Integrated nozzle - flapper valve with piezoelectric actuator and isothermal chamber: a feedback linearization multi control device

This paper introduces a new nozzle-flapper valve with isothermal chamber using piezoelectric actuator. It controls the pressure and flow rate simply, effectively and separately. The proposed valve uses isothermal chamber presenting practical isothermal condition due to its large heat transfer interfaces filled by metal wool. The valve uses stacked type piezoelectric actuator with unique advantages. By using this valve, a simple method has been fulfilled to control flow rate or pressure of ideal gases in a pneumatic actuators. Experimental results demonstrated applications of the proposed valve to control either pressure or flow rate in pneumatic circuits. This valve can be also used in the pilot stage valve to actuate the main stage of a much bigger pneumatic valve. Designated structure contains only one pressure sensor installed on the isothermal control chamber, capable of controlling both pressure and flow rate. The desired output mass flow rate of the valve is controlled by the pressure changes during positioning of piezoelectric actuator at proper position. The proposed valve can control steady and unsteady oscillatory flow rate and pressure effectively, using nonlinear control method such as feedback linearization approach. Its effectiveness is demonstrated and validated through simulation and experiments.

     

Active inherent restrictor for air-bearing spindles

An active control method for aerostatic bearings is proposed in this paper. The proposed method employs an active inherent restrictor AIR, (which was invented by the authors) to control pneumatic pressure on the bearing surface. The AIR consists of a piezoelectric actuator with a through hole, one end of which is small enough to function as an orifice when the actuator is embedded in the bearing to be controlled. Nine AIRS are incorporated into the aerostatic radial and thrust bearings of an air bearing spindle. According to the radial and/or thrust displacements of the spindle detected by sensors, a microcomputer changes the length of the piezoelectric actuators for controlling the orifice area of the AIRs and for compensating the displacements. Thus, the stiffness and the rotational accuracy in both radial and thrust directions can be improved without the occurrence of pneumatic hammer. Instead of ordinary passive inherent restrictors, the AIR can be incorporated into most conventional aerostatic bearings. An example of retrofit of the AIR to a commercially available air bearing spindle is also shown.     

Modeling and simulation of droplet translocation and fission by electrowetting-on-dielectrics (EWOD)

This paper discusses methods of microfluidic droplet actuation by means of electrowetting-on-dielectrics (EWOD) and provides a technique for modeling and simulating a microfluidic device by using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program, Flow3D. Digital or droplet microfluidics implies the manipulation of droplets on a scale of nanoliters (10⁻⁹ L) to femtoliters (10⁻¹⁵ L), as opposed to continuous microfluidics that involve the control of continuous fluid within a channel. The two operations in focus here are droplet translocation (moving) and droplet fission (splitting), in which the pressures and velocities within the droplet are analyzed and compared to existing works, both theoretical and experimental. The variation in the pressure of the leading and trailing faces of a droplet indicates the variation in surface energy—an important parameter that explains how a droplet will move toward a region of higher electric potential. The higher voltage on one side of a droplet reduces surface energy, which leads to an induced pressure drop, thus resulting in fluid motion. Flow3D simulations are for both water and blood droplets at voltages between 50 Vand 200 V, and the droplet size, surface properties (Teflon coated), and geometry of the system are kept constant for each operation. Some peculiarities of the simulation are brought to light, such as instabilities of the system to higher voltages and fluids with higher dielectric constants, as well as the creation of a tertiary droplet when the applied voltage causes a large enough force during fission. The force distribution across the droplet provides a general understanding of the electrowetting effect and more specifically allows for a comparison between the effects that different voltages have on the forces at the droplet surface. The droplet position and mean kinetic energy of the droplet are also investigated and compared to other works, proving the dynamics of a droplet motion found here.     

气动式微滴喷射过程仿真与尺寸均匀性试验研究

为使气压驱动式微滴喷射装置能产生均匀的微滴和稳定的喷射过程,使用FLUENT建立了二维轴对称计算模型并对微喷过程进行了模拟仿真。研究了气压驱动式微滴按需产生过程及腔体内压力峰值对单颗微滴成形的影响规律,利用构建的喷射系统对水进行喷射试验,并对产生微滴的均匀性进行了研究。仿真获得了单颗微滴的成形过程并得到了腔体内较低压力峰值有利于提高微喷稳定性的结论。实验结果表明,产生的微滴附着直径最大变化率为1.82%,均匀性较好。     

采样样本的容量对雾滴尺寸测量精度影响的试验研究

用雾滴采集装置在自行建立的高压喷雾系统上对雾滴进行了样本采集,用机器视觉方法对雾滴尺寸进行了统计与测量,将机器视觉方法测量结果与PDPA测量结果相比较,深入分析了雾滴采样样本对雾滴尺寸测量精度的影响.试验结果表明:雾滴采样样本容量越大,雾滴尺寸测量精度也越高,当雾滴样本容量大于4 000个时,雾滴特征直径D0.632的测量精度可达5%以内;不同粒径的雾滴个体对雾滴尺寸测量精度的影响不同,大粒径雾滴对尺寸测量精度的影响远大于小粒径雾滴,雾滴尺寸测量时尤其应注意准确统计大粒径雾滴.     

