-layer
counter flow.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgements
This work is supported by The Joint Fund of the National
Natural Science Foundation of China and China Aerospace
Science and Technology Corporation on Advanced
Manufacturing Technology for Aerospace Industry
(U1737113), Graduate Research and Innovation Foundation of
Chongqing (CYB20019), Fundamental Research Funds for the
Please cite this article as: He Z et al., Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160
11
Central Universities (2019CDYGYB022), and Natural Science
Foundation of Chongqing (cstc2019jcyj-msxmX0223).
references
[1] Yang WM, Jiang DY, Chou SK, et al. Experimental study on
micro modular combustor for micro-thermophotovoltaic
system application. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2012;37:9576e83.
[2] Tang A, Cai T, Huang Q, et al. Numerical study on energy
conversion performance of micro-thermophotovoltaic
system adopting a heat recirculation micro-combustor. Fuel
Process Technol 2018;180:23e31.
[3] He Z, Yan Y, Xu F, et al. Combustion characteristics and
thermal enhancement of premixed hydrogen/air in micro
combustor with pin fin arrays. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2020;45:5014e27.
[4] Zuo W, Li J, Zhang Y, et al. Multi-factor impact mechanism
on combustion efficiency of a hydrogen-fueled micro-
cylindrical combustor. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2020;45:2319e30.
[5] Su Y, Cheng Q, Song J, et al. Numerical study on a multiple-
channel micro combustor for a micro-thermophotovoltaic
system. Energy Convers Manag 2016;120:197e205.
[6] Aravind B, Khandelwal B, Ramakrishna PA, et al. Towards
the development of a high power density, high efficiency,
micro power generator. Appl Energy 2020;261:114386.
[7] Adiwidodo S, Wardana ING, Yuliati L, et al. Performance of
cylindrical and planar meso-scale combustor with double
narrow slit flame holder for micropower generator. E Eur J
Enterprise Technol 2020;2:35e43.
[8] Ansari M, Amani E. Micro-combustor performance
enhancement using a novel combined baffle-bluff
configuration. Chem Eng Sci 2018;175:243e56.
[9] Aravind B, Raghuram GKS, Kishore VR, et al. Compact design
of planar stepped micro combustor for portable
thermoelectric power generation. Energy Convers Manag
2018;156:224e34.
[10] Zuo W, Jiaqiang E, Hu W, et al. Numerical investigations on
combustion characteristics of H2/air premixed combustion
in a micro elliptical tube combustor. Energy 2017;126:1e12.
[11] Yang X, He Z, Cha S, et al. Parametric analysis on the
combustion and thermal performance of a swirl micro-
combustor for micro thermophotovoltaic system. Energy
2020:117312.
[12] Zhang Z, Wu K, Yuen R, et al. Numerical investigation on the
performance of bluff body augmented micro cavity-
combustor. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2020;45:4932e45.
[13] Akhtar S, Khan MN, Kurnia JC, et al. Investigation of energy
conversion and flame stability in a curved micro-combustor
for thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) applications. Appl Energy
2017;192:134e45.
[14] Nadimi E, Jafarmadar S. The numerical study of the energy
and exergy efficiencies of the micro-combustor by the
internal micro-fin for thermophotovoltaic systems. J Clean
Prod 2019;235:394e403.
[15] Chou SK, Yang WM, Li J, et al. Porous media combustion for
micro thermophotovoltaic system applications. Appl Energy
2010;87:2862e7.
[16] Niu J, Wang Y, Qi Y, et al. New mechanism insights into
methane steam reforming on Pt/Ni from DFT and
experimental kinetic study. Fuel 2020;266:117143.
[17] Peng Q, Yang W, Jiaqiang E, et al. Investigation on premixed
H2/C3H8/air combustion in porous medium combustor for
the micro thermophotovoltaic application. Appl Energy
2020;260:114352.
12 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx
[18] Ni S, Zhao D, Sun Y, et al. Numerical and entropy studies of
hydrogen-fuelled micro-combustors with different
geometric shaped ribs. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2019;44:7692e705.
[19] Yang X, He Z, Dong S, et al. Enhancement of thermal
performance by converging-diverging channel in a micro
tube combustor fueled by premixed hydrogen/air. Int J
Hydrogen Energy 2019;44:1213e26.
 Capeletto CA, Santos VGS, et al. Numerical
[20] Fontana E,
analysis of heat recuperation in micro-combustors using
internal recirculation. Chem Eng Sci 2020;211:115301.
[21] Hiranandani K, Aravind B, Ratna Kishore V, et al.
Development of a numerical model for performance
prediction of an integrated microcombustor-thermoelectric
power generator. Energy 2020;192:116624.
