TY - JOUR
T1 - Design of confluence and bend geometry for rapid mixing in microchannels
AU - Aoki, Nobuaki
AU - Fukuda, Takashi
AU - Maeda, Norihide
AU - Mae, Kazuhiro
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Project of Development of Microspace and Nanospace Reaction Environment Technology for Functional Materials.
PY - 2013/7/1
Y1 - 2013/7/1
N2 - In micromixers, reactant fluids deform through convection arisen by channel geometries such as channel confluence and bend. This deformation reduces the diffusion length between fluids and thus enhances the mixing performance. This paper discusses the effects of channel confluence and bend geometries in microchannles on mixing rate. The results show that the combination of these geometries enhances the mixing performance under the condition that the channel bend is set after the confluent flow sufficiently develops. Larger confluence angle is also effective for rapid mixing. We also confirmed that the bend geometry has little effect for increasing the pressure drop in microchannels. To achieve a fixed segregation index, which represents the mixing performance, microchannels with a bend requires smaller flow rate and thus lower pressure drop than straight channels. From the experimental results, we have established the design guideline of microchannel for improving mixing performance without channel reduction and pressure drop confirmed the effectiveness of this guideline. Using this guideline, a micromixer with high operability and productivity can be developed.
AB - In micromixers, reactant fluids deform through convection arisen by channel geometries such as channel confluence and bend. This deformation reduces the diffusion length between fluids and thus enhances the mixing performance. This paper discusses the effects of channel confluence and bend geometries in microchannles on mixing rate. The results show that the combination of these geometries enhances the mixing performance under the condition that the channel bend is set after the confluent flow sufficiently develops. Larger confluence angle is also effective for rapid mixing. We also confirmed that the bend geometry has little effect for increasing the pressure drop in microchannels. To achieve a fixed segregation index, which represents the mixing performance, microchannels with a bend requires smaller flow rate and thus lower pressure drop than straight channels. From the experimental results, we have established the design guideline of microchannel for improving mixing performance without channel reduction and pressure drop confirmed the effectiveness of this guideline. Using this guideline, a micromixer with high operability and productivity can be developed.
KW - Bend
KW - Confluence
KW - Diffusion length
KW - Microchannel
KW - Mixing
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cej.2012.03.061
DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2012.03.061
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84879841798
VL - 227
SP - 198
EP - 202
JO - Chemical Engineering Journal
JF - Chemical Engineering Journal
SN - 1385-8947
ER -