Patent Application
20240165639
The invention relates to methods and devices for formation and ejection of continuous free jet of liquid along a ballistic trajectory during the required time interval.
The invention can be used for targeted delivery of doses of single- or multicomponent liquids, suspensions, sols and liquid gels in precision farming and animal husbandry systems, and can also find application in public and entertainment water installations, for example, fountains, active games and amusement parks.
In agriculture, namely in precision farming and animal husbandry, there is a need to deliver liquid to the processing sites by methods other than spraying, i.e., without the use of aerosol or spray. Such a demand arises in connection with the tendency to increase the environmental friendliness of the treatment process simultaneously with the trend to reduce the dose of the liquid required for the treatment. An example of a market segment in which such a need is particularly pronounced is the treatment of fruit trees with poisoned baits, in which the sticky liquid must be delivered exactly to the tree trunk or large branches, and not get on the leaves and ripening fruits.
A good alternative to spraying is the use of continuous, optimally, laminar liquid jets. Continuous, and especially laminar, jets are resistant to gusts of not strong wind, have excellent repeatability of the shape and trajectory from ejection to ejection and are guaranteed to deliver the liquid to the desired point in space without any significant deflection. The laminar jet does not suck in air and does not form an aerosol, it looks like a continuous homogeneous solid body. For example, a laminar jet ejected upwards at an angle to the horizon resembles a parabolically curved rod with the top up, retains its continuity at a considerable distance from the source, at least to the upper point of the trajectory, and often in its descending part below the level of the outlet of the laminar jet generator. The laminar jet, ejected upwards at an angle to the horizon, allows for the delivery of liquid along a ballistic trajectory onto or into objects that are far horizontally from the jet source. The interruption of the continuous jet ejection forms a segment of a liquid rod of a known section and length, and, consequently, volume, freely flying in the air.
Sources of laminar jets, often called laminar flow generators, as well as jet interrupters for them are known and used, for example, in fountains and are described in a number of patents: U.S. Pat. No. 8,177,141B2, US2011073670A1, US2016121357A1, U.S. Pat. No. 8,333,331B1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,092A, EP1153663A2, US2003010836A1, U.S. Pat. No. 9,744,471B1, JPH09314009A, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,641,120A, 5,927,320A, 6,676,031B2, 6,752,373B1 and others.
The vast majority of known solutions are focused on the use of water and, accordingly, have not been worked out from the point of view of minimizing liquid losses outside the main trajectory of the generated jet during transients because water is usually not a source of pollution.
To interrupt the jet in most known solutions, an interrupter, external for the generator, is used, which blocks already formed and ejected by the generator jet with a shutter, for example, RU197224U1, or deflects the jet with a flow of compressed air or another liquid jet, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,283A. The deflected or blocked jet scatters to the sides, which requires an additional sealed housing around the interrupter to collect such liquid and return it back to the liquid source. The mechanisms inside such housing and the interrupter itself are subject to contamination with a liquid other than water.
There are solutions, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 9,744,471B1 and US2017020087A1, which interrupt the jet by stopping the liquid supply to the jet generator. However, the generator and the liquid in it have some inertia, which leads to long transients until the generator is completely degassed, as well as to the complete stabilization of the liquid flow in it.
There are known solutions, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,228, in which an external shutter closes the outlet of the generator and thereby either allows the ejection of liquid or not. Such solution is less suitable for agriculture, since it requires an additional external jet interrupter with an additional sealed housing around it to collect the liquid of the interrupted jet, which will be polluted by the liquid scattered inside it. Also, the overlapping is optimal neither in terms of speed nor in terms of the profile of the jet section interruption.
Also, there are known solutions, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,979,791A, in which an internal shutter closes the outlet of the generator and thereby either allows the ejection of liquid or not. Such solution is more suitable for use in agriculture, since it does not require an additional external jet interrupter with an additional sealed housing around it to collect the liquid of the interrupted jet. However, the blockage of the outlet stops the flow of liquid inside the generator and leads to increase in pressure in it, respectively, the next time the outlet is opened, a long transient process will occur with the liquid ejection at pressure that exceeds the value of stationary operation pressure, giving a pulse to the liquid and bringing the liquid flow to the required stationary condition. All these negative factors lead to a deviation of the liquid from the trajectory of a stationary stable jet.
