Article by Giovanni Coraggio and Marco Faleni

IFRF has a long tradition of research and design of probes for measurements internal to the flame when burning almost any fuel under a wide range of combustion conditions. These probes underwent continuous development from the first prototype models in the 1970’s to the commercially available instruments today. There is extensive literature from the IFRF archive on the probes available to IFRF members on request, or to purchase for non-members.

Nowadays, the IFRF continues to cooperate with Martec and Green Flames Technology to manufacture such items, offering a 5% discount to IFRF members. I asked Giovanni Coraggio, managing director at Green Flames Technology to give us an update on the supply of IFRF probes.   

IFRF probes are used in universities and industrial research environment to provide data that can be easily coupled with results of mathematical models. This is why they are a fundamental tool for the process of verification and validation of the models.

The study of more advanced combustion systems and new alternative fuels makes the use of this instrumentation a key factor for developing future technologies.

The IFRF probes available are:

•   IFRF standard suction pyrometer for accurate temperature measurement inside the flame
•   IFRF sampling probes that can be supplied as different versions depending on the requirements:

–   Cold gas sampling: a cheap and very robust model, very easy to use for sampling of gases insoluble in water

–   Hot gas sampling: a sampling probe with inner electrical heating to bring the gas to the analysers avoiding water condensation. It must be connected to a heated line. This is the most accurate way to sample gases inside the flame.

–   Nitrogen species sampling: a hot gas sampling probe with quartz tip to avoid reactions of nitrogen intermediate species with the steel at high temperature. This is used to study nitrogen kinetics and it is a very delicate probe to handle, so is not recommended for use in industrial environments.

–   Solid particles collection: a hot gas sampling probe with filters or cyclones to collect particles from the combustion chamber. 

•   IFRF Ellipsoidal radiometer for the measurement of the radiative heat hitting the walls of the furnace
•   IFRF Total Heat Flux radiometer for the measurement of total heat flux hitting the walls of the furnace. If used together with the ellipsoidal radiometer, it can provide, by difference, the conductive heat flux at the walls.

All these probes are water cooled to withstand the high temperature of the combustion environment. Their standard sizes are 43mm or 28mm diameter and 2m of operative length but they can be manufactured in different sizes to adjust to different needs.

Please feel free to contact us for a quotation or for any further information about the IFRF in-flame measurement probes, either by emailing IFRF admin (administration@ifrf.net) or by emailing Giovanni directly at Giovanni.coraggio@greenflamestech.com).