MANIPAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

(A constituent Institute of MANIPAL UNIVERSITY)

MANIPAL - 576 104, KARNATAKA, INDIA

Mid Term Report

Thermo-Acoustic Characterization of a Gas Turbine
Burner on a Single Burner Test Rig

SUBMITTED
BY

STUDENT NAME : AKHOURI PIYUSH RAJ

REG NO : 040909190

E-MAIL: raj_piyushnamaste@yahoo.co.in;
piyush.namaste@gmail.com

ADDRESS/PHONE : Akhouri Piyush Raj,

C/O Mr.Hauke Holtkamp,
Landsbergerstrasse 59,
Hackerbrüke, Munich,
Bavarian state, Germany-81310
Mob: 004915223322752
Under the Internal Guidance of:
Dr. N. Y. Sharma
Head of Department,
Department of Mechanical and Mfg.Engineering
Manipal Institute of Technology,
Manipal , Karnataka-576104
India

Under the External Guidance of:

M.Sc. Mr. Panduranga Reddy Alemela,
Scientific Co-worker,
Lehrstuhl für thermodynamik,(Chair for thermodynamiks)
Facultät für Maschinenwesen , (Faculty of Mechanical
Engineering)
Technische Üniversität München
(Technical University of Munich)
Bavaria, Germany-81547

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page No.

CHAPTER 1_INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………….. 3

1.1 Need for the project……………………………………………………………… 4

1.2. Objective …………………………………………………………………… 4

CHAPTER 2_LITERATURE REVIEW…………………………………………………5

2.1 Evolution of Thermo acoustics………………………………………… ……….. 5

2.2 Growth of Thermo acoustical research…………………………………………… 7
2.3 Research Work at TU Munich................................................................................... 8

CHAPTER 3_Experimental setup…………..............................................................… 9

3.1 Nomenclature…………………………………………….......................................... 9
3.2 Various Components of test rig ……………………............................................. 12
3.3 Governing Equations……………………………………………………………….. 12

CHAPTER 4_Microphone Calibration……………………………………………… 14

4.1 Concept………………………………………………………………… 15
4.2 Research Methodology……………………………………………………………. 15
4.3 Results and Discussion…………………………………………………………… 17
4.4 References………………………………………………………………………… 21

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The need for high thermal efficiency and low levels of pollutant emissions requires continuous

research and development in the field of power generation. To comply with today’s stringent

regulations, the concept of lean premixed combustion has been adopted as it offers a certain

number of advantages in controlling the emissions level. The reliability and flexibility of the

Modern cycle power gas turbine has imposed this technology as standard energy supply source

in the present and in the foreseeable future.

Industrial practice has proven this technology to be sensitive to the development of self sustained

thermo-acoustic combustion instabilities resulting in high levels of pressure pulsations in the

combustion chamber. These disturb the normal operation and can produce extensive hardware

damage to the system. The driving mechanism for these undesired phenomenon is mainly the

feedback loop with a positive growth rate linking the unsteady heat release of the turbulent

premixed flame and the acoustic field of the combustion system.

The research methodology adopted in this project goes in accordance to the Combustion Instabilities

methodology proposed by Dr. Wolfgang Polifke (2004). The Data has been acquired using

LABVIEW (V5) Software..The modeling and simulations have been performed using MATLAB

(2007B).

Following this introduction, some of literature related to the evolution, concept and present status

of research going on thermo acoustic instabilities are presented outlining the research area and

the work at TU Munich.

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1.1 Need for the project:

Industrial practice has proven this technology to be sensitive to the development of self sustained

thermo-acoustic combustion instabilities resulting in high levels of pressure pulsations in the

combustion chamber. These disturb the normal operation and can produce extensive hardware

damage to the system. The driving mechanism for these undesired phenomenons is mainly the

feedback loop with a positive growth rate linking the unsteady heat release of the turbulent

premixed flame and the acoustic field of the combustion system.

It is clear that it is very difficult to model the thermoacoustic interaction mechanisms in a flame

stabilized by such a mechanism.Nevertheless, it will be demonstrated here that surprisingly

simple models suffice to describe the thermoacoustic behaviour of the flame.However, some of

the parameters in these models need experimental input.