The proposed technical solution is intended to solve such a problem as ensuring the formation and ejection of a continuous free liquid jet along a ballistic trajectory during the required time interval with minimal or no liquid losses outside the jet trajectory.
The technical objective of the invention is to create a reliable method and a device or devices for use in such method for ensuring the formation and ejection of a continuous free liquid jet along a ballistic trajectory for the required time interval with minimal or no liquid losses outside the trajectory.
To overcome the above mentioned problems and to solve the technical objective, a complex technical solution is proposed, characterized by a set of features set out in the Claims.
Method for a liquid jet formation and ejection according to present invention is comprising:
The proposed method is characterized by:
The outlets are located in the central area of the outlet surface of the chamber and made round, conically expanding towards the jet ejection, wherein the conical narrowing facing inside the chamber is forming a sharp edge of the outlet, and the jets formed by them are jets without interference.
In an embodiment of the proposed method, the outlet surface of the chamber is positioned perpendicular to the liquid flow in the chamber. In one of the optimal embodiments, the outlet surface of the chamber is made in the form of a removable lid, optionally, with a controlled drive and/or the coupler installed on the lid.
The outlet surface of the chamber is equipped from the outside with means for draining liquid, ejected from the second outlet in the open or any transitional position, in direction, other than direction of the liquid jet ejection from the first outlet in open position. Said means for drainage are made in the form of a junction pipe, the inner section of which is completely enclosing a section of the second outlet, and which is hermetically connected to the second outlet from the outer side of the outlet surface of the chamber; wherein the drained liquid and the junction pipe do not interfere with the liquid jet ejected from the first outlet in open position.
For draining the liquid to the source of liquid, wherefrom the liquid is supplied to the chamber inlet, the outlets are located above the maximum operating level of the liquid in the source of liquid at any placement of the chamber.
Reduction of turbulence and/or aligning liquid flow are ensured by installing special means in such a way, that any path of the liquid from the inlet to each outlet is passing said means, optionally, configured with the possibility of replacing them and/or cleaning them from liquid residues.
In proposed method, the shutter, ensuring the constancy of the total area of open lumens of said outlets, is made in the form of a streamlined flat shutter adjacent to the outlet surface of the chamber, wherein the streamlined flat shutter is comprising two overlapping areas, directly partially or completely overlapping the corresponding outlets, one overlapping area for each outlet, wherein each overlapping area is corresponding to a blind region on the shutter, providing a completely open lumen of the corresponding outlet in one end position of the shutter and completely closed lumen of the same outlet in the other end position of the shutter. Sliding of said flat shutter along the outlet surface of the chamber from the inside and a constant volume of its part immersed in the liquid are provided.
For an embodiment of the method with shutter moving from one end position to another one by translational motion, the shutter is configured in such a way that its overlapping areas form a special shape of two complementary fragments of a continuous strip with rounded corners.
For an embodiment of the method with shutter transitioning from one end position to the another one by pivoting about the axis equidistant from outlets centers, the shutter is configured in such a way, that overlapping areas form a special shape of two complementary fragments of a ring segment with rounded corners, wherein the ring segment is circumscribed around the projections of both outlets.
An important distinctness of the proposed solution is that said shutter is configured from geometrically intersecting overlapping areas formed from complementing each other fragments of a dissected by a secant continuous strip or an annular segment, superimposing said overlapping areas and advancing them relative to each other to a position in which the edges formed by the secant become lateral.
Another object of the invention is a generator for a liquid jet formation and ejection, designed to be used in the above proposed method, comprising a chamber, wherein:
The novelty of the disclosed generator is that:
In an embodiment of the proposed generator, the outlets are round openings forming jets, being made conically expanding in the direction of the jet ejection, wherein the conical narrowing facing inside the chamber forms a sharp edge of the outlet.
