Tunable, Pulsatile, and 3-Dimensional Fluidic Oscillator

Abstract

Novel fluidic oscillator (FO) designs that can incorporate features to allow for performance tunability and pulsatile outlet flow. Novel fluidic designs that utilize 3D space are also incorporated. All novel design features mentioned herein can be combined in any fashion with each other.

Claims

1. A fluid oscillator (FO) device comprising a body forming a first fluid channel configured for mixing or vortex formation, the body having at least one inlet to the channel at the proximal end of the body, at least one outlet to the channel at the distal end of the body, and at least one feedback channel configured to form at least a second fluid channel with a feedback inlet in fluid communication with the first fluid channel the feedback inlet being positioned proximal to the at least one outlet and a feedback outlet in fluid communication with the first fluid channel positioned distal to the at least one inlet, wherein, when in use, an oscillating fluid flow, a pulsatile fluid flow, or an oscillating and pulsatile fluid flow is created from a steady or constant fluid stream.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein features can be modified post fabrication.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the features produce a single pulsatile outlet flow.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the first fluid channel, the feedback fluid channel or the first fluid channel and the feedback fluid channel can be modified post fabrication.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the device is configured to produce a single pulsatile outlet flow.

6. The device of claim 2, wherein modification is by sliding, extending, shortening, or twisting of a feature.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the feature is a fluid channel.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is configured in three primary spatial directions.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein features of the device can be modified post fabrication.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein the device is configured to produce a single pulsatile outlet flow.

11. The device of claim 8, wherein features can be modified post fabrication and the device produces a single pulsatile outlet flow during operation.

12. The device of claim 1 wherein a plurality of feedback fluid channels are positioned radially about the first fluid channel.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] FIGS. 1A-C. Illustrations of FO with adjustable feedback channel lengths. (FIG. 1A), illustration of FO when feedback channels are contracted. (FIG. 1B), illustration of FO when feedback channels are expanded. (FIG. 1C) illustration of FO with adjustable feedback channel lengths from isometric viewpoint.

[0022] FIGS. 2A-C. Illustrations of FO with adjustable mixing/vortex channel length. (FIG. 2A), illustration of FO when mixing/vortex channel is contracted. (FIG. 2B), illustration of FO when mixing/vortex channel is expanded. (FIG. 2C) illustration of FO with adjustable mixing/vortex channel length from isometric viewpoint.

[0023] FIGS. 3A-E. Illustrations of FO with adjustable feedback channel lengths and adjustable mixing/vortex channel length. (FIG. 3A), illustration of FO when feedback channels are contracted and mixing/vortex channel is contracted. (FIG. 3B), illustration of FO when feedback channels are expanded and mixing/vortex channel is contracted. (FIG. 3C), illustration of FO when feedback channels are contracted and mixing/vortex channel is expanded. (FIG. 3D), illustration of FO when feedback channels are expanded and the mixing/vortex channel is expanded. (FIG. 3E), illustration of FO with adjustable feedback channel lengths and adjustable mixing/vortex channel length from isometric viewpoint.

[0024] FIGS. 4A-C. Illustrations of FO with adjustable feedback channel lengths and adjustable mixing/vortex channel length. (FIG. 4A), illustration of FO when feedback channels are contracted and mixing/vortex channel is contracted. (FIG. 4B), illustration of FO when feedback channels are expanded and mixing/vortex channel is expanded. (FIG. 4C), illustration of FO with adjustable feedback channel lengths and adjustable mixing/vortex channel length from isometric viewpoint.

[0025] FIGS. 5A-B. Illustrations of FO designed to supply pulsatile flow. (FIG. 5A), illustration of FO designed to supply pulsatile flow from top viewpoint. (FIG. 5B), illustration of FO designed to supply pulsatile flow from front viewpoint.

[0026] FIG. 6. Illustration of FO, with two feedback channels, designed to supply pulsatile flow.

[0027] FIG. 7. Illustration of FO, with a single feedback channel, designed to supply pulsatile flow.

[0028] FIG. 8. Illustration of FO with adjustable feedback channel lengths designed to supply pulsatile flow.

[0029] FIG. 9A-E. Illustrations of FOs designed in 3D space. (FIG. 9A), illustration of existing 2D FO design. (FIG. 9B), illustration of FO that incorporates rotated (2× by 90°) geometries of the FO design shown in FIG. 9A. (FIG. 9C), illustration of FO that incorporates rotated (3× by 60°) geometries of the FO design shown in FIG. 9A. (FIG. 9D), illustration of FO that incorporates a fully rotated (360°) geometry of the FO design shown in FIG. 9A. (FIG. 9E), illustration of the cross-sectional view of the FO shown in FIG. 9D.

