Application of Pulsed Detonation Engine for

Electric Power Generation

•Philip K. Panicker
Aerodynamic Research Center, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, 76019

•Jiun-Ming (Jimmy) Li
Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, 701,
Republic of China

•Frank K. Lu
•Donald R. Wilson
ARC, MAE Department, UT Arlington, Arlington, Texas, 76019

Acknowledgements: This study is made possible by funding from

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, UT Arlington
and
The National Science Council, Taiwan, ROC

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 Agenda
z Introduction:
z Why PDE for Power Generation
z How PDE can be applied for Power Generation
z Objectives of This Study
z Experimental Setup
z Video of Test Run
z Results
z Conclusion

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 Advantages of PDE
z Simplicity of design
z Detonation wave does the work of compressing the gas,
producing extremely high pressure ratios, higher
temperatures.
z No requirement of high compression ratios and thus no
compressor required
z Constant volume combustion offers better efficiencies than
constant pressure combustion in Brayton cycle
z Better thrust, Isp, fuel efficiencies
z Higher weight to thrust ratios
z
Y Da + ya d = YADA
. a A

z ∴
. =( )
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 PDE Cycle vs. Brayton Cycle

Ψ is static temperature ratio for stoichiometric H2/air system

Wu, Y., Ma, F., and Yang, V., “System Performance and Thermodynamic Cycle Analysis of Air Breathing
Pulse Detonation Engines”, Journal of Propulsion and Power, Vol. 19, No. 4, July-August 2003, pp. 556-567.

Second law efficiency

Bellini, R., and Lu, F.K., “Exergy Analysis of a Pulse Detonation Power Device”, Proceedings of the 10th Brazilian
Congress of Thermal Sciences and Engineering-ENCIT 2004, Brazil. Society of Mechanical Sciences and
Engineering-ABCM, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2003, 2004, Paper CIT04-0734.

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 PDE Applications
The attraction of the PDE is its simplicity and
versatility
z Mostly military: Missiles, UAVs
z Electric Power Generation: Hybrid PDE
with turbine and generator
Ground based and Onboard
Civilian and Military
Large scale and small scale power plants, portable
power generators

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 PDE Hybrid Engines for Power Generation

z A hybrid engine with

only 1 PDE operating
at low frequency may
affect the turbine due
to the slow pulsing
nature of the exhaust,
which also affects the
electric power output,
creating pulsing noise.
z This can be eliminated
by adding a fly-wheel,
similar to those on 4
stroke 1 cylinder
motor-cycle engines.
z Multiple PDE tubes
each operating at a low
frequency will
smoothen out the
exhaust flow.

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 Many Fuel Options for PDEs
z Coal: US DoE estimates that ¼ of world coal resources are in the
US, enough to last over 200 years. Efforts are underway to produce
clean coal gas
z Natural Gas: US DoE claims that 900 of the next 1000 Electric
Power Stations will use Natural Gas. 80% of US Natural Gas is
produced internally. LPG, CNG used for vehicles.
z Propane: Widely used, available in many container sizes. Imagine a
PDE that could take propane canisters.
z Bio-gas
z Hydrogen: Best and cleanest. Hydrogen economy is set to take off
(2020??). Steps are underway to produce H2 from hydrocarbon
fuels, e.g., Natural Gas, coal, etc.
z Coal aerosol??
z Kerosene
z Jet Fuels
z Octane
PDEs can be designed to operate on virtually any fuel. It just takes a little
bit more engineering.
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 PDE and Pulse Jets for the Masses

•There is a growing interest among

amateurs and hobbyists and small
time entrepreneurs into PDEs,
Pulse jets, Turbo-charger jets
•Kits available on Ebay and online
stores
•One of the best sites:
Bruce Simpson T/A FAB Jets
http://www.aardvark.co.nz/pjet/links.htm

Wider interest will fuel

innovation and funding
driven by market forces

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 Objectives of This Study
z To assemble a proof of concept working
model of a hybrid PDE-turbine-generator
system
z Use commonly available fuels
z Low budget

z To identify possible problems in the

implementation of a PDE-turbine-
generator system

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 Experimental Setup

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 PDE

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 Electronically Controlled Gaseous Injectors
AFS-Gs60-05-5c series Fuel Valves
Solenoid Valves Alternate Fuel Systems (2004) Inc. Calgary, Canada
•12 Vdc, 8A peak, 2A hold.
•Fast acting (2ms reaction time). Up to 35Hz tested
successfully. 50Hz max.
•Easy and precise control possible using TTL
signals from a remote computer.
•Max pressure 550 kPa (90psig)

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 Ignition System

150 mJ max energy per spark Inductive Ignition System

A transistor control circuit built in house enables the
interfacing of the ignition system to the DAQ PC and
allows ignition to be controlled remotely using TTL
signals.

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 Turbo-Charger
z AG Kühnle, Kopp & Kausch in Frankenthal, Germany (1899)
z Schwitzer Company in Indianapolis, Indiana (1918)
z BorgWarner Automotive (Auburn Hills, Michigan) took over 3K in 1997
z BorgWarner Automotive took over Schwitzer Co. in 1999
z BorgWarner Turbo Systems is head-quartered in Kirchheimbolanden,
Germany
z Supplies turbo-chargers to commercial and passenger engine and automobile
manufacturers from Alfa Romeo to Caterpillar to Cummins to Porsche to VW

The compressor can deliver a maximum air flow rate of 0.17 kg/s
Recommended for automotive engines of up to 150 kW power
rating.
The turbine’s inlet is 40 mm in diameter; and the outlet is 65 mm
in dia.
The compressor’s inlet is 36 mm, and the outlet is 38 mm in dia.
The turbine is capable of withstanding temperatures as high as
1050°C and running at up to 200,000 rpm.