The outlets are located in central area of the outlet surface, and the jets formed by them are jets without interference and, optionally, are laminar jets.
In an embodiment of the proposed solution, the outlet surface of the chamber is made in the form of a removable lid, optionally with the controlled drive and/or the coupler installed on the lid.
The outlet surface of the chamber is equipped from the outside with the means for draining liquid, ejected from the second outlet in the open or each transitional position, in direction other than direction of the liquid jet ejection from the first outlet in the open position, in such a way, that the drained liquid does not interfere with liquid jet ejected from the first outlet in open position.
Said means for draining are made as, for example, a junction pipe hermetically coupled with second outlet from the outer side of the outlet surface of chamber, the inner section of which is completely enclosing the section of the second outlet; wherein the drained liquid and the junction pipe do not interfere with the liquid jet ejected from the first outlet in the open position.
For draining liquid to the source of liquid, from which liquid is supplied to the inlet of the chamber, the location of the outlets is provided above the maximum operating level of the liquid in the source of liquid at any placement of the chamber.
The means for reducing turbulence and/or aligning liquid flow are installed in such a way, that any path of the liquid from the inlet to each of the outlets is passing said means, optionally, configured with the possibility of their replacement and/or cleaning from liquid residues.
In an embodiment of the proposed generator, the outlet surface of the chamber is perpendicular to the liquid flow within the chamber.
In the optimal embodiment, the chamber has a cylindrical shape with diameter at least 8 times more than diameter of any of the outlets; the outlet surface is one of the end faces of the chamber, and the inlet is located on the opposite end face or on the side surface adjacent to it.
The key object of the technical solution is a shutter for outlets for use in the chamber of generator as described above, designed for the implementation of the proposed method. The shutter according to the invention is configured to ensure the constancy of the total area of open lumens of outlets of the chamber, being made in form of the streamlined flat shutter adjoined to the outlet surface of the chamber, wherein the streamlined flat shutter is comprising two overlapping areas, directly partially or completely overlapping the corresponding outlets, one overlapping area for each outlet, wherein each overlapping area is corresponding to a blind region on the shutter, providing completely open lumen of the corresponding outlet at one end position of the shutter and completely closed lumen of the same outlet at the another end position of the shutter, and is characterized by size R equal to the radius of the completely open lumen of one of the outlets.
In the optimal embodiment, said flat shutter is adjoining the outlet surface of the chamber from the inside and having a constant volume of the part immersed into the liquid. The shutter can be made of a thin plate of waterproof tough material, preferably, stainless steel.
The junction with the coupler in proposed shutter is brought out from the overlapping areas not closer than distance of 4R to the nearest outlet.
In an embodiment of the shutter, configured for transition from one end position to another one by translational motion, the overlapping areas of the shutter, are comprising a special shape of two complementary fragments of the continuous strip segment with rounded corners. The width of the strip is equal to 2R, the radius of the corner rounding of the segment is equal to R and the segment length is at least 4R.
In an embodiment of the shutter, configured with the transition from one end position to the another one by pivoting around the axis, equidistant from the outlets' centers, the overlapping areas are comprising a special shape of two complementary fragments of the ring segment with rounded corners, wherein the ring segment is circumscribed around the projections of both outlets. The width of the ring segment is equal to 2R, the radius of the corner rounding of the ring segment is equal to R, and the center line of the ring segment is located on an imaginary circle passing through the outlets centers and centered on the pivoting axis of the shutter.
The shutter is configured on the basis of geometrically intersecting overlapping areas. Preferred embodiments of the shutter are based on geometrically intersecting overlapping areas formed from complementing each other fragments of a dissected by a secant continuous strip or an annular segment, by superimposing said overlapping areas and then advancing them relative to each other to a position in which the edges formed by the secant become lateral.
In one of the optimal embodiments of the shutter said secant is the circle, which center lies on the central line of the strip, which diameter is at least 2R, and which is intersecting the center line not closer than 2R from each end of the central line of the strip segment, as shown in
The proposed technical solution is complex and united by a single inventive idea, wherein the design features of the shutter determine a novel method for liquid jet formation and ejection and features of the generator designed to to be used in such method.
