Ergonomic Fluid Mixer With Flow-Driven Additive Metering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mixing devices for fluids, particularly in aviation fuels, face challenges in ensuring homogeneous mixing, accurate metering, and operator-dependent operations, leading to potential corrosion and maintenance issues due to inadequate mixing of additives with fuels.
Innovation Solution
An ergonomic device with controlled metering, featuring coupling flanges, a mixing system with gears and blades, and a gear pump, automatically mixes fluids in a stoichiometric ratio, preventing fluid leaks and ensuring precise additive injection based on primary fluid flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a pressurized tank with a hole is used to release additive into fuel, then the additive can be introduced into the tank, but the mixing is not homogeneous and proportional to fuel flow
Solution Approach 1:
The device uses the fuel flow itself to drive the additive metering pump, eliminating the need for external power sources or manual operation. The fuel pressure automatically actuates the pump mechanism, which in turn controls the additive release proportionally to the fuel flow rate, achieving self-regulating metering.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates a feedback mechanism where the fuel flow rate directly controls the additive pump operation. As fuel flows through the system, it actuates the pump which adjusts additive delivery accordingly, creating a closed-loop control that ensures proportional mixing without external intervention.
2Device complexity
If manual operation is used for mixing, then the device is simple in structure, but the metering accuracy depends on operator skill and mistakes can occur
Solution Approach 1:
The device eliminates manual operation by using the fuel flow itself to drive the additive pump. The system automatically meters and mixes the additive based on the fuel flow rate, removing human error from the process while maintaining a relatively simple mechanical structure without requiring external power sources or complex electronic controls.
3Ease of manufacture
If additive is introduced directly into the tank, then the introduction is simple, but the additive thickens and creates clots if not properly diluted
Solution Approach 1:
The device performs preliminary mixing by injecting the additive into the fuel stream before it enters the main tank. The additive is first diluted in the moving fuel flow, ensuring proper dissolution and preventing clot formation, before the mixed fuel-additive mixture is introduced into the storage tank.
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 maintenance costs and preventing corrosion by ensuring consistent additive-to-fuel ratios, thus enhancing operational safety and efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
a gear pump or equivalent device, designed to contain the volume of the mixing device in question and its seal
Implementation Method 2
The mixing mechanism, on the other hand, is operated by the flow of said injected primary fluid and additive fluid and consists of at least one axis equipped with a plurality of blades oriented according to the torque to be transmitted
Implementation Method 3
a possible train of reduction gears 2.3 comprising a train of gear wheels
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is an ergonomic device for mixing fluids with controlled metering, provided with at least a mixing system adapted to allow an automatic mixing in predetermined quantities of an additive fluid with a primary fluid. The device includes: at least a first coupling flange and a second coupling flange, provided with a plurality of connection systems, which may be located in the zone, and seals adapted to contain fluid leaks; a substantially cylindrical body of the device adapted to house a mixing system; a mixing mechanism consisting of an axis and a plurality of blades; at least one ergonomic grip; possibly an integrated train of reduction gears which transmits the correct torque and number of revolutions to the pump; at least one gear pump or equivalent device; possibly a gearbox; and a final metering nozzle.