Optical imaging of near-nozzle spray structure

 

PI:        Scott T. Sanders, Assistant Professor, ssanders@engr.wisc.edu

Engine Research Center, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UW-Madison

10 September 2006

 

Understanding near-nozzle spray behavior is an important prerequisite to optimizing spray-based processes from combustion to cooling.  Due the intricate, small-scale, transient, and poorly understood processes involved, many experiments have been designed to study near-nozzle spray behavior.  Some techniques are outlined below:

 

Technique	Key information provided	Drawback
High-speed photography	external structure	qualitative, internal structure not revealed
X-ray attenuation imaging	absolute density maps	time consuming, very expensive, no structure information
Ballistic imaging	internal structure	expensive, based on line-of-sight measurements, remains under development

 

We have designed a novel approach with the following attractive features:

• Inexpensive, portable hardware (< 20k US)
• Provides high-quality, single-shot, quantitative structure images in near real-time
• Applicable to all styles and sizes of injectors / atomizers

 

Approximate minimum budget:

Approximate minimum budget:

Equipment and supplies	$30k
Personnel	$50k
Total	$80k

 

For more information contact Prof. Sanders, ssanders@engr.wisc.edu