1.2 Objective:
Thermo-Acoustic Characterization of a Gas Turbine Burner on a Single Burner Test Rig by

performing cold test run of the test rig and post-process the data to study flow characteristics of

the burner.

Work at Tum

Modern design of the low emission combustor is characterized by swirling air in the combustor

dome coupled with distributed fuel injection to maximize mixing. This design results in efficient

combustion with extremely low emissions. The burner on which we are experimenting is known

as EV5 burner( Provided by Alstom) and has the unique property of flame instabilization in free

space near the burner outlet utilizing the sudden breakdown of a swirling flow, called vortex

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breakdown. The swirler is of exceptionally simple design, consisting of two halves of a cone,

which are shifted to form two two air slots of constant width.

Gaseous fuels are injected into the combustion air by means of air distribution tubes comprising

of two rows of small holes perpendicular to the inlet ports of the swirler. Complete mixing of

fuel and air is obtained shortly after injection.

The characteristic of combustion stabilization by vortex breakdown are controlled by the flow

dynamics associated with this particular flow phenomenon. Vortex breakdown is defined as a

flame instability that is characterized by the formation of an internal stagnation point on the

vortex axis, followed by reverse flow. Upstream of the vortex breakdown location, the velocity

profile is highly jet-like with a peak velocity almost three times greater than the mean velocity.

Very close to he down Stream of the breakdown, the flow in the core may completely stagnate

and then change to a wake-like flow. Downstream of the breakdown turbulence increases, axial

velocities are substantially lower and reverse flow is possible.

CHAPTER 2:

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2.1 Concept of Thermo Acoustics

A sound wave in a gas is usually regarded as consisting of coupled pressure and motion

ocillations, but temperature oscillations are always present, too. When the sound travels in all

channels, oscillating heat also flows to and from the channel walls. The combination of all such

oscillations produces a rich variety of “thermo acoustic” effects.

Research in thermo acoustics began with simple curiosity about the oscillating heat transfer

between gas sound waves and solid boundaries. These interactions are too small to be obvious in

the sound in air with which we communicate every day. However, in intense sound waves in

pressurized gases, thermo acoustics can be harnessed to produce powerful engines, pulsating

combustion, heat pumps, refrigerators, and mixture separators. Hence, much current thermo

acoustics research is motivated by the desire to create new technology for the energy industry

that is as simple and reliable as sound waves themselves.

2.2 Physics of Combustion Instabilities

Consider mass conservation across a premix flame1 in steady state,

(ρu)c = (ρu)h

With the density ρh of the combustion products (index h for ”hot”) being lower than the density

of the fresh fuel/air mixture (index c for ”cold”), the velocity u or the volume flux must increase

across the flame. Now, if the heat release rate of the flame fluctuates, the volume ”produced” by

the flame will also fluctuate, and this will generate sound; just like a loudspeaker box with its

oscillating membrane.

The heat release rate may be perturbed by turbulent fluctuations of the velocity field upstream of

the flame front. This gives rise to combustion noise, e.g. a camping burner or a blow torch which

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”hisses” or ”roars”. Combustion noise often exhibits a broad band frequency distribution, which

derives from the size distribution of the turbulent eddies perturbing the flame. Combustion noise

may also be generated by fairly large scale, vortical coherent structures, originating from

hydrodynamic instability of the base flow (e.g. a shear layer or swirling flow).

In any case, if one speaks of combustion noise, it is usually implied that there is no significant

feedback from the sound emitted back to the flow fluctuations which perturbed the heat release in

the first place.

However, if the flame is enclosed in a combustion chamber, sound may be reflected back to the

flame such that a feedback loop is established. If the phase between the sound field established in

the chamber and the fluctuations of heat release is just right, a self-excited combustion instability

may occur, where small (infinitesimal) perturbations are amplified ever more, until eventually

some kind of saturation mechanism kicks in. For saturated thermo-acoustic combustion

instabilities,limit cycle velocity fluctuations often exceed the mean flow velocities, amplitudes of

pressure fluctuations can reach more than 120 dB in atmospheric flames, and several

atmospheres in rocket engines. Damage to the combustion equipment can result very quickly due

to excessive mechanical or heat loads, emissions of noise or pollutants like oxides of nitrogen or

carbon monoxide are often intolerable. This is why combustion instabilities are not merely a

fascinating phenomenon, but of great technical importance in aerospace, energy and process

engineering.

