EFFECT OF GEOMETRICAL PARAMETERS INTERACTION ON SWIRL EFFERVESCENT ATOMIZER SPRAY ANGLE

A wider spray angle produced by an atomizer is often required in providing a better spray dispersion. The formation and wideness of the spray angle were reported to be affected by the changes in geometrical parameters. In the present study, the effect of the interaction between two geometrical parameters (swirl-generating vane angle and discharge orifice diameter) on the swirl effervescent atomizer spray angle was studied. A newly-designed swirl effervescent atomizer was developed with 30°, 45° and 60° swirl-generating vane angle and 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5mm discharge orifice diameter. The atomizer performance tests were carried out using water as the working fluid and nitrogen gas as the atomizing agent. High-speed shadowgraph technique was deployed to record the resultant sprays produced. Video recordings, acquired using a high-speed video camera, were converted to a sequence of images for further analysis using image processing software. It was found that geometrical parameters of the newly designed atomizer have a great impact on the formation and characteristics of the spray angle. The combined effect of both swirl-generating vane angle and discharge orifice diameter has produced an increase in the spray angle. The largest spray angle was observed at the largest dimension of both geometries.