[22] Alipoor A, Saidi MH. Numerical study of hydrogen-air
combustion characteristics in a novel micro-
thermophotovoltaic power generator. Appl Energy
2017;199:382e99.
[23] Ni S, Zhao D, Becker S, et al. Thermodynamics and entropy
generation studies of a T-shaped micro-combustor: effects of
porous medium and ring-shaped ribs. Appl Therm Eng
2020;175:115374.
[24] Akhtar S, Kurnia JC, Shamim T. A three-dimensional
computational model of H2eair premixed combustion in
non-circular micro-channels for a thermo-photovoltaic (TPV)
application. Appl Energy 2015;152:47e57.
[25] Kim WH, Park TS. Flame characteristics depending on
recirculating flows in a non-premixed micro combustor with
varying baffles. Appl Therm Eng 2019;148:591e608.
[26] Amani E, Daneshgar A, Hemmatzade A. A novel combined
baffle-cavity micro-combustor configuration for Micro-
Thermo-Photo-Voltaic applications. Chin J Chem Eng
2020;28(2):403e13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjche.2019.05.002.
[27] Zhang Y, Pan J, Zhu Y, et al. The effect of embedded high
thermal conductivity material on combustion performance
of catalytic micro combustor. Energy Convers Manag
2018;174:730e8.
[28] Zuo W, Jiaqiang E, Lin R. Numerical investigations on an
improved counterflow double-channel micro combustor
fueled with hydrogen for enhancing thermal performance.
Energy Convers Manag 2018;159:163e74.
[29] Zuo W, Jiaqiang E, Han D, et al. Numerical investigations on
thermal performance of double-layer four-channel micro
combustors for micro-thermophotovoltaic system. Energy
Convers Manag 2017;150:343e55.
[30] Tang A, Pan J, Yang W, et al. Numerical study of premixed
hydrogen/air combustion in a micro planar combustor with
Please cite this article as: He Z et al., Numerical investigation on a multi-channel micro combustor fueled with hydrogen for a micro-
thermophotovoltaic system, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.10.160
parallel separating plates. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2015;40:2396e403.
[31] He Z, Yan Y, Feng S, et al. Investigation on premixed
methane/air combustion characteristics in heat recirculation
micro combustor with separating cylinder. Chem Eng
Process - Process Intensification 2020:107987.
[32] Yan Y, He Z, Xu Q, et al. Numerical study on premixed
hydrogen/air combustion characteristics in
microecombustor with slits on both sides of the bluff body.
Int J Hydrogen Energy 2019;44:1998e2012.
[33] Zuo W, Li J, Zhang Y, et al. Effects of multi-factors on
comprehensive performance of a hydrogen-fueled micro-
cylindrical combustor by combining grey relational analysis
and analysis of variance. Energy 2020;199:117439.
[34] Zuo W, Li Q, He Z, et al. Numerical investigations on thermal
performance enhancement of hydrogen-fueled micro planar
combustors with injectors for micro-thermophotovoltaic
applications. Energy 2020;194:116904.
[35] Pashchenko D. Hydrogen-rich fuel combustion in a swirling
flame: CFD-modeling with experimental verification. Int J
Hydrogen Energy 2020;45:19996e20003.
[36] Bani S, Pan J, Tang A, et al. Numerical investigation of key
parameters of the porous media combustion based Micro-
Thermophotovoltaic system. Energy 2018;157:969e78.
[37] Zhang Z, Wu K, Yao W, et al. Enhancement of combustion
performance in a microchannel: synergistic effects of bluff-
body and cavity. Fuel 2020;265:116940.
[38] Zuo W, Jiaqiang E, Liu H, et al. Numerical investigations on
an improved micro-cylindrical combustor with rectangular
rib for enhancing heat transfer. Appl Energy 2016;184:77e87.
[39] Yang WM, Chou SK, Shu C, et al. Development of a prototype
micro-thermophotovoltaic power generator. J Phys Appl
Phys 2004;37:1017e20.
[40] Pashchenko D. Comparative analysis of hydrogen/air
combustion CFD-modeling for 3D and 2D computational
domain of micro-cylindrical combustor. Int J Hydrogen
Energy 2017;42:29545e56.
[41] Xue H, Yang W, Chou SK, et al. Microthermophotovoltaics
power system for portable MEMS devices. Microscale
Thermophys Eng 2005;9:85e97.
[42] Wan J, Fan A, Maruta K, et al. Experimental and numerical
investigation on combustion characteristics of premixed
hydrogen/air flame in a micro-combustor with a bluff body.
Int J Hydrogen Energy 2012;37:19190e7.
[43] Fathy A, Elaziz MA, Sayed ET, et al. Optimal parameter
identification of triple-junction photovoltaic panel based on
enhanced moth search algorithm. Energy 2019;188:116025.