The frequency spectrum typically exhibits one or several distinct peaks, with frequencies often

(but not necessarily) quite close to the acoustic eigenfrequencies of the flame enclosure (or the

complete combustion system) without unsteady heat release.

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2.3 History/Growth of Thermo Acoustics

The rich history of thermo acoustics has many roots, branches, and trunks intricately interwoven,

supporting and cross-fertilizing each other. It is a complicated history because in some cases

invention and technology development, outside of the discipline of acoustics, have preceded

fundamental understanding; at other times fundamental science has come first.

Dr. N. Rott in 1969 took the meaning of the word “thermo acoustics” to be self-evident–a

combination of thermal (heat) effects and sound. He developed the mathematics describing

acoustic oscillations in a gas in a channel with an axial temperature gradient, with lateral channel

dimensions of the order of the gas thermal penetration depth δ κ (typically of the order of 1 mm),

this being much shorter than the wavelength (typically of the order of 1 m). The problem had

been investigated by Rayleigh and by Kirchhoff, but without quantitative success. In Rott’s time,

motivation to understand the problem arose largely from the cryogenic phenomenon known as

Taconis oscillations–when a gas-filled tube reaches from ambient temperature to a cryogenic

temperature, the gas sometimes oscillates spontaneously, with large heat transport from ambient

to the cryogenic environment. Dr. T. Yazaki later demonstrated most convincingly that Rott’s

analysis of the Taconis oscillation was quantitatively accurate.

A century earlier, Lord Rayleigh understood the qualitative features of such heat-driven

oscillations: “If heat be given to the air at the moment of greatest condensation [i.e., greatest

density] or be taken from it at the moment of greatest rarefaction, the vibration is encouraged.”

He had investigated Sondhauss oscillations [cite reference] the glassblowers’ precursor to

Taconis oscillations. Raleigh’s criterion was also understood to apply to Rijke

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oscillations.[Reference 7] Similar oscillations can also occur when combustion takes place in a

cavity[reference 8]The oscillations occur spontaneously if the combustion progresses more

rapidly or efficiently during the compression phase of the pressure oscillation than during the

rarefaction phase. Such oscillations must be suppressed in rockets to prevent catastrophic

damage, but they are deliberately encouraged in some gas-fired residential furnaces and hot-

water heaters to improve their efficiency.

Applying Rott’s mathematics to a situation where the temperature gradient along the

channel was too weak to satisfy Rayleigh’s criterion, Hofler[reference 9] invented a standing-

wave thermo acoustic refrigerator, and demonstrated that Rott’s approach to acoustics in small

channels was quantitatively accurate. In this type of refrigerator, the coupled oscillations of gas

motion, temperature, and heat transfer in the sound wave are phased in time so that heat is

absorbed from a load at low temperature and waste heat is rejected to a sink at higher

temperature. The offspring of Hofler’s refrigerator are still under study today.

Meanwhile, completely independently, pulse-tube refrigeration was becoming the most actively

investigated area of cryogenic refrigeration. This development began with Gifford’s[reference

11]accidental discovery and subsequent investigation of the cooling associated with square-wave

pulses of pressure applied to one end of a pipe that was closed at the other end. Although the

relationship was not recognized at the time, this phenomenon shared much physics with Hofler’s

refrigerator (but in boundary-layer approximation). Mikulin’s[12] attempt at modest

improvement in heat transfer in one part of this “basic” pulse-tube refrigerator led unexpectedly

to a dramatic improvement of performance, and Radebaugh[13] realized that the resulting

“orifice” pulse-tube refrigerator was in fact a variant of the Stirling cryocooler.

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Orifice pulse-tube refrigerators and Stirling refrigerators are available today from several

companies, and are used for cooling infrared sensors on satellites as well as on Earth.

