Study of a new effervescent atomizer design

Abstract We propose a new type of effervescent atomizer with bushings installed in the liquid channel perpendicular to the channel’s axis. Bushings have holes through which air is injected to create bubbles. The air is released into the gap between the channel and the bushing. This investigation evaluates the bubbles’ atomization quality. Atomizer tests were conducted at multiple water and air flow rates, under different configurations, without an exit nozzle and with a 2 mm nozzle diameter. The atomizer’s design enables a homogenous bubble flow with small air bubbles. At an ALR = 0.012–0.036 and water flow rates of 1.67 and 2.17 L/min without an exit nozzle, bubble diameters of 0.2–0.4 mm comprised 40–50% of the total number of bubbles. The number of the bubbles with diameters of 0.8–1.0 mm does not exceed 5%. After increasing the injection parameter ε twice, the average diameter of the bubbles remained constant. Upon testing, an atomizer with one bushing, 2 mm-diameter outlet nozzle, and a water flow rate of 1.67 L/min produced particle diameters of SMD = 32–100 μm at ALR values of 0.02–0.12.