DESCRIPTION

[0030] The following discussion is directed to various embodiments of the invention. The term “invention” is not intended to refer to any particular embodiment or otherwise limit the scope of the disclosure. Although one or more of these embodiments may be preferred, the embodiments disclosed should not be interpreted, or otherwise used, as limiting the scope of the disclosure, including the claims. In addition, one skilled in the art will understand that the following description has broad application, and the discussion of any embodiment is meant only to be exemplary of that embodiment, and not intended to intimate that the scope of the disclosure, including the claims, is limited to that embodiment.

[0031] There exists a need for FOs that have tunable fluid flow parameters and pulsation. This need is present across fields such as thermal regulation, aircraft design, wind turbine design, propulsion systems, fuel mixing, fluid mixing, flow sensing, and medical devices. There is also room for growth in the complexity of FOs as they have primarily been designed in two dimensions. The designs described herein aim to show how FOs can be improved and become more widely used.

[0032] The main focus for creating an actively tunable FO is derived from altering the geometry of the FO during its operation/use. Multiple geometric features can be altered, and FIG. 1 provides illustrations of a FO with adjustable feedback channel lengths. The feedback channels 101 can be positioned to decrease (FIG. 1A) or increase (FIG. 1B) their length. FIG. 2 provides illustrations of a FO with an adjustable mixing/vortex channel 210. The mixing/vortex channel 210 can be positioned to decrease (FIG. 2A) or increase (FIG. 2B) its length. There also exists the possibility to alter multiple geometries within the same FO design. FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate FO designs that incorporate adjustable feedback channels (301, 401) and vortex/mixing channels (310, 410). FIGS. 3A-D and FIGS. 4A-B illustrate various combinations of expansion and contraction of both the feedback channel length and mixing/vortex channel length.

[0033] While the components illustrated in FIGS. 1-4 are able to move, they will be fixed during operation/use of the FO. The means of expansion and contraction for both the feedback channels and mixing/vortex channel can be a sliding mechanism (FIGS. 1-3), twisting mechanism, or elongation mechanism (FIG. 4). In certain aspects, the device can be modified post fabrication by, for example, sliding to components, twisting components, or elongating/shortening components.

[0034] The operating concept for FOs that produce a pulsed flow is directing and isolating the flow exiting the mixing/vortex chamber. The design illustrated in FIG. 5 moves fluid naturally towards channel 1, which is fed to channel 2, which causes a diversion of the inlet flow to the outlet. Once the flow is exiting, it no longer fills the 1-2 channel, meaning that the inlet flow is not diverted and returns to filling the 1-2 channel. Once the 1-2 channel is flowing, it diverts inlet flow, thus creating oscillations.

[0035] The designs illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 divert the oscillating flow from the mixing/vortex chamber (610, 710) to two channels. One of the channels reroutes the fluid back to the inlet of the FO (return channel 620, 720), and one of the channels allows the fluid to exit the FO (outlet channel). As the flow oscillates between each of the post-mixing/vortex channels, they will each experience pulsed flow (phase shifted by 180°). Furthermore, by only allowing one of the channels to exhaust, the entire outlet flow of the FO is pulsatile flow. The primary difference between the design illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 is that the design in FIG. 6 incorporates two feedback channels 601 and the design in FIG. 7 incorporates a single feedback channel 701 (in the vertical direction).

[0036] The novel features (allowing tunability or pulsatile flow) of the designs illustrated in FIGS. 1-7 can be incorporated into the same FO. The design illustrated in FIG. 8 incorporates adjustable feedback channels 801 as well as a post-mixing/vortex 810 return channel 820 that reroutes the fluid back to the inlet of the FO (shown with a blue arrow).

[0037] An even further extension of the possibilities of the previously discussed designs is to create them with features in a three-dimensional space. Most existing designs are primarily designed in a single plane (FIG. 9A) and extended/translated into the third dimension, but FIGS. 9B-D show that FOs can be designed in three dimensions. All of the novel features (allowing tunability or pulsatile flow) of the designs illustrated in FIGS. 1-7 can be incorporated into the FO designs illustrated in FIGS. 9B-D.

[0038] Every FO design previously described can be fabricated out of practically any metal, plastic, ceramic or other solid materials. Additionally, they can be manufactured in a variety of ways, including subtractive and additive manufacturing. The most common fabrication method incorporates machining/milling layers of a rigid material and then securing them together. Other common fabrication methods include molding or 3D printing. The scale of the FOs is limited only by the methods of manufacturing.

REFERENCES

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[0043] [5] Campo, D. d., Bergada, J. M., and Campo, V. d., 2015, “Preliminary study on fluidic actuators. Design modifications.,” International Conference on Mechanics, Materials, Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, Barcelona, Spain.

[0044] [6] Bobusch, B. B., Woszidlo, R., Kruger, O., and Paschereit, C. O., 2013, “Numerical investigations on geometric parameters affecting the oscillation properties of a fluidic oscillator,” 21st AIAA Computation Fluid Dynamics Conference, San Diego, CA.