ACME Status

August 21, 2009 - The ACME project is conducting drop tower testing at the Glenn Research Center’s 2.2 second drop tower with the ACME E-Fields rig.  The drop tower tests are focusing on the high voltage field effects on flames, these tests were conducted during the month of July 2009 by the project scientist and summer intern.  The ACME project is also preparing for the October 2009 Requirements Definition Review.

Objective

Modular apparatus designed for gaseous fuel investigations to study:

• combustion structure and stability near flammability limits,
• soot inception, surface growth, and oxidation processes,
• emission reduction through nitrogen exchange,
• combustion stability enhancements via an electric field.
  

Relevance/Impact

• Verified computational models that will enable the design of high efficiency, low emission combustors operating at near-limit conditions.
• Reduced design costs due to improved capabilities to numerically simulate combustion processes.
• Efficient soot control strategies for industrial applications.
  

Development Approach

• Flight design leverages off previous flight design heritage.
• Multi-user, re-usable apparatus minimizing up-mass/volume, costs, and crew involvement.

Four flame designs to be studied by ACME

Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR)