LAUSR

Abstract The microscale combustion-based energy and power generation systems are potential alternatives to traditional batteries owing to the much higher energy density of hydrogen and hydrocarbon fuels. However, the surface-area-to-volume ratio of the micro-combustors is very large, which makes the flame difficult to sustain stable owing to the large heat-loss. Therefore, it is very necessary to develop effective flame stabilization technologies for combustion-based micro energy and power systems. Great progress has been made in the past decade, which was reviewed in this article. The flame stabilization technologies for micro- and meso-scale combustors are divided into three categories, namely, single flame stabilization technologies, combined flame stabilization technologies, and other flame stabilization technologies that could not be included in the former two. The single flame stabilization technologies include flame holders (e.g., bluff body, wall cavity), heat recirculation strategy (e.g., porous media, thermally orthotropic wall), catalyst, and additives in the fuel. The combined flame stabilization technologies consist of two or more of these single flame stabilization methods, such as Swiss-roll combustor with a bluff-body, micro catalytic combustor with a bluff-body, and so on. The underlying mechanisms of these flame anchoring strategies were also discussed. The guidelines to develop micro-combustors with excellent flame stabilization ability were summarized at the end of this review article.