Development of Stirling engines and refrigerators started in the 19th century, the engines at first

as an alternative to steam engines.[14,15] Crankshafts, multiple pistons, and other moving parts

seemed at first to be essential. An important modern chapter in their development began in the

1970s with the invention of “free-piston” Stirling engines and refrigerators, in which each

piston’s motion is determined by interactions between the piston’s dynamics and the gas’s

dynamics rather than by a crankshaft and connecting rod. Analysis of such complex, coupled

phenomena is complicated, because the oscillating motion causes oscillating pressure differences

while simultaneously the oscillating pressure differences cause oscillating motion. Urieli [16]

analyzed these by assuming sinusoidal time oscillations of all important variables and using

complex numbers to account for amplitudes and time phases. Ceperley[17,18] added an

additional acoustic perspective to Stirling engines and refrigerators when he realized that the

time phasing between pressure and motion oscillations in the heart of their regenerators is that of

a traveling acoustic wave. Many years later, acoustic versions of such engines were demonstrated

by Yazaki,[19] deBlok,[20] and Backhaus,[21] the latter achieving a heat-to-acoustic energy

efficiency comparable to that of other mature energy conversion technologies. Stirling and

thermoacoustic-Stirling engines are under development today for applications including

spacecraft power and combined-heat-and-power systems on Earth.

To us, the word “thermoacoustics” represents one unifying analytical and conceptual approach to

all of these devices and phenomena.[22] The thermoacoustic approach begins with the

assumptions that the oscillations of pressure p, temperature T , density ρ, velocity u, and entropy

s can be thought of as “small” and that they are adequately represented as sinusoidal functions of

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time. Results of engineering interest are obtained as time-averaged products of the oscillating

variables: heat fluxes are proportional to the product of T and u, work to the product of p and u,

mass fluxes to the product of ρ and u, etc. Surprisingly, despite the assumption that the

oscillations must be small and monofrequency, the results of the thermoacoustic approach are

usefully accurate even for large oscillations with substantial harmonic content.

The spatial dependences of the amplitudes and time phases of the oscillating variables can be

very complex, varying smoothly within components and abruptly at the interfaces between

components. Typically, the interface between one component and another is accompanied by a

dramatic change in geometry or boundary conditions, which enables a desired macroscopic

phenomenon such as refrigeration. For example, the regenerators of Stirling engines and

refrigerators have pore sizes much smaller than the thermal penetration depth δ K , and stacks of

standing-wave engines and refrigerators have pore sizes comparable to δ K .

The so-called “pulse tubes” in pulse-tube refrigerators and other open spaces in other systems are

much wider than δ K , and these components are insulated from their surroundings while the heat

exchangers abutting them are tied to external thermal reservoirs. Wheatley[23] highlighted the

importance of the abrupt changes in the gas’s environment at such interfaces between

components by using the phrase “broken thermodynamic symmetry.”

In one important new development based on the thermoacoustic approach, Olson[24] extended

Rott’s analysis[25] of Rayleigh streaming in a tube with an axial temperature gradient to include

arbitrary p—u time phasing, and showed how slightly tapering the tube can suppress Rayleigh

streaming in it. This work effectively eliminates a harmful source of heat leak in some thermo

acoustic devices, especially pulse-tube refrigerators.

1
Another new development is based on the discovery of thermo acoustic mixture separation by

Spoor,[26] in which radial oscillating thermal diffusion and axial oscillating viscous motion in a

gas mixture in a tube create time-averaged separation of the components of the gas mixture along

the length of the tube. Geller [27] has used this method in a 2.5-m long tube to separate a 50-50

helium-argon mixture into 30% helium and 70% argon at one end and 70% helium and 30%

argon at the other end. Neon, a mixture of 9% 22Ne and 91% 20Ne, was separated to create 1%

isotope-fraction differences from end to end. The separation occurs because the sound wave’s

oscillating pressure causes radial oscillating temperature gradients in the tube, which in turn

cause opposite oscillating radial thermal diffusion of the light and heavy components of the

mixture. Thus, the two components of the gas take turns being partially immobilized in the

viscous boundary layer, so that the wave’s axial oscillating motion carries light-enriched gas

toward one end of the tube and heavy-enriched gas toward the other end.

This summary highlights only some of the interesting inventions, discoveries, insights, and

fundamental demonstrations of thermo acoustics in the past half century.

