Novel aerosol insert design utilizing inert compressed gas

Burby, ML; Nasr, GG; Hawthorne, G; Asmuin, N; Yule, AJ

Abstract

Household aerosols are self-contained handheld devices for spraying products such as air fresheners,
hairspray, surface cleaners, polishes, and deodorants. Industrial aerosols are similar devices for spraying:
cleaners, lubricants, paints, and adhesives. They also have hospital and specific medical uses for
spraying coagulants and disinfectants. Worldwide around 20 billion devices are manufactured annually
and the UK has a major share of this market, manufacturing 5 billion units, second only to the
USA. Led by the Californian Air Resources Board (CARB) in 2001, there is mounting pressure for
the use of liquefied gas propellants (volatile organic compounds) in aerosol cans to be banned. This
paper addresses the challenges of creating a fine spray using a pressurized inert gas (non-VOC) as the
propellant for household aerosols. The spray produced has to achieve a relative performance to that
of a traditional fine spray VOC propellant aerosol with regard to droplet size, reach, cone angle, and
flow rate. The findings of this work have demonstrated that to achieve a sub-50-µm (Dv,50) spray is
extremely challenging when using compressed inert gas and single fluid alone. However, by bleeding
air into the insert arrangement, a spray of 24 µm (Dv,50) can be obtained and this is comparable in
droplet size to that produced by a traditional fine spray VOC aerosol.

Citation

Burby, M., Nasr, G., Hawthorne, G., Asmuin, N., & Yule, A. (2014). Novel aerosol insert design utilizing inert compressed gas. Atomization and Sprays, 24(12), 1035-1063. https://doi.org/10.1615/AtomizSpr.2014007903

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 20, 2014
• Publication Date: Nov 5, 2014
• Deposit Date: Jul 3, 2015
• Journal: Atomization and Sprays
• Print ISSN: 1044-5110
• Electronic ISSN: 1936-2684
• Publisher: Begell House
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 12
• Pages: 1035-1063
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1615/AtomizSpr.2014007903
• Keywords: Aerosol, insert, Malvern, two-fluid atomizer, non-VOC
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1615/AtomizSpr.2014007903
• Related Public URLs: http://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/6a7c7e10642258cc.html
• Additional Information: Corporate Creators : Salford Valve Company Ltd (Salvalco); References : Asmuin, N., Investigation into Novel Matched Valve Actuator Atomizer Insert Design for Compressed Gas Aerosols, PhD Thesis, University of Salford, Salford, Manchester, United Kingdom, Jan. 2011. Babitskill, A. F., Experimental study of internal cavitating flow, Institute of Fluid Mechanics, Academy Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 309–313, Feb. 1974. BAMA Report, British Aerosol Manufacturers Association, Smith Square, London, England, Annual Report, 2006. Dumouchel, C., Bloor, M. I. G., Dombrowski, N., Ingham, D. B., and Ledoux, M., Boundary layer characterisation of a swirl atomizer, Atomization Sprays, vol. 2, pp. 225–237, 1992. Koivula, T., On cavitation in fluid power, Proc. of the 1st Fluid Power Net International (FPNI)- PhD Symp., Hamburg, Germany, pp. 371–382, 2000. Lefebvre, A. H., Atomization and Sprays, Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, Bristol, PA, 1989. Nasr, G. G., Yule, A. J., and Bendig, L., Industrial Sprays and Atomisation: Design, Analysis, and Applications, 1st ed., Springer Verlag Publisher, Great Britain, 2002. Nasr, G. G., Yule, A. J., and Burby, M. L., Spray discharge assembly, Patent no. WO2011/061531, May 2011a. Nasr, G. G., Yule, A. J., and Burby, M. L., Aerosol spray device, Patent no. WO2011/128607, May 2011b. Nasr, G. G., Yule, A. J., and Burby, M. L., Low loss valve, Patent no. WO2011/061481 A1, April 2011c. Nasr, G. G., Yule, A. J., and Burby, M. L., Liquid dispensing apparatus, Patent no. WO2011/042751 A1, April 2011d. Nasr, G. G., Yule, A. J., and Burby, M. L., 2009, Liquid dispensing apparatus, Patent no. WO2011/042752 A1, April 2011e. Nourian, A., Next Generation of Consumer Aerosol Valves Using Inert Gases, PhD Thesis, March 2013. Rashkovan, A., Kholmer, V., and Sher, E., Effervescent atomization of gasoline containing dissolved CO2, Atomization Sprays, vol. 14, pp. 341–354, 2004. Singh, A., Mehrgany, M., Philips, S. M., Harvey, R. J., and Benjamin, M. A., Micro-machined silicone fuel atomsers for gas turbine engines, Atomization Sprays, vol. 4, pp. 405–418, 1998. Atomization and Sprays Novel Aerosol Insert Design 1063 Soteriou, C., Andrews, R., and Smith, M., Direct injection diesel engines and the effects of cavitation and hydraulic flip on atomization, SAE Paper no. 950080, 1995. Weston, T. E., Willow, B. L., Dunne, S. T., and Sawyers, E. I., Flow discharge valve, Patent no. PCT/WO1990/05580, 1990. Yule, A. J., The household aerosol: present and future of the world’s largest market for spray technology, ICLASS, 2003. Yule, A. J., Widger, I. R., Shrimpton, J. S., and Burnell, P. K. P., Atomization for fine sprays, Proc. ILASS-Europe, pp. 202–208, 1997. Yule, A. J., Dalli, A., and Yeong, K. B., Transient cavitations and separation in a scaled-up model of a VOC orifice, Proc. ILASS-Europe’98, 230, UMIST, Manchester, England, July 1998. Yule, A. J., Sharief, R. A., Jeong, J. R., Nasr, G. G., and James, D. D., Studies of high pressure water sprays from full cone atomizers, Atomization Sprays, vol. 10, pp. 627–646, 2000.