Numerical Analysis Of Mixing Under Low And High Frequency Pulsations At Serpentine Micromixers

The numerical investigation of the mixing process in complex geometry micromixers, as a function of various inlet conditions and various micromixer vibrations, was performed. The examined devices were two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) types of serpentine micromixers with two inlets. En...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Malecha Ziemowit M., Malecha Karol
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Polish Academy of Sciences Committee of Chemical and Process Engineering 2014-09-01
Series:Chemical and Process Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/cpe.2014.35.issue-3/cpe-2014-0028/cpe-2014-0028.xml?format=INT
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850234282278125568
author Malecha Ziemowit M.
Malecha Karol
author_facet Malecha Ziemowit M.
Malecha Karol
author_sort Malecha Ziemowit M.
collection DOAJ
description The numerical investigation of the mixing process in complex geometry micromixers, as a function of various inlet conditions and various micromixer vibrations, was performed. The examined devices were two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) types of serpentine micromixers with two inlets. Entering fluids were perturbed with a wide range of the frequency (0 - 50 Hz) of pulsations. Additionally, mixing fluids also entered in the same or opposite phase of pulsations. The performed numerical calculations were 3D to capture the proximity of all the walls, which has a substantial influence on microchannel flow. The geometry of the 3D type serpentine micromixer corresponded to the physically existing device, characterised by excellent mixing properties but also a challenging production process (Malecha et al., 2009). It was shown that low-frequency perturbations could improve the average mixing efficiency of the 2D micromixer by only about 2% and additionally led to a disadvantageously non-uniform mixture quality in time. It was also shown that high-frequency mixing could level these fluctuations and more significantly improve the mixing quality. In the second part of the paper a faster and simplified method of evaluation of mixing quality was introduced. This method was based on calculating the length of the contact interface between mixing fluids. It was used to evaluate the 2D type serpentine micromixer performance under various types of vibrations and under a wide range of vibration frequencies.
format Article
id doaj-art-15c4505fb9014ef994df082b3c2b4021
institution OA Journals
issn 2300-1925
language English
publishDate 2014-09-01
publisher Polish Academy of Sciences Committee of Chemical and Process Engineering
record_format Article
series Chemical and Process Engineering
spelling doaj-art-15c4505fb9014ef994df082b3c2b40212025-08-20T02:02:40ZengPolish Academy of Sciences Committee of Chemical and Process EngineeringChemical and Process Engineering2300-19252014-09-0135336938510.2478/cpe-2014-0028cpe-2014-0028Numerical Analysis Of Mixing Under Low And High Frequency Pulsations At Serpentine MicromixersMalecha Ziemowit M.0Malecha Karol1University of New Hampshire, Program in Integrated Applied Mathematics, Durham, NH 03824, USAWrocław University of Technology, Faculty of Microsystem Electronics and Photonics, Wybrzeże Wyspiańskiego 27, 50-370 Wrocław, PolandThe numerical investigation of the mixing process in complex geometry micromixers, as a function of various inlet conditions and various micromixer vibrations, was performed. The examined devices were two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) types of serpentine micromixers with two inlets. Entering fluids were perturbed with a wide range of the frequency (0 - 50 Hz) of pulsations. Additionally, mixing fluids also entered in the same or opposite phase of pulsations. The performed numerical calculations were 3D to capture the proximity of all the walls, which has a substantial influence on microchannel flow. The geometry of the 3D type serpentine micromixer corresponded to the physically existing device, characterised by excellent mixing properties but also a challenging production process (Malecha et al., 2009). It was shown that low-frequency perturbations could improve the average mixing efficiency of the 2D micromixer by only about 2% and additionally led to a disadvantageously non-uniform mixture quality in time. It was also shown that high-frequency mixing could level these fluctuations and more significantly improve the mixing quality. In the second part of the paper a faster and simplified method of evaluation of mixing quality was introduced. This method was based on calculating the length of the contact interface between mixing fluids. It was used to evaluate the 2D type serpentine micromixer performance under various types of vibrations and under a wide range of vibration frequencies.http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/cpe.2014.35.issue-3/cpe-2014-0028/cpe-2014-0028.xml?format=INTSerpentine micromixeractive mixingnumerical simulationsLTCC technology
spellingShingle Malecha Ziemowit M.
Malecha Karol
Numerical Analysis Of Mixing Under Low And High Frequency Pulsations At Serpentine Micromixers
Chemical and Process Engineering
Serpentine micromixer
active mixing
numerical simulations
LTCC technology
title Numerical Analysis Of Mixing Under Low And High Frequency Pulsations At Serpentine Micromixers
title_full Numerical Analysis Of Mixing Under Low And High Frequency Pulsations At Serpentine Micromixers
title_fullStr Numerical Analysis Of Mixing Under Low And High Frequency Pulsations At Serpentine Micromixers
title_full_unstemmed Numerical Analysis Of Mixing Under Low And High Frequency Pulsations At Serpentine Micromixers
title_short Numerical Analysis Of Mixing Under Low And High Frequency Pulsations At Serpentine Micromixers
title_sort numerical analysis of mixing under low and high frequency pulsations at serpentine micromixers
topic Serpentine micromixer
active mixing
numerical simulations
LTCC technology
url http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/cpe.2014.35.issue-3/cpe-2014-0028/cpe-2014-0028.xml?format=INT
work_keys_str_mv AT malechaziemowitm numericalanalysisofmixingunderlowandhighfrequencypulsationsatserpentinemicromixers
AT malechakarol numericalanalysisofmixingunderlowandhighfrequencypulsationsatserpentinemicromixers