Nomenclature

BTM Burner Transfer Matrix

FTM Flame Transfer Matrix
FTF Flame Transfer Function
c Speed of sound (m/s)
f Complex amplitude of upstream wave(m/s)
ĝ Complex amplitude of downstream wave (m/s)
γ ratio of specific heats
k= ω / c Accoustical wave number (1/m)
M Mach Number(-)
n Interaction Index (-)
p' Accoustic Pressure (Pa)
φ Phase Angle (rad)
Q Heat Release (W)
Ρ Density(kg/m3)

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 Σ Time Delay Distribution (s)
Τ Temperature(K)
τ Convective Time delay(s)
u Mean velocity(m/s)
ú Acoustic Velocity (m/s)
ω Angular Frequency
Chapter 2:Understanding The Test Rig

2.1 Experimental Setup

The single burner test rig with its main components is shown in figure 1. The compressed air

enters through a mass flow controller providing the desired air mass flow rate. An electric

Preheater (32 KW)is used to preheat the air up to 500° C . Primary Fuel Injection into the main

air stream using small venturi nozzles is positioned well upstream of the combustor and provides

a perfectly premixes fresh gas.

The fuel used for this investigation is Natural Gas with 98.04 Mol.% methane. Speed Control

Sirens are placed up and downstream of the burner to provide two source forcing with sufficient

amplitude. As the upstream siren directly modulates the fresh gas mixture, a bypass valve is used

to control the level of acoustic excitation. The thermally insulated and segmented Ø 120 mm

plenum of 1500 mm length is equipped with microphone ports to measure the upstream acoustic

field.

The EV Burner located at the end of the plenum consists of two slightly shifted half cones

providing slots for the mixture to enter and induce swirl to the flow. Combustion occurs in an air

cooled 90 mm square combustion chamber of 700 mm length also equipped with multiple micro

phone ports. Quartz glass windows on the two opposite sides provide optical access. Finally, a

downstream exhaust system with a flexible acoustic boundary condition completes the setup. A

low reflection or even anechoic boundary condition is desirable for making precise acoustic

measurements. For this a perforated end plate is required. Up to four water cooled condenser

1
microphones(G.R.A.S. 40 BP-¼-inch) used with preamplifier(¼-inch,type 26 AL), with a large

dynamic range and frequency response are mounted both up and downstream of the burner. The

dynamic pressure is measured using a sample and hold data acquisition system from a multi-

channel input-output Board(333 kHz, 12 bit) at a sampling rate of 10 kHz. In parallel the heat

release fluctuations are measured with a OH* - chemiluminescence which peaks at a wavelength

of 308 nm. For Optical Characterization of the flame, i.e. flame structure and flame length, a

high speed camera (APX Intensified) has been used. A sequence of five hundred images is used

to get the ensemble averaged image to characterize each static operating point.

2.2 Various Components of test rig

2.2. Air/ fuel supply

The air is supplied from the centralized pressurized air supply unit, Tum at a pressure of 13

bars

2.2.2 Pre-heater

2.2.3 Fuel Injection

2.2.4 Plenum

2.2.5 Combustion Zone

2.2.6 Burners

2.2.7 Exhaust

CHAPTER 3: Calibration Of Microphones

3.1 Microphones usage in thermo acoustics

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Acoustic measurements involve the measurement of sound pressure level or the generation of a

sound field, or both. Typical examples are noise measurements, loudspeaker measurements,

microphone measurements and measurements on systems like hearing aids and mobile phones.

A sound level meter, for example, is supposed to directly display the sound pressure level in

dBSPL (dB referred to 20 μPa sound pressure). If an audio analyzer like UPV, which measures

voltage, is used for this purpose, the sensitivity of the microphone is given by

 VM 
SM =  ^ 
p 
has to be determined, wherein VM is the rms value of the microphone output voltage and p^
is the rms value of the sound pressure which produced the output voltage. The value of the sound

pressure is obtained by dividing the measured voltage by this sensitivity value.

The measurement with which the value of the microphone sensitivity is obtained is commonly

called microphone calibration. The sound pressure level for the microphone calibration in the

multi microphone method is generated with a so-called acoustic calibrator (In the Experiment,

we use sine wave signal with defined frequency range (from 0 to 600 hertzwith steps of 10 Hz in

the region 0-240 Hz and steps of 20 in the range 260-620 hz) and defined sound pressure

(usually10 Pa/ mV).

As measurement microphones are small and have a well-defined mechanical structure, the

sensitivity is frequency-independent within a certain frequency range. Therefore calibration at a

single frequency is sufficient.