The technical solution as proposed is explained by drawings illustrating the spirit of invention, but not limiting the scope of protection of the invention.
Figs. from 11 to 12. An example of configuration of the shutter 11, using the overlapping areas 18 and 19, configured according to
Figs. from 13 to 14. An example of the alternative configuration of shutter 11, using the overlapping areas 18 and 19, configured according to
Figs. from 16 to 18. An example of the shutter 11 configuration, using the overlapping areas 18 and 19, configured according to
Figs. from 19 to 21. An example of the alternative shutter 11 configuration, using the overlapping areas 18 and 19, configured according to
The embodiments of the invention are examples illustrating the invention, but not limiting the scope of protection.
Accordingly, the shutter 11 is configured with the possibility of alternately overlapping one of the two outlets 4 or 5 in their end positions; and the controlled drive 12 together with the coupler 13 are configured to ensure a rapid movement of the shutter 11 from one end position to another one through a sequence of transitional states when the control signal is given or released.
The generator 1 can be directed in any spatial direction, for example, with the inlet 8 above the levels of the outlets 4 and 5. For optimal operation, the generator 1 is positioned in space so that the outlets 4 and 5 are above the working level of the liquid 7 in the liquid source 9.
In the standard embodiment, the outlets 4 and 5 are located in the central area of the outlet surface, they are round and are made conically expanding towards the jet 6 outlet, and the narrowing of each of the outlet facing into the hollow chamber 2 forms a sharp edge 14, as shown in
Since the outlets 4 and 5 are geometrically identical and located close to each other, the jets 6 formed on them in different end positions of the shutter 11 (see
In the standard embodiment of the generator 1, its chamber 2 is a hollow cylinder with a diameter at least 8 times larger than the diameter of the fully open lumen of one of the outlets 4 or 5, the outlet surface 3 is the end of the chamber 2 and is perpendicular to the flow of liquid in it, and the inlet 8 is located on the opposite end or on the side surface next to it. For ease of maintenance, the outlet surface 3 is made in the form of a removable lid with an optional controlled drive 12 and/or a coupler 13 installed on it.
The controlled drive 12 can be of any suitable type, for example, one or more electromagnetic solenoids, servo, pneumatic drives or electric motors. The controlled drives 12, which cause minimal mechanical vibrations of the generator, are optimal. The controlled drive 12 can be installed on the hollow chamber 2 either inside it or outside it, including installation on the outlet surface 3, as well as outside the generator 1.
The controlled drive 12 can provide the end fully closed position of the shutter 11 in its inactive state and transfer the shutter 11 to the end fully open state in its active state when an opening control signal is given to it, at least for the time necessary to transfer the shutter 11 from the end fully closed position to the end fully open position.
After the opening control signal to the controlled drive 12 is released, the controlled drive 12 automatically (independently) returns to the inactive state, transferring the shutter 11 from the end fully open position to the end fully closed position. In an alternative embodiment, in order to transfer the shutter 11 from the end fully open position to the end fully closed position, a closing control signal must be given to the controlled drive 12 for at least the time necessary to transfer the shutter 11 from the open position to the closed one. The controlled drive 12 can have one universal input for control signals, or two separate ones. The drives 12 based on electromagnetic solenoids, electric motors or electric servo drives are controlled by electrical signals, and pneumatic drives are controlled by compressed gas, usually air. The duration of the activation time can be adjusted or determined by the sensors of the end positions of the shutter 11, connected either to the shutter 11, coupler 13 or the controlled drive 12. End position sensors can be of any type, but non-contact sensors are optimal, for example, optical interrupters, induction sensors or Hall effect sensors.
The coupler 13 is designed to transfer the mechanical action from the controlled drive 12 to the shutter 11 in order to quickly move it from one end position to another one. The coupler 13 can convert the translational motion of the controlled drive 12 into the pivoting motion of the shutter 11 or the pivoting motion of the controlled drive 12 into the translational motion of the shutter 11, or transmit the action without converting it.
