Project 2
Project Proposal
Visualization of Electrostatic Atomization
For Project 2, I am looking to build an interactive demonstration of an Electrostatic Atomizer.
By design, it is going to be an interactive learning tool first, and depending on progress over time a tool for exploration and visualization. I am targeting this order of progression as I would like for this project to become a useful tool for my peers and colleagues in spray atomizer development. Virtual reality by way of interactivity and immersion lends itself to being a strong learning tool and I most frequently find myself in situations explaining what the process is, how does it change the way a spray acts, and why do this in the first place. By taking further steps and allowing for robust interaction, it could become a valuable learning tool. We could utilize it to quickly generate sample applications as well as perform light experiments with various target geometries. A final step would be making it as realistic as possible. This is primarily a challenge as atomization is a complex process and in a single spray there can be hundreds of thousands of particles leading to difficulties in rendering and calculation (as the droplets are charged, they all interact with each other).
Images and videos are referenced in this page are from UIC's Computational Multiphysics Laboratory's Electrostatic Atomizer Page (https://cmtl.uic.edu/research3.html)
Brief Background:
Electrostatic atomizers utilize high voltages to inject charge into various dielectric fluids ranging from oils, paints, or even de-ionized water. Once the charged leaves the atomizer orifice the charges repel each other distribute themselves about the jet surface. The repelling forces then interact with the jet instabilities inherit to all fluid jets and frequently for a whipping instability. (See video on the left) At this point the jet breaks up aided by the charges into a uniform droplet distribution. After atomization, these droplets retain their charge and follow interesting flow mechanics.
Beyond standard forces placed on the bodies after atomization (gravity and momentum from the jet expulsion) the charges are subjected to electrostatic forces influencing their path. By introducing a grounded panel (various shapes are permitted) the particles will tend toward the electric field lines from the atomizer to the plate. The image to the left demonstrates spray shaping with two rings. One the left the upper ring has the matching polarity (and thus is repelling the flow) and the bottom the attractive opposite polarity. The image on the right is the inverse. (hence the attraction to the upper ring and repulsion from the lower. )
Base Objective:
I am looking to replicate this particle flow phenomena by modeling a atomizer which ejects particles which follow various imposed electric fields (A simple sprayer with assorted target plates). The user should be able to select plates and applied voltages to see the resulting interactions. Beyond simple particle modeling, this base level should include scientific visualizations of the imposed electric field as and performance metrics such as velocity or streamlines. This not currently planned to be a result with numerical accuracy, but rather an approximation to be utilized as a learning tool.
The target platform for this development are head mounted display units (Oculus in particular) as those are the Virtual Reality tools readily available for my target users at Spraying Systems Company. On that platform, I will be able to share with my colleagues, sales representatives, and prospective customers. As SSCo we also have access to stereoscopic projectors for visualization, but I feel that the interactive component of this project is vital to the accessibility of those unfamiliar with electrostatics.
Extended goals for this project include being able to increase user interaction to fully utilize the benefit of Virtual Reality as a learning tool.
Users should be able to manipulate the various plates and the atomizer to develop unique applications and configurations.
If possible, I would like to "expand" the project scope to scientifically investigate (or approximate) key pheonema such as the atomization process and increase the fidelity of spray pathing.
If an appropriate transitioning method can be determined, being able to view the internal charging process would be a personal goal (as it relates to my research). Being able to model the movement of charge ions and seeing interaction of electrostatics and fluid mechanics (Electrohydrodynamics). At this level, the work would likely be purely scientific visualization, limiting users purely to an observational role.