Research On Key Parameters Of Vortex Generator With Tangential-nozzle Structure

Vortex flow is widely used in industrial equipment and automatic production line (e.g.,cyclone separator, non-contact handling device). This thesis primarily introduces the basic structure of vortex flow generator based on the principle of vortex flow and focuses on the research on its key parameters. Firstly, we illustrate the working principle of vortex generator in detail, and propose its key structural parameters and operation parameters among which the height of vortex chamber (structural parameter) and supply flow rate (operation parameter) are chosen for further investigation and optimization design. Meanwhile, on the basis of previous research, three performance indexes for evaluating vortex generator are put forward:maximum force, force action region and stiffness. Secondly, we analyze the three-dimensional flow field and features throughly by the method of computational fluid dynamics. Furthermore, we experimentally investigate the effects of the variation of vortex chanber height and supply flow rate on the performance of vortex generator, respectively. The results indicate that, (1) the upper height of vortex chamber (the height above the tangential nozzle) has less effect on the performance, while the lower height of vortex chamber (the height below the tangential nozzle) influences the performance significantly; (2) increasing supply flow rate improves the maximum force but hardly affect force action region and stiffness. Finally, based on the understanding achieved in the above research, we apply the vortex generator to the development of a new gripper and a new air flotation element, and verify the feasibility preliminarily via experiment.