The junction 16 of the coupler 13 with the shutter 11, located on the inner side of the outlet surface 3, is optimally located no closer than at a distance of 2-3 diameters of the fully open lumen of one of the outlets 4 or 5 from the nearest outlet 4 or 5.
In the standard embodiment, the shutter 11 is made in the form of a streamlined shutter 11 adjacent to the outlet surface 3 of the hollow chamber 2. For example,
The shutter 11 can be located both on the inside and on the outside of the outlet surface 3. With an internal location, the liquid pressure inside the hollow chamber 2 can be used to ensure or strengthen the tightness of the shutter 11 to the outlet surface 3; in this case, the shutter is optimally configured so that the volume of its part immersed in the liquid is constant. With the external location of the shutter 11, neither it nor the associated components and mechanisms of the generator 1 affect the characteristics of the liquid flow inside the hollow chamber 2. The choice of the internal or external location of the shutter 11 on the outlet surface 3 is made taking into account the specifics of a particular implementation or application.
On the shutter 11, two continuous overlapping areas 17 are distinguished by directly partially or completely overlapping the corresponding outlets 4 and 5. The overlapping area 17 of the shutter 11 directly provides a fully open lumen of the corresponding outlet 4 or 5 in one end position of the shutter 11 and a fully closed lumen of this outlet in the other end position of the shutter 11. Overlapping areas 17 may intersect or overlap one another. The overlapping areas 17 is a real continuous area on the shutter 11 and is characterized by size R equal to the radius of the fully open lumen of one of the outlets.
For the shutter 11, which performs only pivoting motion when moving from one end position to another, the overlapping areas 17 have special shapes that exactly complement each other to a ring segment with a width equal to 2R, with rounded corners 28 with a radius of R, where two circles with radii R can be placed on the ring segment without intersection, and the central line is an arc of a circle passing through the axes of the outlets and centered on the pivot axis of the shutter 11, which is equidistant from the centers of the outlets 4 and 5. An example is shown in
For the shutter 11, which performs only translational movement when moving from one end position to another one, the overlapping areas 17 have special shapes that exactly complement each other up to the strip 25 segment 24 with a width equal to 2R, a length of at least 4R, and the radius of rounded corners 28 of the segment 24 is equal to R.
The generator 1 as described above is a device necessary for use in said method for a liquid jet formation and ejection, in which:
The outlet surface 3 of the chamber 2, which in some embodiments of the method is performed perpendicular to the liquid flow in the hollow chamber 2, is equipped from the outside with the means 15 of liquid drainage ejected from the second outlet 5 in an open or any transitional position, in a direction other than the direction of liquid jet 6 ejection from the first outlet 4 in an open position, which, in the optimal embodiment, are performed in the form of a junction pipe 15, the internal section of which completely includes the section of the second outlet 5, and which is hermetically connected to the second outlet 5 from the outside of the outlet surface 3 of the chamber 2; wherein the drained liquid and the junction pipe 15 do not interfere with the ejected liquid jet 6 from the first outlet 4 in the open position.
In one of the optimal embodiments, the shutter 11, which ensures the constancy of the total area of the open lumens of the outlets 4 and 5, is performed in the form of a streamlined flat shutter 11 adjacent to and sliding along the inner side of the outlet surface of the chamber with a constant volume of its part immersed in liquid with two overlapping areas 18 and 19, directly partially or completely overlapping the corresponding outlets, one overlapping area 18 and 19 for each outlet 4 and 5, respectively, and each overlapping area 18 (19) corresponds to a continuous area on the shutter 11, providing a completely open lumen of the corresponding outlet 4 (5) in one end position of the shutter and the fully closed lumen of the same outlet 4 (5) in the other end position of the shutter.
The shutter 11 for the transition from one end position to another one is configured by translational motion in such a way that the overlapping areas 18 and 19 form a special shape of two complementary fragments of the segment 24 of a continuous strip 25 with rounded corners 28.
The shutter 11 for the transition from one end position to another one by pivoting around the axis 23 equidistant from the centers of the outlets 4 and 5 is configured in such a way that the overlapping areas 18 and 19 form a special shape of two complementary fragments of the ring segment 20 of the ring 21 with rounded corners 28, where the ring segment 20 is circumscribed around the projections of both outlets 4 and 5.
