A novel micro-mixer with a quasi-active rotor: fabrication and design improvement

Abstract

In the present paper, a novel micro-mixer with a quasi-active rotor for micro-plant applications is proposed and design considerations for the improvement of the mixing performance of the proposed micro-mixer are derived. The proposed micro-rotor mixer combines an active micro-mixer with a passive micro-mixer. The micro-rotor, which is a moving part of an active micro-mixer, is added to the micro-chamber of a passive micro-mixer. The micro-rotor was rotated by inflows tangential to the chamber, causing strong perturbations. Two models of the micro-rotor mixer were fabricated with six layers of photosensitive glass which were individually fabricated and thermally bonded together. Improvement in the design of the micro-rotor mixer was achieved after the fabrication and experimental testing of the first model. In the design of the second model, the channel width and the rotor diameter were diminished and the number of rotor blades was increased from four to five. Through these design improvements, the micro-rotor started rotating at a lower Reynolds number; the rotor rotated at Re 1000 in the first model, whereas it did so at Re 200 in the second model. The mixing efficiency values of the micro-mixers were measured using an image analysis method. In the results, the mixing performance was dominated by molecular diffusion in the low Reynolds number region. On the other hand, convection flows such as twisted flows and Coanda flows dominated the mixing performance in the higher Reynolds number region. In the upper Reynolds number region, the micro-rotor was rotated and strong perturbations were induced. The mixing efficiency values of the micro-rotor mixers were found to exceed 90% when the rotor was rotated.