Rotary-atomizer electric power generator

• Main Authors: Nguyen, Trieu, Tran, Tuan, de Boer, Hans, van den Berg, Albert, Eijkel, Jan C. T.
• Other Authors: School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Electric Power Generator; DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering; Rotary Atomizer
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/88544; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/45904
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

We report experimental and theoretical results on a ballistic energy-conversion method based on a rotary atomizer working with a droplet acceleration-deceleration cycle. In a rotary atomizer, liquid is fed onto the center of a rotating flat surface, where it spreads out under the action of the centrifugal force and creates “atomized” droplets at its edge. The advantage of using a rotary atomizer is that the centrifugal force exerted on the fluid on a smooth, large surface is not only a robust form of acceleration, as it avoids clogging, but also easily allows high throughput, and produces high electrical power. We successfully demonstrate an output power of 4.9 mW and a high voltage up to 3120 V. At present, the efficiency of the system is still low (0.14%). However, the conversion mechanism of the system is fully interpreted in this paper, permitting a conceptual understanding of system operation and providing a roadmap for system optimization. This observation will open up a road for building power-generation systems in the near future.