Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Processes – Including mixing or combining with air – gas or steam
Patent
1999-04-21
2000-09-19
Kashnikow, Andres
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Processes
Including mixing or combining with air, gas or steam
239338, 239346, 239418, 239424, 261 781, 261116, 222420, 7386481, A62C 502, A61M 1106, B05B 706
Patent
active
061199532
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the field of liquid atomization and more particularly to a procedure that uses appropriate geometric parameters and physical properties to ensure that the liquid to be atomized is discharged as a continuous, steady capillary microjet through a suitable orifice.
BACKGROUND OF THE TECHNIQUE
Combined withdrawal of an interface between two immiscible fluids (two liquids or a liquid and a gas) has recently been studied by authors such as E. O. Tuck and J. M. van den Broek ("A cusp-like free surface flow due to a submerged source or sink", J. Austral. Math. Soc. Ser. B., 25, 433-450, 1984); L. K. Forbes and G. C. Hocking ("Flow caused by a point sink in a fluid having a free surface", J. Austral. Math. Soc. Ser. B., 32, 231-249, 1990); and T. J. Singler and J. F. Geer Singler ("A hybrid perturbation-Galerkin solution to a problem in selective withdrawal", Phys. Fluids A, 5, 1156-1166, 1993). It is acknowledged to be a particular case of a more general interfacial instability phenomenon known as selective withdrawal/combined withdrawal. Studies in this field have focused largely on the determination of parameters (e.g. the distance from the sink to the free surface, the fluid density ratio, the surface tension between the fluids) at the onset of combined withdrawal (i.e. of sweeping of the fluid behind the free surface when the fluid in front of it is withdrawn at a given distance from the surface). However, the fluid dynamics of the microjet produced by combined withdrawal seemingly remains unexplored. The observation and study of the microjet, its peculiar properties and its potential uses, led to the present atomization procedure.
Existing atomization methods convert the type of energy supplied to the system (e.g. kinetic energy of the gas in pneumatic atomizers, electrical energy in sonic and ultrasonic piezoelectric atomizers, mechanical energy in rotary atomizers, electrostatic energy in electrohydrodynamic atomizers, etc.) into surface tension free energy since the liquid-gas surface is dramatically expanded by the effect of these processes. As a function of the resulting degree of disorder, part of the energy is also degraded in the statistical dispersion of the resulting drop sizes. Depending on how disorderly and rapidly (or gradually and efficiently) the processes by which the above-mentioned energies are converted into free surface energy take place, the resulting sprays are suitable for different specific uses.
As a rule, the spray should consist of small drops of uniform size. A small drop size is always in conflict with a high flow-rate in the fluid to be atomized, which results in high energy use per time unit. Also, uniformity in drop size relies on gradual, non-turbulent, scarcely random processes that are incompatible with the rapid conversion of volumetric energy into surface energy required by the typically high liquid flow-rates involved in many cases and with technological simplicity in the atomizer. Mechanical simplicity and expeditiousness in the atomizer, and irreversibility and randomness in the atomization process, are all highly correlated.
Existing pneumatic atomizers involve the cascading breaking of the interface from a high Weber number to a unity Weber number, the latter being accomplished when drop diameters are such that surface tension forces offset the inertia of the gas relative to the liquid. Such atomizers include the straightforward coaxial model of S. Nukiyama and Y. Tanasawa ("Experiments on the atomization of liquids in the airstream", Trans. Soc. Mech. Eng. Jpn., 5, 68-75, 1939) or the airblast models developed by I. D. Wigg ("Drop-size predictions for twin fluid atomizers," J. Inst. Fuel, 27, 500-505, 1964), G. E. Lorenzetto and A. H. Lefebvre ("Measurements of drop size on a plain jet airblast atomizer", AIAA J., 15, 1006-1010, 1977), A. K. Jasuja ("Plain-jet airblast atomization of alternative liquid petroleum fuels under high ambient air pressure conditions", ASME Paper 82-GT-32. 1982), and N. K
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Barrero Ripoll Antonio
Ganan-Calvo Alfonso
Aradigm Corporation
Bozicevic Karl
Ganey Steven J.
Kashnikow Andres
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