A new fine spray, low flowrate, spill-return swirl atomizer

Nasr, GG; Yule, AJ; Stewart, JA; Whitehead, A; Hughes, T

Abstract

A novel high liquid pressure fine spray swirl atomizer has been developed, which
incorporates a spill-return orifice into the rear face of the swirl chamber with the aim of giving
a significant reduction in flowrate while maintaining the droplet size. The initial work modified
a commercial atomizer to add spill return. However, drop sizes were considered to be too large
and a new design was constructed based on an earlier work on efficient high-pressure (up to
120 bar) swirl atomization. The resulting fine sprays can be used for various applications such as
humidification, cleaning, coating, cooling, and decontamination. The atomizer has been characterized
for different geometries, supply pressures, and spill-return orifice sizes using a Laser
Particle Sizer and Phase Doppler Anemometry. For an exit orifice of 0.3mm diameter and spill
orifice 0.5mm diameter, the drop size (Sauter mean diameter) is less than 20μm for flowrates
as low as 0.1 litre/min and with a mean axial drop velocity of approximately 12 m/s. An average
liquid volume flux of 0.014 (cm3/s)/cm2 is obtained in the spray at 150mmdownstream.

Citation

Nasr, G., Yule, A., Stewart, J., Whitehead, A., & Hughes, T. (2011). A new fine spray, low flowrate, spill-return swirl atomizer. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, 225(4), 897-908. https://doi.org/10.1243/09544062JMES2675

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2011
• Deposit Date: Apr 18, 2012
• Journal: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science
• Print ISSN: 0954-4062
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 225
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 897-908
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1243/09544062JMES2675
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1243/09544062JMES2675