COMBUSTION EXHAUST GAS ANALYSIS: DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXCEL WORKBOOK

Resumen

Combustion systems are still widely used in HVAC systems. Combustion of common fuels generates pollutants that contaminate the environment and also contribute to global warming. These environmental concerns and the search for more efficient systems require combustion systems to be monitored to optimize their operating conditions. One of the most used tools to achieve those goals is through the Ostwald diagram characteristic of the fuel being burned. The purpose of the present contribution is to introduce an Excel workbook that represents a friendly easy to use tool that enables the calculation of combustion products for fuel mixtures and the respective automatic Ostwald diagram drawing. This tool was developed for didactic purposes, but its use might be looked at in a wider perspective, such as industrial applications. The workbook includes several worksheets, all linked to each other. One worksheet was developed to enable the consultation of the Ostwald diagram. Entering values measured with a combustion gas analyzer, the user obtains immediately the other combustion parameters, which allows the evaluation of the real combustion conditions and the implementation of changes in the burning system in order to optimize the combustion process.