The following facilities are available:

Industrial nozzle characterization facility

Estimated cost: 20.000 €

Location: LIFTEC Laboratory in F2 land plot

This is facility designed to study twin-fluid nozzles with a flow rate range typical of industrial applications, for example a power plant. It comprises a compressed air line supplied by a 22 kW multistage Ingersoll-Rand SSR-ML 22 compressor capable of supplying a maximum flow rate of Nm3/h at a maximum pressure of 7 bar. The line includes a pressure regulator and two rotameters in parallel to regulate a flow rate up to 90 Nm3/h. The water line counts also with a rotameter and can supply a maximum flow rate of 18 l/min at a maximum pressure of 10 bar. The atomized liquid is collected in a drainage hood which is also connected to an extraction fan to avoid recirculation. The facility can also operate in closed-loop mode.

The facility configuration enables the possibility to displace the nozzles in three perpendicular directions and to change the inclination angle.

As a particular characteristic, the facility incorporates two fixed supports to install the emission and detection units of a laser diffractometer to measure droplet size distributions in a quasi-real time. This facility allows for a quick and complete spray characterization applying flow visualization, measurement of droplets size distribution with the laser diffractometer, spray angle determination with temporally averaged images and spatial distribution with a mechanical patternator. If needed, droplet velocity can also be measured with PDA or PIV. All these measurements can be obtained for specific and controlled operating conditions.

Vetical wind tunnel/atomization facility

Estimated cost: 40.000 €

Location: LIFTEC Laboratory in F2 land plot

This is a highly versatile facility. It consist of a vertical wind tunnel, with a 50 cm diameter cylindrical section that connects to a contraction that ends in a standard 20.5 cm inner diameter flange. The air flow is conditioned by a wire mesh and two honeycomb panels placed inside the cylindrical section. Air is supplied by a 5.5 kW AA 70 T2 7.5 Casals medium pressure blower fan, connected to a frequency regulator that accurately controls the flow rate. The fan exit is connected to the upper part of the tunnel with a flexible duct to avoid vibrations. The facility also includes a water line regulated with a rotameter that can supply a maximum flow rate of 650 l/h. water. The liquid is collected in a drainage hood which is also connected to an extraction fan to avoid recirculation. The facility can be operated in closed-loop mode. The wind tunnel can be moved up and down, and the whole facility can also be displaced laterally

Different assemblies can be attached to the flange at the tunnel exit. For example, an atomizing head to generate a thin liquid sheet (0.4 mm) surrounded by air parallel coflows. This head has been intensively used to study the basic atomization mechanisms in air-assisted break up of liquid sheets. This is the case on aircraft turbine injectors. These studies have been performed applying optical techniques such as planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF), particle image velocimetry (PIV) or high speed video recording. A TSI T3DLE three-axis motorized translation stage with a displacement of 1000 mm per axis, a precision of 430 m and a unidirectional repeatability of 10 µm can be adapted to the facility.

Cavitation loop

Estimated cost: 8.000 €

Location: LIFTEC Laboratory in F2 land plot

This facility has been designed to study hydrodynamic cavitation generated in a convergent-divergent nozzle, in controlled conditions, to analyze its possibilities to be used as mechanism to induce chemical reactions.

When surrounding pressure increases, implosion of the cavitation bubbles generates inside them temperatures and pressures of thousands of degrees and bars during a very short time. They behave then as micro-reactors that can decompose the molecules trapped inside. These processes could be used, for example to depurate waste waters, eliminating organic compounds.

Moving grid tank

Estimated cost: 7.000 €

Location: LIFTEC Laboratory in F2 land plot

This facility was designed to generate nearly homogeneous and isotropic turbulence. Perfectly homogeneous and isotropic turbulence is an ideal case that has been extensively studied theoretically and numerically. To validate theoretical models and computational codes, experimental measurements are required in conditions as close as possible to the ideal ones. The most common way to generate quasi-homogeneous isotropic turbulence is attaching a fixed grid at the exit of a wind tunnel or liquid cannel. An alternative and much more compact way consists in installing a fixed tank with a moving grid inside it.

This facility counts with a vertical moving grid that oscilates sideways with adjustable speed and stroke. The grid is formed by hollow 0.5 cm diameter tubes with holes in the mesh nodes through which a tracer can be injected to study turbulent mixing applying, for example, planar laser induced fluorescence.