Localised energy concentration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9984775-B2
Application number	US-201414772984-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 6, 2014
Priority date	Mar 6, 2013
Publication date	May 29, 2018
Grant date	May 29, 2018

Abstract

A method of producing a localized concentration of energy includes: creating a shockwave propagating through a non-gaseous medium so as to be incident upon a boundary between the non-gaseous medium and a gaseous medium formed by at least one hole in a barrier separating the non-gaseous medium from a gaseous medium. This forms a transverse jet on the other side of the hole which is incident upon a target surface comprising a depression which is spaced from the barrier in the gaseous medium. An apparatus for producing a localized concentration of energy is also described.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of producing a localised concentration of energy comprising creating a shockwave propagating through a non-gaseous medium so as to be incident upon a boundary between the non-gaseous medium and a gaseous medium formed by at least one hole in a barrier separating the non-gaseous medium from a gaseous medium, wherein one or more of the viscosity, the chemical composition and the pressure of the non-gaseous medium and/or the gaseous medium, the orientation of the hole or barrier, and/or a membrane defining the boundary, is arranged to control the separation of the non-gaseous medium from the gaseous medium at the boundary in the hole, and wherein the incidence of the shockwave on the boundary thereby forms a transverse jet on the other side of the hole which is incident upon a target surface comprising a depression which is spaced from the barrier in the gaseous medium.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the target surface is spaced from the hole in the barrier by a distance of less than 20 times the diameter of the hole.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising replacing the target surface by sliding the target surface laterally to provide a new target site for incidence of the transverse jet.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the target surface comprises a plurality of depressions.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the barrier comprises a plurality of holes.

6. A method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the target surface comprises a plurality of depressions and wherein each depression corresponds to a hole in the barrier so that the transverse jet created from each hole in the barrier is incident upon the corresponding depression on the target surface.

7. A method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the shape of the barrier and/or the shape of the holes controls the formation of transverse jets directed to a single position on the target surface where the depression is located.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the shape of the barrier focuses the shockwave towards the hole to control the formation of the transverse jet.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the shape of the barrier controls the formation of the transverse jet.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the shape of the edge of the barrier defining the hole in the barrier controls the shape of the boundary between the gaseous and non-gaseous media in the hole.

11. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the shape of the boundary between the gaseous and non-gaseous media at the hole in the barrier is controlled by the relative pressure of the gaseous medium to the pressure of the non-gaseous medium.

12. A method as claimed in claim 1 claim, wherein the boundary between the gaseous and non-gaseous media in the hole is curved.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the target surface is spaced from the hole in the barrier by a distance of less than 10 times the radius of curvature of the boundary surface.

14. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the barrier and/or the edge of the barrier defining the hole comprise a hydrophobic and/or hydrophilic surface or coating which controls the shape of the boundary between the non-gaseous and gaseous media.

15. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the surface tension of the non-gaseous medium controls the shape of the boundary between the non-gaseous and gaseous media.

16. A method as claimed in claim 12 , comprising applying a standing wave to the non-gaseous medium to control the shape of the boundary between the non-gaseous and gaseous media.

17. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the boundary between the gaseous and non-gaseous media is defined by a membrane which defines the shape of the boundary.

18. A method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the shape of the barrier conforms the shape of the shockwave applied to the non-gaseous medium to the shape of the boundary between the non-gaseous and gaseous media.

19. A method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising a plurality of barriers, each barrier separating respective layers of a gaseous medium from a non-gaseous medium, and wherein each barrier comprises at least one hole therein which forms a boundary between the respective non-gaseous medium and the gaseous medium.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19 , wherein the holes in one barrier are arranged such that multiple transverse jets from this barrier are directed towards the non-gaseous medium at a single hole in the next barrier.

21. A method as claimed in claim 19 , wherein the shape of the barriers focuses the incidence shockwave and/or one or more resultant shockwaves onto the one or more holes in a subsequent barrier and/or onto the target surface.

22. A method as claimed in claim 1 , comprising one or more pockets of fluid within the non-gaseous medium which are positioned relative to the at least one hole in the barrier such that the shockwave is first incident upon the first pocket of fluid which concentrates the intensity of the shockwave subsequently incident upon the gaseous medium at the at least one hole in the barrier.

23. A method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the target surface comprises reactants for a chemical reaction.

24. A method of producing a localised concentration of energy comprising creating a shockwave propagating through a non-gaseous medium so as to be incident upon a convex boundary between the non-gaseous medium and a gaseous medium formed by at least one hole in a barrier separating the non-gaseous medium from a gaseous medium, wherein one or more of the viscosity, the chemical composition and the pressure of the non-gaseous medium and/or the gaseous medium, the orientation of the hole or barrier, and/or a membrane defining the boundary, is arranged to control the separation of the non-gaseous medium from the gaseous medium at the boundary in the hole, and wherein the incidence of the shockwave on the boundary, thereby forms a transverse jet on the other side of the hole which is incident upon a target surface which is spaced from the barrier in the gaseous medium.

25. An apparatus for producing a localised concentration of energy comprising:
a gaseous medium;
a non-gaseous medium separated from the gaseous medium by a barrier comprising at least one hole therein;
a target surface comprising a depression which is spaced from the barrier in the gaseous medium; and
an explosive arrangement for creating at least one shockwave propagating through said non-gaseous medium so as to be incident upon a boundary formed by said hole, wherein one or more of the viscosity, the chemical composition and the pressure of the non-gaseous medium and/or the gaseous medium, the orientation of the hole or barrier, and/or a membrane defining the boundary, is arranged to control the separation of the non-gaseous medium from the gaseous medium at the boundary in the hole, and wherein the incidence of the shockwave on the boundary thereby forms a transverse jet on the other side of the hole.

26. An apparatus for producing a localised concentration of energy comprising:
a gaseous medium;
a non-gaseous medium separated from the gaseous medium by a barrier comprising at least one hole therein which forms a boundary which is convex in the non-gaseous medium;
a target surface which is spaced from the barrier in the gaseous medium; and
an explosive arrangement for creating at least

Assignees

• Isis Innovation
• Univ Oxford Innovation Ltd

Inventors

• Ventikos Yiannis
• Hawker Nicholas

Classifications

• G10K15/043

  producing shock waves (G10K15/046, G10K15/06 take precedence; generating seismic energy G01V1/02) · CPC title

• G21B3/006 Primary

  Fusion by impact, e.g. cluster/beam interaction, ion beam collisions, impact on a target · CPC title

• F15B21/12

  Fluid oscillators or pulse generators · CPC title

• Y02E30/10

  Nuclear fusion reactors · CPC title

• G21B3/008

  Fusion by pressure waves · CPC title