Used in Volkswagen Passat 1.8T and

Audi A4/A6 1.8T model cars, which
have 5 valve 4 cylinder gasoline
engines.

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 http://www.turbodriven.com/files/picture_passenger/bwts_picture_passenger_20_26.jpg

Turbine over-pressure
trap door was bolted
shut

• Oil supplied by an oil pump from an old Dodge truck, turned by an electric motor so that oil
pressure is maintained at 40 to 60 psi
•Water supplied at tap pressure
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 Bicycle Dynamo Generator
Motor ↔ Generator
Motors are run at 1000 to 10,000 rpm
Small DC motors used in RC Cars run at 18,000 rpm, but they are too small and rated
for lower power.
Rated at 6VRMS, 3W @ ~2000 rpm

Powers
a bicycle headlamp (1.6 Ω, 22.5 W)
and
a red tail lamp (8.7 Ω, 4W)

www.myra-simon.com/bike/dynamos.html

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 bicycle bottle dynamo
Brushless ac generator
2 pole permanent magnet rotor
Wire wound stator armature
dc resistance of 4.2 Ω

The magnitude of the voltage output is proportional to

the strength of the magnet,
the number of turns in the windings and
the speed of rotation of the rotor.

ND is the rotational speed of the dynamo rotor in rpm

f is the frequency of the ac voltage in Hz
p is the number of pairs of poles.

Neglecting slip, speed of turbine is NT

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 Diagnostics •National Instruments DAQ consisting of a 1042Q
chassis w/ a pair of 8 channel 2.5 MS/s S-series PXI-
6133 cards.
•The DAQ is connected to a remote PC via fiber optic
cable which ensures smooth, EMI free signal
transmission.
•4 PCB piezo-electric dynamic pressure transducers
(111A24 model, 1000 psi maximum, 450 kHz resonant
frequency)
•1 differential pressure transducer for measuring flow
rate of the compressor air output (Honeywell Micro
Switch model number 164PC01D37)
•Type K thermocouples
•Water cooling adapters for PTs (064A01 recessed
sensor and 064B02 flush sensor models).
•Flow-Dyne Engineering critical flow nozzles to
measure gas mass flow

Generator output is connected in parallel to

the bicycle headlamp (1.6 , 22.5 W) and
IRMS is the RMS current the red tail lamp (8.7 , 4W)
VRMS is the RMS voltage the DAQ through a 4:1 voltage divider
P is the power output. The total parallel resistance R// is 1.351 Ω

The lamps are considered to be purely resistive

loads for simplicity

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 Results of 15 Hz test Propane-Oxygen

Freq. of Generator Turbo Compressor

Peak Power
Time (h:m) Time (s) VRMS Output Speed Speed Flow Rate
Voltage (W)
(Hz) (rpm) (rpm) (kg/s)
19:59 10.6562 5.7 4.03 225.124 12.02 13,507 44,575 0.0464
19:59 11.6562 8.41 5.95 621.922 26.18 37,315 123,141 0.0526
19:59 15.3906 8.42 5.95 641.491 26.24 38,489 127,015 0.0539
19:59 16.3902 8.34 5.90 600.519 25.74 36,031 118,903 0.0543
19:59 21.9219 8.11 5.73 501.458 24.34 30,087 99,289 0.0553
19:59 22.9219 8.01 5.66 484.447 23.75 29,067 95,921 0.0516

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 Results
• Propane + Oxygen at equivalence ratio of 1.2, 0.0057 kg/s
• Exhaust of Turbine is at 800˚C
• Turbine spins at over 127,000 rpm
• Compressor outputs air flow of over 0.055kg/s
• Detonation observed in PDE
• No damage visible in turbine after over 1 minute of run time

TOF Detonation Wave Velocity

2700

2600

2500
VCJ = 2449

Velocity (m/s)
2400

2300

2200

2100

2000
PT1-2 PT2-3 PT3-4
Position

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 Conclusions and Recommendations

z A PDE-turbine-generator system successfully tested.

z Generator produces about 26 W of power, while Compressor pumped air at
0.055 kg/s at turbine speeds higher than 127,000 rpm.
z Exhaust temperature of turbine is 800˚
800 C, suggesting that there was enough
enthalpy in the flow to drive another turbine stage.
z One PDE tube at 15 Hz drove the turbine at a significantly high speed, as
the PDE exhaust velocity is high, as opposed to the exhaust of automobiles.
z The turbine’s rated 200,000 rpm could be achieved by running the PDE at
higher speeds.

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 Conclusion and Recommendations (contd.)
z Radial turbines create high losses, as flow is turned 90˚,
90 suffer high
temperature and pressure effects of high speed flows.

z The turbine and generator has to be matched in terms of speed, torque,

power output.

z Transmission (with speed reduction for generator) has to be robust and

capable of harmonizing the speed and torque of turbine and generator.

z Noise of PDE has to be dealt with.

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