Flow-Driven Fuel Additive Mixing for Precise Metering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fluid mixing devices for engines and aircraft fuels face challenges in ensuring homogeneous mixing, precise metering, and operator-dependent manual intervention, leading to potential corrosion and maintenance issues due to inadequate additive introduction and mixing.
Innovation Solution
An ergonomic device with automatic mixing and controlled metering, featuring a cylindrical body with coupling flanges, a mixing system with gears and a gear pump, and sensors for monitoring fluid flow and pressure, ensuring stoichiometric mixing of additives with primary fluids.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a pressurized tank is used to release additive during fuel passage, then additive introduction is achieved, but homogeneous mixing proportional to fuel flow is not guaranteed
Solution Approach 1:
The device uses the kinetic energy of the passing fuel stream itself to drive the metering pump and mixing mechanism, eliminating the need for external power sources or pressurized tanks. The fuel flow automatically activates and controls the additive metering system through the impeller-driven pump mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The metering pump is designed to be driven by the fuel flow rate itself, creating an automatic feedback mechanism where the additive delivery rate is directly proportional to the fuel flow rate. This ensures precise stoichiometric mixing ratios are maintained automatically based on actual flow conditions.
2Device complexity
If manual operator intervention is used for mixing, then device complexity is reduced, but metering accuracy and reliability deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The mixing device is designed to operate automatically using the fuel flow itself as the driving force. The impeller and metering pump mechanism are activated by the passing fuel stream, eliminating the need for manual operation while ensuring consistent and accurate metering of the additive throughout the fuel stream.
3Productivity
If additive is introduced without proper dilution, then additive introduction is achieved, but clumping and sedimentation occur causing corrosion
Solution Approach 1:
The device introduces the additive upstream in the fuel stream where it is immediately diluted and dispersed by the passing fuel before reaching the storage tank. The metering pump ensures the additive is properly distributed and mixed in advance, preventing clumping and sedimentation that would cause corrosion.
Solution Approach 2:
The fuel stream itself acts as an intermediary medium that immediately dilutes and transports the additive from the point of introduction to the storage tank. This continuous fluid medium prevents the additive from clumping by maintaining it in a dispersed state throughout the transport process.
4Productivity
If existing mixing devices are used, then mixing function is achieved, but ergonomic qualities (compactness, lightweight, ease of handling) are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The device combines the metering pump, mixing mechanism, and additive storage into a single compact integrated unit. The impeller-driven pump and mixing elements are housed within a unified structure that can be easily attached to fuel lines, achieving full mixing functionality in a portable, ergonomic design.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device achieves homogeneous mixing and precise metering, reducing corrosion and maintenance costs by preventing additive clumping and sedimentation, while ensuring safe and efficient operation.
Implementation Method 1
a pump, in particular a gear pump, and the reduction train thereof, inserted inside the body of the device and designed to contain the volume of the mixing device in question and its seal
Implementation Method 2
The mixing mechanism, operated by the flow of said injected primary fluid and additive fluid, consists of at least one axis equipped with a plurality of blades oriented according to the torque to be transmitted
Implementation Method 3
a train of reduction gears 2.3 comprising a train of gear wheels
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
Ergonomic device for mixing fluids with controlled metering, provided with at least a mixing system (2) adapted to allow an automatic mixing in predetermined quantities of an additive fluid with a primary fluid; said device comprising: - at least a first coupling flange (1.2) and a second coupling flange (1.3), provided with a plurality of connection systems, which may be located in the zone (1.4), and seals (2.9) adapted to contain fluid leaks, a substantially cylindrical body of the device (1.1) adapted to house a mixing system (2); a mixing mechanism consisting of an axis (2.1) and a plurality of blades (2.2); at least one ergonomic grip (1.5), possibly an integrated train of reduction gears (2.3) which transmits the correct torque and number of revolutions to the pump, at least one gear pump (2.6) or equivalent device, possibly a gearbox (2.8); a final metering nozzle (2.7).