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Certain measurements require the generation of a defined sound pressure at a certain point. In

order to be able to set a desired sound pressure level in the generator of the UPV, the sensitivity

of the loudspeaker

p 
S M =  L 
 VG 
has to be determined, wherein p L is the sound pressure generated by the loudspeaker at the pre-

defined measurement point, and VG is the generator output voltage which produced the sound

pressure.

3.2 Essentials of Microphone Calibration

3.2.1 Waveform Generator:

An arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) is a piece of electronic test equipment used to

generate electrical waveforms. These waveforms can be either repetitive or single-shot (once
only) in which case some kind of triggering source is required (internal or external). The
resulting waveforms can be injected into a device under test and analyzed as they progress
through the device, confirming the proper operation of the device or pinpointing a fault in the
device. Unlike function generators, AWGs can generate any arbitrarily defined wave-shape as
their output. The waveform is usually defined as a series of "waypoints" (specific voltage targets
occurring at specific times along the waveform) and the AWG can either jump to those levels or
use any of several methods to interpolate between those levels.

For example, a 50% duty cycle square wave is easily obtained by defining just two points: At t0,
set the output voltage to 100% and at t50%, set the output voltage back to 0. Set the AWG to jump
(not interpolate) between these values and the result is the desired square wave. By comparison,
a triangle wave could be produced from the same data simply by setting the AWG to linearly
interpolate between these two points.

Because AWGs synthesize the waveforms using digital signal processing techniques, their
maximum frequency is usually limited to no more than a few megahertz. The output connector
from the device is usually a BNC connector and requires a 50 or 75 ohm termination.

AWGs, various means of modulating the output waveform, and often contain the ability to
automatically and repetitively "sweep" the frequency of the output waveform (by means of a
voltage-controlled oscillator) between two operator-determined limits. This capability makes it

1
very easy to evaluate the frequency response of a given electronic circuit. Some AWGs also
operate as conventional function generators.

The waveform generator used in the process is from Agilent model number 33220A LXI and
has a capacity to generate sine, square, ramp, pulse, noise and arbitrary signal waveforms up to a
maximum frequency of 20MHz.

A arbitrary waveform generator

3.2.2 Microphones

A opened microphone showing the microphone head and the water cooling tube

A microphone head disassembled in a microphone rack

The Piezoelectric effect is an effect in which energy is converted between mechanical and

electrical forms. It was discovered in the 1880's by the Curie brothers. Specifically, when a

pressure (piezo means pressure in Greek) is applied to a polarized crystal, the resulting

mechanical deformation results in an electrical charge. Piezoelectric microphones serve as a

good example of this phenomenon. Microphones turn an acoustical pressure into a voltage.

Alternatively, when an electrical charge is applied to a polarized crystal, the crystal undergoes a

mechanical deformation which can in turn create an acoustical pressure. An example of this can

be seen in piezoelectric speakers in nowadays PC’s.

Electrets are solids which have a permanent electrical polarization. (These are basically the

electrical analogs of magnets, which exhibit a permanent magnetic polarization). Figure (cite

figure number) shows a diagram of the internal structure of a electret. In general, the alignment

of the internal electric dipoles would result in a charge which would be observable on the surface

of the solid. In practice, this small charge is quickly dissipated by free charges from the

surrounding atmosphere which are attracted by the surface charges. Electrets are commonly used

in microphones.

1
Permanent polarization as in the case of the electrets is also observed in crystals. In these

structures, each cell of the crystal has an electric dipole, and the cells are oriented such that the

electric dipoles are aligned. Again, this results in excess surface charge which attracts free

charges from the surrounding atmosphere making the crystal electrically neutral. If a sufficient

force is applied to the piezoelectric crystal, a deformation will take place. This deformation

disrupts the orientation of the electrical dipoles and creates a situation in which the charge is not

completely canceled. This results in a temporary excess of surface charge, which subsequently is

manifested as a voltage which is developed across the crystal.

3.2.3 Microphone Cooling

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Water cooling is a method of heat removal from microphones and to keep them at a reasonable

operating temperature while in use at high temperatures.. As opposed to air cooling, water is used

as the heat transmitter. The main mechanism for water cooling is convective heat transfer.

