Velocity Measurement of Induced Flow by a Laser Focusing Shock Wave

The objective of this study is to apply the shock wave for control in a micro channel. The shock wave was generated by a laser focusing of pulsed laser beam in the channel. Using a pulse laser to generate a shock wave, a non-stationary flow was induced in the small space between the parallel plates. The spherical and cylindrical shock propagations were observed with schlieren method. The shock Mach number decreases with time and approaches to unity. As reported in the previous investigations, the shock speed was attenuated in a short distance and time. In the present experiment, It was not found a remarkable difference in the shock speed between the spherical and cylindrical shock experiments. Subsequently, the flow induced by the cylindrical shock wave was studied using PIV technique. A smoke tracer was used in the experiment and its velocity was measured within 100 μs. A numerical simulation was carried out to investigate the momentum relaxation between the gas and smoke particle. A suitable shock initiation model was introduced in the simulation. The experimental results show that a wide acceleration and deceleration zone exist behind the shock wave. Also, the relaxation distance in the experimental data is much longer than that in numerical simulation.     

The wake structure in a 2D grid installation of the horizontal axis micro wind turbines

In order to develop applications for micro-wind turbines, an experimental analysis of the flow field around integrated micro-wind turbines was performed. The wake flows of a single turbine and 5×5 array unit were measured by using hot-wire and ultrasonic anemometers and particle image velocimetry (PIV). The present array of turbines follows a fundamental lattice layout; however, it has the flexibility to optimize its layout according to the environmental conditions. hot-wire and ultrasonic anemometers and PIV measurements were used for stand-alone turbines and their integrated systems. Comparisons between the mean velocity field and turbulent intensity were described for stand-alone full-scale and 1/10-scale wind turbine models. Thereafter, a typical array of the 1/10-scale model was assumed and its wake flow was investigated in a wind tunnel. The velocity profile and turbulence behind the array were measured and studied at different streamwise locations. The scale effect and model similarities were discussed. The experimental results show that a zone exists with constant and linear wake deficit ratios in the downstream regions.     

Testing basic performance of a very small wind turbine designed for multi-purposes

A very small wind turbine system for multi-purposes was developed and its performance was reported in this paper. The rotor diameter of the turbine is 500 mm. The tests of the energy output, turbine speed, power coefficient, and torque of turbine were carried out for a wide rage of free stream velocity. The flow around the wind turbine and the influence of the turbulence were investigated with a particle image velocimetry. Experimentally obtained power coefficient was 0.4 in maximum and 0.36 in the rated running condition, respectively. The tip speed ratio corresponding to the optimum driving condition was 2.7. Comparing with the other commercial turbines, the performance was excellent at a slow turbine speed. By the flow visualization and PIV measurement around the wind turbine, the approaching flow velocity and the accelerated flow field passing the blade tip was obtained. It was confirmed that the actual flow passed through the blades was about 20% slower than the ideal flow. Tip vortex shed from the blade tip was also visualized clearly.     

Temperature separation produced by a Hartmann-Sprenger tube coupling a secondary resonator

Temperature separation of a gas is produced by the Hartmann-Sprenger (HS) tube worked by jet now issuing from a convergent nozzle. The effect of temperature separation depends on thermal effects of the HS tube.

The coupling of a secondary resonator to the HS tube or the use of a convergent nozzle with thin rod laid along its axis changes operation mode of the HS tube and these can improve strength of oscillation in the HS tube and the thermal effect of it.

In the present paper, effects of the secondary resonator and of the use of the nozzle with rod on the thermal effects are observed. Considering these effects, an apparatus of temperature separation is composed and its separation characteristics are investigated for various operation modes of the HS tube and for various sizes of hot-gas outlet.

From experimental results, optimum operation mode and optimum size of hot-gas outlet for the efficiency of temperature separation are found.