Visualization of Flow Fields in a Bubble Eliminator

Bubbles and dissolved gases in liquids greatly influence the performance of fluid power systems, coating solutions, plants in the food industry and so on. To eliminate bubbles from working fluids and to prevent degradation of liquids as well as to avoid possible damage of fluid components is an important engineering issue. Recently one of the authors, Ryushi Suzuki, has developed a new device using swirling flow with the capability of eliminating bubbles and of decreasing dissolved gases in fluids. This device is called "Bubble Eliminator." The swirling flow pattern and pressure distributions in the bubble eliminator greatly influence the effective performance of the bubble removal. In this paper the swirl flow pattern in a transparent bubble eliminator is experimentally visualized and processed as digital images by a high-speed video camera system. Velocity profiles and pressure distributions in the bubble eliminator are calculated and graphically visualized by a three-dimensional numerical simulation. The results of the flow visualization are compared with the numerical simulation. The performance evaluation of the bubble removal effectiveness is numerically and experimentally verified. It is also proposed to augment understanding of 3D flow fields for the swirling flow in the bubble eliminator with scientific flow visualization methods, which combine graphics or real images with haptic displays.