Estimation of the Maximum Efficiency of a Heat Recovery Burner

Abstract

Estimates are obtained for the maximum efficiency of a system consisting of a heat recovery burner connected to an ideal Carnot heat engine. The burner serves as a heater of the ideal heat engine, and the cold side is at the ambient temperature. Combustion products heat the hot wall of the ideal engine and then transfer heat to the combustible mixture supplied to the combustion chamber. Recovery of the heat of the combustible mixture occurs through the heat-conducting wall of a countercurrent heat exchanger, in which the combustion products and the combustible mixture move toward each other in the channels connected by a heat-conducting partition. An estimate is obtained for the total efficiency of the system, which is defined as the ratio of the net power of the ideal engine to the chemical energy flux reaching the burner device. It is shown that the total efficiency of the system can approach the Carnot-cycle efficiency with the maximum possible temperature of the hot side of the ideal heat engine.