The shutter 11 is configured on the basis of geometrically intersecting overlapping areas 18 and 19, and these overlapping areas 18 and 19 are superimposed at their geometric intersection and further moved forward relative to each other to a position in which the edges formed by a secant, for example, the circle 28, as in
The simulation showed that when using the latter type of shutter, the liquid jet remains continuous when more than 50% of the lumen area is overlapped, which was an unexpected result. Since when overlapping with the shutter with a straight edge (such as the letter “D” or a rectangle “□”), the jet loses continuity (ceases to be continuous) already when 30-35% of the area is overlapped, which requires a corresponding increase in the switching speed.
It should be noted that the proposed technical solution is designed to be well combined with the invention “Method for delivering liquid by ejecting a continuous jet and system for implementing said method”, which is the subject of separate parallel application by the same Applicant (Lithuanian priority application LT2021 511).
Specific examples of the embodiments of above disclosed method and both devices explain the invention, but do not limit the scope of protection.
As the chamber 2 a hollow cylinder is used, for example, made of a carbon fiber composite, with diameter from 80 mm to 150 mm, optimally 100 mm, and length from 100 mm to 200 mm, optimally 150 mm. The outlet surface 3 is made of stainless steel sheet with thickness of 0.2 mm to 0.5 mm, optimally 0.3 mm. The outlet surface 3 corresponds to the inner surface of the removable lid, and the liquid inlet is made tangential on the side surface near the end face opposite to the removable lid. The means 10 for reducing liquid turbulence include two parts—a sponge material with open pores from 20 mm to 40 mm thick, optimally 30 mm, filling the entire section of the chamber immediately after the inlet, and a sequence of 3 to 5, optimally 4 mesh filters with small cells (from 0.1 mm to 0.5 mm, optimally 0.2 mm), curved by a hemisphere axially towards the liquid inlet, spaced 15 mm apart and with diameter equal to the inner section of the cylinder. The outlets 4, 5 have diameter from 6.5 mm to 10 mm, optimally, 7 mm, and allow to generate high-quality laminar jets. The shutter 11 is adjacent to the inner side of the outlet surface 3 and is made of stainless steel sheet with thickness of 0.05 to 0.5 mm, optimally, 0.1 mm and has a configuration as shown in
An alternative working embodiment of the generator 1 for ejection of continuous, but not laminar jets is based on a hollow cylindrical chamber 2, with diameter from 5 mm to 20 mm, optimally 15 mm, and length from 40 mm to 100 mm, optimally 50 mm. The outlet surface 3 is made of stainless steel sheet with thickness of 0.2 mm to 0.5 mm, optimally 0.3 mm. The outlet surface corresponds to the inner surface of the removable lid, and the liquid inlet 8 is made axial on the opposite end of the removable lid. The means 10 for aligning liquid flow include a honeycomb tubular structure filling ⅔ of the cylinder height, with a free area in front of the outlet surface 3 with height of ⅙ of the cylinder height. The outlets 4, 5 have diameter from 1 mm to 4 mm, optimally, 3 mm, and allow to generate high-quality continuous jets. The shutter 11 is adjacent to the inner side of the outlet surface 3 and is made of stainless steel sheet with thickness of 0.05 to 0.5 mm, optimally, 0.1 mm and has a configuration as shown in
The advantages of the method and devices as described are:
The proposed technical solution can be used in agriculture, animal husbandry, and in other industrial fields where there is a demand on targeted delivery of doses of any liquid products without the formation of aerosols or sprays, namely by the ejection of directed free continuous jets.
The main application is the use of devices, according to the proposed solution, as a controlled generator of continuous, for example laminar, jets in systems of targeted delivery of liquid doses in agriculture and animal husbandry. Also, the proposed method and device can be used in public water and entertainment installations, for example, fountains, active games and amusement parks.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 512 | Mar 2021 | LT | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2022/052615 | 3/22/2022 | WO |