气动式微滴喷射中液滴稳定生成的动力学特性研究

微滴喷射增材制造技术作为制造领域的新兴前沿技术有着广泛的应用前景,微滴生成特性对增材制造中微滴在基板铺展、搭接、凝固等过程影响较大,研究微滴生成特性对于提高液滴生成尺寸、频率和稳定性有重要意义。通过试验研究气动按需喷射作用下的微滴喷射行为,探究喷嘴尺寸、黏度和供给压力等因素对射流断裂过程及液滴生成稳定性的影响关系,并进一步研究形成角的变化对液桥断裂顺序及卫星液滴产生的影响关系。研究结果表明,随着喷嘴直径减少,韦伯数（We）显著减少,当喷嘴直径减少到100 μm时,We变为0.33,液滴尺寸与喷嘴直径的比值急剧增大;随着黏度的增加,射流颈缩段的液桥显著增长,液滴尺寸明显增大。在保证生成单个液滴的压力条件下,当供给压力较小时,液桥两端先后断裂形成卫星滴,并最终与半月面融合;随着压力的增大,液桥只发生一次断裂,剩余射流回缩到喷嘴内。在气动式喷射方式中由于上形成角始终大于下形成角,所以液桥总是在靠近液滴端首先断裂,该研究结果有助于提高气动式微滴喷射装置的液滴生成质量。     

软体机械手遥操作系统的设计与分析

面向气动软体机械手在远程非结构化环境下作业的工作需求,搭建了软体机械手遥操作系统。基于“快速气动网络”及模块化可拆卸原则,设计制作了软体弯曲致动器,根据实验需要组装成仿人手形软体机械手。在Yeoh模型基础上建立了软体致动器的力学模型并借助仿真分析加以修正,为软体致动器的控制提供了理论依据。设计了遥操作系统的总体结构,提出了气动软体机械手的驱动模式与控制策略,在C#窗体应用程序中开发了客户端软件。基于蒙皮技术在3D Max软件中对软体致动器进行建模,在Unity3D中搭建了虚拟作业场景,通过脚本程序设计实现远地端反馈信息对软体末端的运动控制和对目标对象的碰撞与拾取。开展软体致动器弯曲角度与充气气压实验,验证分析力学模型的准确性;开展遥操作手势映射实验,分析与探讨软体机械手遥操作系统的可行性及其进一步研究与应用。     

气动膜片式微滴喷射装置理论分析与实验研究

微滴喷射是通过产生微米级的液滴实现流体按需精确喷射沉积成形的技术。气动膜片式微滴按需喷射装置的原理是以膜片为驱动部件,以压缩气体脉冲为驱动源,通过膜片的弹性变形实现液体腔的体积变化从而产生微液滴。通过建立驱动气压与液体腔内工作压力的关系,分析腔体内液体的流动状态,从而建立气动膜片式喷射系统的数学模型,以此作为优化装置结构和控制参数的依据。此外,利用该装置完成了黏性液体的可控喷射。研究结果为喷射制造的实际应用提供了理论与实验依据。     

Principles and droplet size distributions of various spraying methods: a review

Spraying refers to the process of forming small droplets of a liquid and dispersing them in air or on the surface of an object. Spraying is ubiquitous because it enables a liquid widely and uniformly dispersed. The existing spraying methods can be broadly categorized as ultrasonic, liquid compression, and two-phase nozzle-based. These different methods utilize different principles, with advantages and disadvantages. Thus, it is necessary to understand how different methods are suited to the applications of interest. In particular, the droplet size plays a significant role. Many studies have been conducted to characterize different spraying methods, but little systematic organization and summarization with respect to the droplet size has been done. Herein, we introduce the most widely used spraying methods and explain their spraying principles, fields of use, and appropriate operating environments. We focus on the droplet size aspect. This review is likely to be useful in the design and development of spraying devices.

