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: Received: 19 February 2018 / Approved: 20 February 2018 / Online: 20 February 2018 (13:26:33 CET)
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: Received: 2 March 2018 / Approved: 5 March 2018 / Online: 5 March 2018 (04:08:06 CET)
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: Received: 28 March 2018 / Approved: 29 March 2018 / Online: 29 March 2018 (03:43:20 CEST)
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: Received: 11 June 2018 / Approved: 12 June 2018 / Online: 12 June 2018 (09:53:46 CEST)
Feng, J.Q. A Computational Analysis of Gas Jet Flow Effects on Liquid Aspiration in the Collison Nebulizer. International Conference of Fluid Flow, Heat and Mass Transfer 2018, doi:10.11159/ffhmt18.180.
Feng, J.Q. A Computational Analysis of Gas Jet Flow Effects on Liquid Aspiration in the Collison Nebulizer. International Conference of Fluid Flow, Heat and Mass Transfer 2018, doi:10.11159/ffhmt18.180.
Feng, J.Q. A Computational Analysis of Gas Jet Flow Effects on Liquid Aspiration in the Collison Nebulizer. International Conference of Fluid Flow, Heat and Mass Transfer 2018, doi:10.11159/ffhmt18.180.
Feng, J.Q. A Computational Analysis of Gas Jet Flow Effects on Liquid Aspiration in the Collison Nebulizer. International Conference of Fluid Flow, Heat and Mass Transfer 2018, doi:10.11159/ffhmt18.180.
Abstract
Pneumatic nebulizers (as variations based on the Collison nebulizer) have been widely used for producing fine aerosol droplets from a liquid material. The basic working principle of those nebulizers has been qualitatively described as utilization of the negative pressure associated with an expanding gas jet to syphon liquid into the jet stream, then to blow and shear into liquid sheets, filaments, and eventually droplets. Detailed quantitative analysis based on fluid mechanics theory is desirable, to gain in-depth understanding of the liquid aspiration mechanism among other aspects of the Collison nebulizer behavior. The purpose of present work is to investigate the nature of negative pressure distribution associated with compressible gas jet flow in the Collison nebulizer by a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, using an OpenFOAM® compressible flow solver. The value of the negative pressure associated with a gas jet flow is examined by varying geometric parameters of the jet expansion channel adjacent to the outlet of jet orifice. Such an analysis can provide valuable insights into fundamental mechanisms in liquid aspiration process, helpful for effective design of improved pneumatic atomizer in the Aerosol Jet® direct-write system for micro-feature, high-aspect-ratio material deposition in additive manufacturing.
Keywords
collison nebulizer; compressible gas jet flow; liquid aspiration; pneumatic atomization
Subject
Physical Sciences, Fluids and Plasmas Physics
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