In the microphone cooling system, water flows from the tank ;forced by the pump to run through

the tubes in and out the microphone cover tube where it whirls around the microphone, absorbs

the heat of the microphone and then carries it to the water tank. A thermostat has been provided

to maintain the temperature of water cooling to a constant value so as to have uniform cooling.

The microphone cooling system is capable to handle 8 microphones at a time and has been

custom built by TUM, Munich for thermo-acoustic research purpose. Water cooling should be

started at least 15 minutes before the experiment to bring all the microphones at a common

temperature.

3.2.4 Microphone amplifier

Generally, an amplifier is any device that changes, usually increases, the amplitude of a signal
received from the microphones. The model being used in the experiment is a nexus model from
Brüel and Kjaer mfg. The amplification of the microphone response from the amplifier was
manually set to 10V/Pa and the response coefficients of the microphones were fed in the
amplifier manually with its GUI LCD screen.The amplifier is pretty good in noise reduction and
signal conditioning, that is clear from its technical specifications:

Input signal range: +/-10 V peak

-3dB bandwidth: 100 kHz @ 30 dB gain
Gain accuracy: +/-1 dB
S/N (typical): 110 dB (20 Hz to 30 kHz at 9.9V)

Noise floor: 9.2 μV rms

THD (typical):
Spectral variation:
Input impedance:
Output signal range:
< 0.002% (1 kHz tone, +/-7 V peak)
3 dB (20 Hz to 30 kHz, 45 dB gain)
600 ohms
+/-10 V peak

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 Output impedance: 5 ohms
Bias voltage: 10 V, 150 mA max (XLR input)
Power and communication: zBus required

In popular use, the term today usually refers to an electronic amplifier, often as in audio

applications. The relationship of the input to the output of an amplifier — usually expressed as a

function of the input frequency — is called the transfer function of the amplifier, and the

magnitude of the transfer function is termed the gain. A related device that emphasizes

conversion of signals of one type to another (for example, a light signal in photons to a DC

signal in amperes) is a transducer, or a sensor. However, a transducer does not amplify power.

The Microphone Amplifier is a two-channel high gain, low noise preamplifier with both phone

and balanced XLR microphone inputs for optimum impedance and noise characteristics. The

Microphone Amplifier features variable gain from 10 dB to 55 dB in 5 dB steps, a toggle switch

providing 20 dB of additional gain (maximum amplification of 5600x), and a bias switch for

microphones requiring a bias voltage. Four BNC outputs provide easy connection to any TDT

System 3 device.

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 The microphone amplifier

3.2.5 Calibrator/ Sound generator

Like a loud speaker, this device receives signal inputs from the waveform generator and converts

them into sound wave signals precisely inside its closed end tube. Microphones are fitted by

firmly gripping them in the slots of the calibration tube which is at the symmetric locations

3.2.6 Wave Monitoring Device

The digital storage oscilloscope, or DSO for short, is the preferred type of oscilloscope for most
industrial applications. It replaces the unreliable storage method used in analogue storage scopes
with digital memory, which can store data as long as required without degradation. It also allows
complex processing of the signal by high-speed digital signal processing circuits.

The vertical input, instead of driving the vertical amplifier, is digitised by an analog to digital
converter to create a data set that is stored in the memory of a microprocessor. The data set is
processed and then sent to the display, an LCD flat panel. DSOs with color LCD displays are
common. The data set can be sent over a LAN or a WAN for processing or archiving. The screen
image can be directly recorded on paper by means of an attached printer or plotter, without the
need for an oscilloscope camera. The scope's own signal analysis software can extract many
useful time-domain features (e.g. rise time, pulse width, amplitude), frequency spectra,
histograms and statistics, persistence maps, and a large number of parameters meaningful to

2
engineers in specialized fields such as telecommunications, disk drive analysis and power
electronics.

Digital storage also makes possible another unique type of oscilloscope, the equivalent-time
sample scope. Instead of taking consecutive samples after the trigger event, only one sample is
taken. However, the oscilloscope is able to vary its timebase to precisely time its sample, thus
building up the picture of the signal over the subsequent repeats of the signal. This requires that
either a clock or repeating pattern be provided. This type of scope is frequently used for very
high speed communication because it allows for a very high "sample rate" and low amplitude
noise compared to traditional real-time scopes.

