Hydrodynamical particle containment in a rotor‐stator spinning disk device

A novel type of rotor‐stator spinning disk device is proposed which allows for the entrapment of solid particles solely by hydrodynamic means. In this new configuration, the solid rotating disk is replaced with two conjoined rotors with a variable gap spacing. Liquid is fed through the top stator and can flow out again through the rotor‐rotor interior and the hollow rotation axis. Moreover, the volume between the two rotors is optionally filled with a highly porous reticulated carbon foam. It was found that particle containment was strongly improved by the presence of this reticulated foam as it hinders the buildup of centripetal boundary layer flow near the disks in the interior of the rotor‐rotor assembly. These centripetal boundary layers drag along particles resulting in a loss of containment. Experiments utilizing glass beads showed that particles with a diameter down to 17.8 µm can be completely entrapped when a carbon foam is placed between the two conjoined disks at rotor speeds up to the maximum investigated value of 178 rad s^?1. Additionally, the rotor‐rotor gap did not have an effect on the particle entrapment level when the reticulated carbon foam was omitted and can be ascribed to the build‐up of boundary layers, which is independent of rotor‐rotor distance. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 3656–3665, 2015