Swirling jet actuator for control of separated and mixing flows

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11268550-B2
Application number	US-201916425327-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 29, 2019
Priority date	Mar 3, 2014
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

A method of controlling a fluid flow using momentum and/or vorticity injections. Actively controlling an actuator allows for direct, precise, and independent control of the momentum and swirl entering into the fluid system. The perturbations are added to the flow field in a systematic mater providing tunable control input, thereby modifying behavior thereof in a predictable manner to improve the flow characteristics.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of controlling a fluid flow, comprising inputting a swirling flow into the fluid flow, wherein the swirling flow is swirling prior to and while being input into the fluid flow.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the swirling flow is inputted in an orientation such that a central axis, about which the swirling flow rotates is normal to a surface of a body over which the fluid flow is passing.

3. The method of claim 1 , further including the step of adjusting flow properties of the swirling flow.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the swirling flow is actively controllable.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inputting occurs at a plurality of actuator sites such that each actuator site includes a swirling flow input and each swirling flow input has an initial direction of rotation that is opposite of the initial direction of rotation of the swirling flow input of an adjacently located actuator site.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inputting occurs at a plurality of actuator sites such that each actuator site includes a swirling flow input and each swirling flow input has an initial direction of rotation that is in the same initial direction of rotation of the swirling flow input of an adjacently located actuator site.

7. The method of claim 1 , further including a step of inputting a momentum flow.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the momentum flow is inputted in an orientation that is normal to a surface of a body over which the fluid flow is passing.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the momentum flow is adjustable.

10. A method of controlling a fluid flow, comprising the step of inputting a swirling flow into the fluid flow, wherein the swirling flow is inputted in an orientation such that a central axis, about which the swirling flow rotates is normal to a surface of a body over which the fluid flow is passing.

11. The method of claim 10 , further including the step of adjusting flow properties of the swirling flow.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the swirling flow is actively controllable.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the inputting occurs at a plurality of actuator sites such that each actuator site includes a swirling flow input and each swirling flow input has an initial direction of rotation that is opposite of the initial direction of rotation of the swirling flow input of an adjacently located actuator site.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the inputting occurs at a plurality of actuator sites such that each actuator site includes a swirling flow input and each swirling flow input has an initial direction of rotation that is in the same initial direction of rotation of the swirling flow input of an adjacently located actuator site.

15. The method of claim 10 , further including a step of inputting a momentum flow.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the momentum flow is inputted in an orientation that is normal to a surface of a body over which the fluid flow is passing.

17. The method of claim 15 , further including the step of adjusting flow properties of the momentum flow.

18. A method of controlling a fluid flow, comprising the steps of:
inputting a swirling flow into the fluid flow; and
adjusting the flow properties of the swirling flow.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising inputting a momentum flow into the fluid flow.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the inputting of the momentum flow is independent from the inputting of the swirling flow.

Assignees

• Univ Florida State Res Found Inc

Inventors

• Taira Kunihiko
• Alvi Farrukh
• Munday Phillip

Classifications

• F15D1/007 Primary

  comprising surfaces being moved by external supplied energy · CPC title

• F15D1/12

  by influencing the boundary layer · CPC title

• F15D1/009 Primary

  by means of vortex rings · CPC title

• B64C21/08

  adjustable · CPC title