3.2.7 Processing Software/ Program

Labview

A Labview program continuously monitors the response of the microphones under calibration,

collects the on line data and stores them as *.fft files per frequency step. It contains all the basic

functions to monitor and control almost every part of the experiment being carried out. The

version what we use in the microphone calibration is version 5 and pretty old compared to the

version available nowadays. But still, it efficiently controls the process and gathers Data.

The GUI of labview on the control computer.

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3.3 Procedure

As a loudspeaker has a far more complex mechanical structure than a measuring microphone,

and radiation effects additionally influence the loudspeaker sensitivity depending on the

frequency and on the location of the measurement point, the sensitivity of a loudspeaker usually

is frequency dependent. For this reason the calibration of a loudspeaker consists of two steps:

1. Measurement of the absolute sensitivity at one frequency

2. Measurement of the frequency response relative to this frequency.

In order to generate a defined sound pressure at the measurement point, the generator output

voltage has to be set to the desired sound pressure divided by the loudspeaker sensitivity, and to

be corrected by the inverse frequency response (equalization).

It has to be observed that the loudspeaker calibration is only valid for the point of the calibration,

due to the propagation properties of the sound wave.

Note that an equalization in the sense of a frequency dependent amplitude correction is only

possible with signals which are defined in the frequency domain, like (swept) sine-wave and

multi-sine signals. For the equalization of a complex signal defined in the time domain like

speech, a filter is required.

For numerical function results, the microphone sensitivity can be entered in the Function Config
Panel as Reference Value:

Calibration:

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The microphone calibration is available for each of the two input channels. “Mic Calibration”

starts the calibration routine. Once the calibration routine has successfully finished, a file can be

specified to store the results. This file name is simultaneously entered into the “Calibration File”

text box which specifies the file from which the calibration value to be entered into the UPV

setup is taken. “Calibrate and Update” automatically enters the value in the Function

Configuration Panel for the respective channel. To select a calibration value from a file without

perfoming the calibration routine, use “Open File”.

To calibrate a microphone, connect it to the desired analyzer input. Insert the microphone into an

acoustic calibrator and switch on the calibrator. After clicking the “Mic Calibration” button of

the respective channel a window opens which queries the SPL produced by the calibrator. If

“Selective” is activated, the calibration measurement is performed with a fast 3rd octave band

pass filter. Therefore in this case also the frequency of the signal produced by the calibrator has

to be entered. After that a series of voltage measurements is started. If the single results are

sufficiently consistent, the sensitivity of the microphone is displayed, and a file selector box is

opened for entering the file name to store the value.

Calibration of Loudspeaker:
Loudspeaker calibration requires a valid microphone calibration to exist for the analyzer channel

used for the speaker calibration measurement. The used channel has to be selected in “Analyzer

Channel”. “Lower Limit”, “Upper Limit” and “Point Count” specify the parameters for the

frequency response sweep done during the calibration measurement. “Selective” toggles between

wideband and selective loudspeaker measurement.

To calibrate a loudspeaker, connect it to one of the UPV outputs. If required, a power amplifier

can be inserted. Connect a microphone to one of the analyzer inputs and calibrate the

microphone or load a valid calibration for this microphone from a file. Select the correct analyzer

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channel for the loudspeaker calibration. Place the microphone at the point in front of the

loudspeaker for which the calibration should be valid. After clicking “Speaker Calibration”, the

SPL for the calibration has to be entered.

Due to nonlinearities of loudspeakers there may be deviations in sensitivity and frequency

response between calibrations executed at different levels. It is also possible to perform

calibrations for a set of different levels and store them under different file names. After the level

has been confirmed, the calibration starts with first determining the absolute sensitivity at 1 kHz,

then measuring the relative frequency response. In a second run the obtained equalization is

checked and corrected before a third sweep is done to verify the result of the calibration. After

completion of the measurement, a file name has to be specified for storing the calibration values.

Subsequently the UPV is returned to local control and the calibration tool window is minimized

in order to show the sweeps:

3.4 Appending The Data

3.5 Comparing results

CHAPTER 4: Obtaining the Burner Transfer Matrix (BTM)

4.1 Experiment

4.2 Research Methodology

4.3 Data acquisition

4.3 Results

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4.4 Discussions

4.5 Interpretations

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