Abstract
Electrostatic Rotary bell (ESRB) atomizers are used as the dominant means of paint application by the automotive industry. They utilize the high rotational speed of a cup to induce primary atomization of a liquid along with shaping air to provide secondary atomization and transport. In order to better understand the fluid breakup mechanisms involved in this process, high-speed shadowgraph imaging was used to visualize the edge of a serrated rotary bell at speeds varying between 5000 and 12,000 RPM and with a water flow rate of 250 ccm. A multi-step image processing algorithm was developed to differentiate between ligaments and droplets during the primary atomization process. The results from this experiment showed that higher bell speeds resulted in a 26.8% reduction in ligament and 22.3% reduction in droplet Sauter Mean Diameters (SMD). Additionally, the ligament (ranging from 40 to 400 μm) diameters formed bimodal distributions, while the droplet (ranging from 40 to 300 μm) diameters formed a normal distribution. Velocities were also measured using particle tracking velocimetry, in which size-dependent velocities could then be computed. Droplet velocities were affected more by rotational speed than droplet SMD, while ligaments were affected by other factors than the rotational speed and ligament SMD.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-3-2018
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings8050174
Funding Information
This research was funded internally by the University of Kentucky Institute of Research for Technology Development (IR4TD).
Repository Citation
Wilson, Jacob E.; Grib, Stephen William; Darwish Ahmad, Adnan; Renfro, Michael W.; Adams, Scott A.; and Salaimeh, Ahmad, "Study of Near-Cup Droplet Breakup of an Automative Electrostatic Rotary Bell (ESRB) Atomizer Using High-Speed Shadowgraph Imaging" (2018). Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications. 46.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/me_facpub/46
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Coatings, v. 8, issue 5, 174, p. 1-17.
© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).