Zhang He, Yang Shuang, Chuai Rongyan, Li Xin, Mu Xinyu
School of Information Science and Engineering, Shenyang University of Technology, Shenyang 110870, China.
Micromachines (Basel). 2022 Feb 27;13(3):384. doi: 10.3390/mi13030384.
In order to investigate the influence of the unit junction on the micromixer performance, a repetitive structure micromixer with a total length of 12.3 mm was proposed. This micromixer consists of a T-shape inlet channel and six cubic mixing units, as well as junctions between them. Numerical simulations show that, when the junctions are all located at the geometric center of the cubic mixing unit, the outlet mixing index is 72.12%. At the same flow velocity, the best mixing index achieved 97.15% and was increased by 34.68% when the junctions were located at different corners of the cubic mixing unit. The improvement in the mixing index illustrated that the non-equilibrium vortexes generated by changing the junction location to utilize the restricted diffusion by the mixing unit's side wall could promote mixing. Visual tests of the micromixer chip prepared by 3D printing were consistent with the simulation results, also indicating that the junction location had a significant influence on the mixer's performance. This article provides a new idea for optimizing the structural design and improving the performance of micromixers.
为了研究单元连接对微混合器性能的影响，提出了一种总长度为12.3毫米的重复结构微混合器。该微混合器由一个T形入口通道、六个立方体混合单元以及它们之间的连接组成。数值模拟表明，当连接均位于立方体混合单元的几何中心时，出口混合指数为72.12%。在相同流速下，当连接位于立方体混合单元的不同角时，最佳混合指数达到97.15%，提高了34.68%。混合指数的提高表明，通过改变连接位置产生非平衡涡旋以利用混合单元侧壁的受限扩散可以促进混合。对通过3D打印制备的微混合器芯片进行的可视化测试与模拟结果一致，也表明连接位置对混合器性能有显著影响。本文为优化微混合器的结构设计和提高其性能提供了新思路。