     

Investigation of design parameters for droplet generators driven by piezoelectric actuators

This paper presents a numerical analysis of a drop-on-demand (DOD) piezoelectric (PZT) actuated droplet generator. A finite difference numerical model was established to analyze the design parameters of droplet ejection. First, we discussed the influence of the driving conditions on the droplet ejection characteristics, such as the driving time and the driving volume change in the pressure chamber. The volume factor, an important design parameter, was proposed from the analysis. The ejected droplets can maintain the same ejection velocity at different nozzle diameters, as long as the volume factor remains the same. Two empirical formulas, based on the analysis data, are suitable for the design of PZT actuated droplet generator. The first empirical formula is a linear relationship between the droplet velocity and the volume factor with a slope of 0.3422 for different nozzle diameters. The second empirical formula defines the driving volume of PZT and nozzle diameter to eject the desired droplets. The geometrical design parameters of droplet generator, such as the nozzle thickness, the pressure chamber width and depth, as well as the driving conditions of the PZT actuator, are all included in the analysis. The sensitivity of geometrical design parameters which affect the droplet volume, the droplet velocity, and the lowest driving condition is established. The quantitative criterion for ejection of droplet, liquid jet, and no droplet is presented. The proposed empirical formula and figures provide easy-to-use tool for design of DOD PZT actuated droplet generators.     

电磁致动式微滴按需喷射装置的设计及实现

针对现有商业化微滴按需喷射装置需根据喷射材料性质定制而较难直接用于研究不同材料喷射行为的现存问题,设计并实现了一种基于电磁致动器的机械振动式低成本微滴按需喷射装置。该装置由激振系统,喷射坩埚及相应的低氧环境保护系统,加热及温度控制调节系统组成。采用该微滴喷射装置进行试验,通过调整电磁致动器激励电压脉宽成功实现了不同喷射频率下水和石蜡微滴的按需可控喷射,试验结果证明了该装置的稳定性以及实现不同材料微滴喷射的可行性。     

Effect of forces on dynamic metal transfer behavior of cable-type welding wire gas metal arc welding

A cable-type welding wire (CWW) gas metal arc welding (GMAW) method was proposed as a novel approach, using CWW for the consumable electrode. Droplet transfer influences the welding process, and the forces on the droplet were analyzed to elucidate the metal transfer phenomenon observed during the welding process. The effects of the arc pressure, rotating force, and welding parameters were analyzed to understand the metal transfer. The special structure of the CWW affected the arc characteristics and forces during metal transfer as part of the welding process. The droplet formed by droplets from each thin wire, the arc, and electromagnetic forces on droplet formation and the coupling process were analyzed. The arc pressure and rotating forces are beneficial to metal transfer and increase the droplet transfer frequency. The droplet size decreases with increasing welding parameters.     

Research on accurate droplet generation for micro-droplet deposition manufacture

Micro-droplet deposition manufacture is a novel direct metal rapid prototyping for building the miniaturized parts. In this paper, the relationship between the droplet diameter and the operating parameters is investigated to obtain the optimal condition for the accurate droplet generation. The droplet generator is designed to adjust the parameters such as the infinitesimal disturbance and the jet velocity. Experiments with the different materials have been conducted to study the feasibility of the accurate droplet generation for the manufacturing. Spherical and uniform water micro-droplets within 2.4% variation are generated using an orifice diameter of 150 μm, and tin–lead alloy droplets are produced with an orifice diameter of 100 μm in the argon environment. The results show that the generator can produce accurate micro-droplets which meet the requirements of fabricating the miniaturized parts.     

基于主应力线的软体气动弯曲驱动器设计

软体驱动器是软体机器人的重要组成部分.针对传统的设计方法难以设计具有特定功能的软体驱动器问题,提出一种基于主应力线的软体驱动器的设计方法,可以实现基于目标功能的设计.该方法基于给定的目标功能参数,通过预仿真计算主应力线方向,并沿着主应力线方向环绕气动腔室生成框架约束结构.最后,使用启发式的方法调节框架约束结构的材质参数...     

Enhancement of pneumatic nebulization efficiency through application of an electric field

A technique is described for reducing the size of aerosol droplets produced by a pneumatic nebulizer of the kind commonly used in flame or plasma spectrometry. The technique involves the application of an electric field to the tip of the nebulizer, resulting in an induced surface charge on the liquid being nebulized. In turn, the surface charge reduces the liquid's surface tension and results in the generation of a finer aerosol. In this study, the effect of the electric field is quantified in terms of the spatial dispersion and size distribution of aerosol droplets formed in the presence and absence of the field. Droplet size distributions, obtained using the MgO impression technique and analyzed using log-normal and upper-limit functions, reveal a 63% decrease in the volume mean droplet diameter in the field's presence. As a result, this system is expected to be useful in both flame and plasma spectrometry, where reduced droplet size can yield improved precision and freedom from interferences.     

