Abstract:

When a geographic area is going to get a gas natural supply in the future, it is possible, in many cases, that such areas do not detect any changes using a gaseous fuel with similar characteristics as natural gas. So that, we can define the interchangeability between gases (or mixes of gases) as those that can burn correctly in the same burner, substituting each other, without the necessity of reforming that one or the network of distribution. For several years the mixtures of propane and air have been the gaseous fuel a substitute of natural gas.
In this work, we are going to define a laboratory practice for engineering education. The practice will try to teach the combustion process with different mixtures of propane and air. To do that, a wall-mounted boiler has been re-used for heating and production of sanitary hot water with education purposes in the field of engineering. The boiler has a fixed power of 8.7 kW heating and a variable power up to 20 kW for hot water production, using gaseous fuels as energy source.
A practice dash has been done to explain the steps that students have to follow. The target is that the students will be able to identify the different elements and circuits of the installation, and by means of an exhaust gas analyser, they will have to estimate the efficiency of the boiler. When they get the composition of the propane and note down the suitable information, they will be able to represent an interchangeability diagram according to the different compositions of the propane/air. Finally, all the students will have to fill up an inquiry to give us interesting information about the whole practice; that’s why we want to show the previous results of this engineering practice.

Keywords:

interchangeability, propane air, practice, inquiry.