Modular Rake Assembly for Wind Tunnel Flow Measurement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional rake assemblies for fluid flow measurement in wind tunnels face challenges such as flow blockage, limited versatility in measurement locations, and complex maintenance processes, which hinder accurate data collection and increase testing time and costs.
Innovation Solution
A rake assembly with a rotatable housing and instrumentation arms that can be easily installed and removed, combined with a flow body unit designed to reduce flow blockage, allowing for greater flexibility in measurement locations and simplified maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the number of rakes is increased to measure more flow locations, then measurement coverage is improved, but flow blockage increases and flow characteristics are altered
Solution Approach 1:
The rake assembly is divided into a modular structure with a housing containing multiple independently removable instrumentation arms. Each arm can be individually adjusted or removed, allowing selective deployment of measurement probes to minimize flow blockage while maintaining comprehensive measurement coverage across different flow locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The instrumentation arms are designed to be movable and adjustable within the housing, enabling dynamic repositioning of measurement points. This allows the rake to adapt to different measurement requirements without requiring multiple fixed rakes, thereby reducing overall flow blockage while maintaining measurement versatility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If conventional rakes are used with fixed probes, then structural simplicity is maintained, but versatility in measurement locations and types is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is designed as a universal platform that can accommodate multiple types of instrumentation arms with different probe configurations. Each arm can be removed and replaced with another type, allowing a single rake assembly to perform multiple measurement functions (Distortion, Performance, Swirl data) without requiring separate specialized rakes for each measurement type.
Solution Approach 2:
The instrumentation arms are nested within the housing structure, with probes contained within the arms. This nested arrangement allows compact storage of multiple instrumentation components within a single housing, providing versatility without proportionally increasing external dimensions or flow blockage.
3Ease of repair
If maintenance or adjustment to rakes is performed, then instrument functionality is improved, but significant dismantling and disturbance to the rake system is required
Solution Approach 1:
The rake assembly is segmented into modular components with the housing serving as a standardized interface. Each instrumentation arm is a self-contained module that can be independently removed from the housing for maintenance or replacement, eliminating the need to dismantle the entire rake system or associated instrumentation to service individual probes or arms.
Solution Approach 2:
The instrumentation arms are extracted as removable components from the housing, allowing maintenance personnel to access and service the probes and sensing elements without disturbing the housing structure or other instrumentation arms. This extraction capability enables rapid replacement of worn or malfunctioning arms while preserving the integrity of the remaining system.
4Productivity
If single-function rakes are used, then device simplicity is maintained, but testing time increases due to requiring multiple rakes and reconfiguration
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is designed as a multi-functional platform that can accommodate instrumentation arms configured for different measurement types (Distortion, Performance, Swirl). By integrating multiple measurement capabilities into a single rake assembly, the system eliminates the need to swap between multiple specialized rakes during testing, thereby reducing reconfiguration time and improving overall testing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The interchangeable arm design enables continuous measurement operations across different test parameters. Instead of interrupting the testing process to reconfigure or swap entire rakes, operators can quickly exchange individual arms within the same housing, maintaining measurement continuity and reducing idle time between different types of flow characterizations.
Data Source
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AI summary
A rake assembly (100) for measuring fluid flow parameters in a fluid flow rig (10), the rake assembly (100) comprising: a housing (102) comprising a wall (104) which defines a flow passage (110), with a flow inlet (112) and a flow outlet (114), the flow passage (110) extending from the flow inlet (112) to the flow outlet (114). The housing wall (104) defines an access aperture (106). The housing (102) is configured to define an Aerodynamic Instrument Plane (AIP) at, or part of the way downstream of, the flow inlet (112). There is provided an instrumentation arm (120) which extends from a leading edge end (122) to a trailing edge end (124) and configured to be removably mounted to the housing (102). The instrumentation arm (120) is operable such that, when mounted to the housing wall (104) the instrumentation arm (120) extends through the access aperture (106) to extend at least part of the way across the flow passage (110), the access aperture (106) and instrumentation arm (120) sized so that: the instrumentation arm (120) can be removed from the casing wall (104) by drawing the instrumentation arm (120) through the access aperture (106); and the instrumentation arm (120) can be installed on the casing wall (104) by inserting the instrumentation arm (120) through the access aperture (106).