Origami-based Bionic Reactor

Mixing is an important operation unit in chemical production.The performance of mixing directly affects the mass transfer efficiency,the reaction rate,yield of the reaction,and even the generation of side reactions.The intimate blending of high-viscosity fluid is essential for lots of chemical reactions but still a great challenge for the traditional mixing method.However,the human digestive system can be regarded as a special soft reactor in the human body because it can easily blend and transfer various high-viscosity chyme.It seems to be a potential method for using the working principle of digestion to mix viscous liquids in the chemical,food,and pharmaceutical industries.In this study,inspired by the small intestine structure and delivery mechanism,we designed a bionic soft reactor.The reactor imitates the mechanism of longitudinal and radial expansion and contraction of the fold wall surface of the small intestine to promote the mixing of viscous liquids through bionics.The origami process was innovatively applied to the production of the foldable side wall structure of the reactor.Geometric analysis,numerical simulation,and testing experiment are used in the structural analysis and geometric parameter optimization of the foldable sidewall structure.The software controls the stepper motor to drive the linear sliding table to make the reactor periodically expand and contract.Finite element simulation,image analysis,and non-dimensional analysis are used to verify the performance of the reactor and explore the mechanism of the mixing process.The deformation of the flexible sidewall of the biomimetic reactor promotes fluid flow and generates a vortex to enhance the mass transfer.Therefore,the bionic soft reactor can uniformly mix a series of viscous solutions.And there is almost no dead zone in the mixing zone,which is better than traditional paddle stirring.The bionic flexible reactor has good mixing performance in a variety of viscous systems.Not only that,the reactor also has the good crushing ability,and its overall structure and working mechanism are very similar to the human small intestine,so the direction of in-vitro simulation research also has certain application value.In addition,it can be used for one-time use in laboratories and medicine because of its low production cost and no need for large-scale equipment.According to the good results in the scale-up experiment,it is inferred that the reactor has the potential of industrial application.In summary,the bionic soft reactor based on origami provides an example of constructing a functional system for advanced chemical applications.