Development of a piezoelectric high speed on/off valve and its application to pneumatic closed-loop position control system

The use of smart materials-based high speed on/off valve has exhibited the potential to replace traditional servo and proportional valves in fluid power systems. In this paper, a novel pneumatic high speed on/off valve driven by a piezoelectric stack actuator is developed and its dynamics are studied. For an upstream gauge pressure of 0.5 MPa, the valve exhibited a large flow rate of up to 86 L/min. Furthermore, to study the ability of this novel high speed on/off valve to be applied in closed-loop control systems, a real-time position control system is realized using a PID controller. In order to prove its feasibility and effectiveness, a number of closed-loop trajectory tracking experiments are conducted on a pneumatic cylinder. The system is proved feasible and the results demonstrate good tracking performance.

     

具有电磁阀微喷功能的3D打印机构建及应用

3D打印技术已经在生物医学、传感器制造等领域得到广泛应用。然而,传统3D打印机由于自身工作方式的不同,适用范围不同,难以同时兼容生物制备和传感器制备。因此,以电磁阀作为3D打印机的喷头,自主设计并构建具有独特工作方式的3D打印机,将高精度液滴分配方式应用于3D结构打印。研究料筒气压、电磁阀开关时间、喷头高度对打印液滴直径的影响,并对点、线、网、面图案的打印质量进行评估;利用所构建的打印机制备具有真皮乳头结构的组织工程皮肤和阵列式柔性压力传感器,测试组织工程皮肤的细胞活性及压力传感器的压-阻转换特性。结果表明,打印液滴直径尺寸与料筒气压、喷头开启时间、喷头高度均成正相关;3D打印机对点、线、网、面图案的打印效果较为理想;可成功应用于具有真皮乳头结构的组织工程皮肤和柔性压力传感器的制备。所构建的3D打印机融合喷墨式打印机和挤出式打印机的优势,对打印墨水有较好的兼容性,具有打印方式简单、打印速度快、成型质量高的优点,对组织工程皮肤及柔性压力传感器的研究具有重要意义,为实现具有感知功能仿生皮肤的制备奠定基础。     

基于AMESim的新型PDMS微阀动态特性仿真研究

针对一种新型的可用于气动微流控芯片气压控制的电磁致动微阀的进一步研究和应用问题,在阐述了其结构和工作原理的基础上,利用AMESim软件建立了相应的动态仿真模型,对其流量、压力动态特性进行了分析,并且给出了该种微阀和传统气动电磁阀的流量、压力动态特性的对比分析结果.该种新型的电磁致动微阀由微流控芯片的上层PDMS平膜、具有微流道的下层PDMS厚膜和电磁致动器构成,电磁致动器通过安装在阀座上的玻璃片与PDMS微流控芯片实现了集成.而且,采用这种集成化的新型微阀的控制方式相较于传统采用气动电磁阀的控制方式,具有成本低、体积小、易于与微流控芯片集成等优点.研究结果表明,采用这种新型PDMS微阀对微流控芯片进行驱动和控制可以获得较好的动态特性,并且该研究对电磁致动微阀的进一步研究和应用提供了一定的理论指导.     

Externally Pressurized Journal Gas Bearings

Externally pressurized gas-lubricated bearings with multiple orifice feed are investigated. An analytical treatment is developed for a semicylindrical bearing with 9 orifices and for a cylindrical journal bearing with 192 radial and 24 axial orifices.

Experiments are described on models of the two bearing configurations with specially designed fixtures which incorporate pneumatic loading and means for determining pressure profiles, gas flow, and gap height. The correlation between theory and experiment is satisfactory.     

A note on spark bubble drop-on-demand droplet generation: simulation and experiment

The fluid dynamics of the spark bubble-generated droplet is studied both experimentally and numerically. The emphasis is especially on the droplet behavior after pinch-off. Commercial inkjet printers often produce satellite droplets along with parent droplets which are not desirable from the viewpoint of printing efficiency. Furthermore, standard drop-on-demand droplet generators are normally restricted to the generation of droplets with the same size as the nozzle diameter. In the spark bubble droplet generation method, a spark-generated bubble induces droplet formation through a hole in a solid surface separating the liquid and air interfaces. Immediately after ignition occurs, a bubble forms and creates pressure waves as it expands and contracts in a nonsymmetrical fashion. These pressure waves, depending on the geometries of the bubble location, plate, and hole may cause a single droplet smaller than the plate aperture to form and break up. In this article, a combined numerical and experimental study has been conducted to investigate the droplet behavior created in this manner. A high-speed camera is utilized to capture the droplet formation process. The numerical simulations have been carried out using the boundary integral spatial solution coupled with the time integration, i.e., a mixed Eulerian–Lagrangian approach. There is reasonable agreement between the simulations and experiment.