The HYPOTHESis project aims at pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the field of hydrogen combustion, moving beyond existing technologies and developing new ideas. One of the key challenges with hydrogen is its high flame speed, which can cause dangerous conditions like flashback, where the flame travels back into the burner. To overcome this, the HYPOTHESis team proposed the use of a jet burner, specifically designed to stabilize hydrogen flames using a high-speed jet. This is a significant improvement over conventional swirl designs, which struggle to handle hydrogen safely and effectively. The dynamic response of flames stabilized by high-speed jets is not common in the literature, and it has been characterized within HYPOTHESis. In this respect, the project has also made progress in improving how we measure and understand hydrogen flames. Traditional methods often fall short because hydrogen behaves so differently from natural gas. The team developed new techniques to more accurately assess how hydrogen flames respond to different conditions. In addition, the team created a new type of swirl burner that uses a technique called fluidic actuation. This allows the burner to adjust the swirling motion of the air and fuel mixture without any moving parts. This innovation is particularly important because it enables the burner to adapt to different fuels, including hydrogen, natural gas, and blends of the two. This flexibility is a major step forward, as it supports the transition to hydrogen while still being compatible with existing natural gas infrastructure.
Looking ahead, the HYPOTHESis project is expected to deliver even more groundbreaking results. The novel fluidic swirl burner, now in its final stages of development, and will undergo rigorous testing under conditions that closely mimic those inside a real gas turbine. These tests will help refine the burner’s design and confirm its effectiveness and safety for widespread use. The team will also continue to explore new ways to measure and optimize hydrogen combustion. For example, we are investigating specific light emissions from hydrogen flames that could be used to monitor and control the combustion process in real-time, and we are employing machine learning methods to reduced the number of experiments we need to construct a sufficiently accurate model. These could lead to more efficient and stable operation of hydrogen-burning turbines, making them more viable for large-scale energy production.
