Fuel Injector Nozzle with Spiraling Microstructures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current fuel injectors face challenges in achieving efficient fuel atomization and mixing with air due to limitations in nozzle design, which affects fuel efficiency and emission standards compliance.
Innovation Solution
The development of nozzles with microstructured patterns fabricated using multiphoton processes, allowing for precise control over hole shapes and arrangements, such as tapered and spiraling designs, to enhance fuel flow dynamics and mixing efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional nozzle design is used, then manufacturing is simpler, but fuel atomization efficiency is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical drilling and machining methods with multiphoton lithography, a photochemical process that uses focused laser beams to selectively polymerize resin and create precise microhole structures. This substitution enables complex three-dimensional hole geometries (tapered, spiraling, non-circular cross-sections) that cannot be achieved through traditional mechanical means, directly resolving the contradiction between manufacturing precision and process complexity by using a fundamentally different fabrication paradigm
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes the nonlinear optical response of photoreactive resin to intense laser fields, where the degree of polymerization and resulting material properties change based on local laser intensity parameters. By controlling laser pulse duration, peak power, and scanning patterns, the process creates varying degrees of crosslinking density throughout the resin, enabling precise control over hole geometry, surface roughness, and structural integrity simultaneously
2Productivity
If conventional nozzle design is used, then device structure is simpler, but fuel mixing efficiency is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs curved and spiraling hole geometries instead of straight cylindrical channels. The spiraling paths and curved surfaces create rotational flow patterns and enhance turbulence within the fuel stream, improving atomization and mixing efficiency. These curved geometries are precisely fabricated using multiphoton lithography, which can create complex three-dimensional surfaces that would be impossible with conventional drilling
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional hole cross-sections to fully three-dimensional microstructures with varying cross-sections along the flow path. Tapered holes that change diameter along their length, and spiraling channels that rotate through three-dimensional space, create complex flow dynamics that enhance fuel-air mixing. The multiphoton lithography process enables these dimensional complexities by building structures layer-by-layer with sub-micron precision
3Manufacturing precision
If multiphoton process is used, then manufacturing precision is improved, but production time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses rapid prototyping and simulation techniques to pre-optimize the multiphoton lithography parameters (laser power, scanning speed, pulse frequency) before actual fabrication. This preliminary characterization of the resin's photopolymerization response allows for accelerated manufacturing by avoiding iterative trial-and-error adjustments during production, thus reducing overall fabrication time while maintaining precision
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 novel nozzle design improves fuel efficiency, reduces droplet size, and enhances the mixing of fuel with air, thereby meeting stringent environmental standards.
Implementation Method 1
forming a first microstructured pattern in the first material using a multiphoton process; the first material is capable of undergoing a two photon reaction; the step of forming the first microstructured pattern in the first material includes exposing at least a portion of the first material to cause a simultaneous absorption of multiple photons
Implementation Method 2
The step of planarizing the third microstructured pattern includes electroplating the third microstructured pattern with the fourth material
Data Source
AI summary
A method of fabricating a fuel injector nozzle comprising the steps of: (a) forming a first microstructured pattern in a first material; (b) replicating the first microstructured pattern in a second material to make a first mold comprising a second microstructured pattern in the second material; (c) replicating the second microstructured pattern in a third material to make a second mold comprising a third microstructured pattern comprising a plurality of microstructures in the third material; (d) replicating the third microstructured pattern in a metal material to make a replicated structure; and (e) removing the third material resulting in a nozzle having a plurality of through-holes through the metal material and corresponding to the plurality of microstructures in the third microstructured pattern. Each of the plurality of through-holes has a hole wall connecting a hole entry to a hole exit, and the hole wall of at least one through-hole has a side that curves from its hole entry to its hole exit.