Skip to main content
OSTI.GOVU.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
 

Microcombustor

Patent ·
OSTI ID:1175011
; ; ; ;

A microcombustor comprises a microhotplate and a catalyst for sustained combustion on the microscale. The microhotplate has very low heat capacity and thermal conductivity that mitigate large heat losses arising from large surface-to-volume ratios typical of the microdomain. The heated catalyst enables flame ignition and stabilization, permits combustion with lean fuel/air mixtures, extends a hydrocarbon's limits of flammability, and lowers the combustion temperature. The reduced operating temperatures enable a longer microcombustor lifetime and the reduced fuel consumption enables smaller fuel supplies, both of which are especially important for portable microsystems applications. The microcombustor can be used for on-chip thermal management and for sensor applications, such as heating of a micro gas chromatography column and for use as a micro flame ionization detector.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Assignee:
Sandia Corporation
Patent Number(s):
6,786,716
OSTI ID:
1175011
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (9)

Micro flame ionization detector and micro flame spectrometer journal May 2000
The Si-Planar-Pellistor array, a detection unit for combustible gases journal October 1993
Fabrication and properties of a Si-based high-sensitivity microcalorimetric gas sensor journal May 1995
Hand-Held Miniature Chemical Analysis System (μChemlab) for Detection of Trace Concentrations of Gas Phase Analytes book January 2000
Miniaturized flame ionization detector for gas chromatography journal March 2002
Microcombustor array and micro-flame ionization detector for hydrocarbon detection conference January 2003
High temperature heat exchangers and microscale combustion systems: applications to thermal system miniaturization journal November 2001
A microfabricated suspended-tube chemical reactor for fuel processing
  • Arana, L. R.; Schaevitz, S. B.; Franz, A. J.
  • Technical Digest. MEMS 2002 IEEE International Conference. Fifteenth IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (Cat. No.02CH37266) https://doi.org/10.1109/MEMSYS.2002.984245
conference January 2002
Aspects of the mechanism of the flame ionization detector journal May 1999

Similar Records

A Novel Microcombustor for Sensor and Thermal Energy Management Applications in Microsystems
Technical Report · Tue Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 2002 · OSTI ID:808610
Operation regimes in catalytic combustion: H{sub 2}/air mixtures near Pt
Journal Article · Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1998 · AIChE Journal · OSTI ID:655509
Micro flame-based detector suite for universal gas sensing.
Technical Report · Mon Oct 31 23:00:00 EST 2005 · OSTI ID:875633

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING