Schlieren Visualization of Shaping Air during Operation of an Electrostatic Rotary Bell Sprayer: Impact of Shaping Air on Droplet Atomization and Transport
Source abstract
Abstract
Electrostatic rotary bell sprayers (ERBSs) are widely used in the automotive industry. In ERBS, atomization is facilitated using centrifugal forces which disintegrate the paint film inside the cup into droplets at the cup edge. The droplets are then transported by the flow of a shaping air (SA) and electrostatic forces to a target surface; the characteristics of these droplets dramatically influence the quality of a painted surface and the painting transfer efficiency. In the current paper, a novel Schlieren-based visualization of the shaping air in the absence of paint droplets was performed during a qualitative investigation to delineate shaping air flow behavior and its interaction with droplets and droplet transport. An infrared thermographic flow visualization (IRFV) method and droplet size measurement were used to complement the Schlieren data for providing insight into shaping air-droplet interactions. The results demonstrated the impact of different operating conditions on the SA flow pattern, and the influence SA has on the secondary atomization and transport of droplets. Hence, these experimental methods combine with a useful tool for optimizing SA configurations that improve spray quality, droplet transport, and the efficiency of ERBS operations.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Aerosol Filtration and Electrostatic Precipitation · Plant Surface Properties and Treatments · Electrohydrodynamics and Fluid Dynamics
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Institute of Research for Technology Development (IR4TD), University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506, USA
References (34)
Show source-provided references
1. Akafuah, N.K., Poozesh, S., Salaimeh, A., Patrick, G., Lawler, K., and Saito, K. (2016). Evolution of the automotive body coating process—A review. Coatings, 6.10.3390/coatings6020024 ↗
2. Wilson, J., Grib, S., Darwish Ahmad, A., Renfro, M., Adams, S., and Salaimeh, A. (2018). Study of near-cup droplet breakup of an automotive electrostatic rotary bell (ESRB) atomizer using high-speed shadowgraph imaging. Coatings, 8.10.3390/coatings8050174 ↗
3. Electrostatic atomization of liquids
4. Rotary atomization in the ligament formation mode10.1016/0021-8634(81)90127-X ↗
5. Atomization characteristics of a highspeed rotary-bell paint applicator10.1615/AtomizSpr.v2.i2.20 ↗
6. Influence of spinning cup and disk atomizer configurations on droplet size and velocity characteristics10.1016/j.ces.2013.12.004 ↗
7. Experimental study on the critical characteristics of liquid atomization by a spinning disk10.1021/acs.iecr.6b00401 ↗
8. Huang, H., Lai, M.-C., and Meredith, M. (2000, January 5). Simulation of spray transport from rotary cup atomizer using KIVA-3V. Proceedings of the 10th International KIVA User’s Group Meeting, Detroit, MI, USA.
9. Atomization characteristics of high-speed rotary bell atomizers
10. Atomisation of liquids by spinning cups10.1016/0300-9467(74)80019-5 ↗
11. Fan, H.-T., Kuo, H., and Simmer, J. (2011, January 11–17). Measuring paint droplet size, velocity, and charge-to-mass ratio distribution for electrostatic rotary bell spray simulation. Proceedings of the ASME 2011 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Denver, CO, USA.10.1115/IMECE2011-63556 ↗
12. Characteristics of mean droplet size produced by spinning disk atomizers10.1115/1.4006819 ↗
13. Simulation of spray transfer processes in electrostatic rotary bell sprayer10.1115/1.1758263 ↗
14. New rotary bell for metallic paint application
15. Matsuyama, K. (2009, January 17–18). Effect of shaping air nozzle shape on spray characteristics of rotary bell-cup atomizer. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Symosium (ILASS-Japan) on Atomization, Fukuoka, Japan.
16. Honma, K., and Yamasaki, I. (1999). Rotary Atomizing Electrostatic Coating Apparatus and Method. (5,980,994), U.S. Patent.
17. Study on paint coating by electrostatic rotary atomizer (iv)—Effects of shaping air on paint particle flow
18. Wu, J.-Z., Ma, H.-Y., and Zhou, M.-D. (2015). Vortical Flows, Springer.10.1007/978-3-662-47061-9 ↗
19. Visualization and measurement of automotive electrostatic rotary-bell paint spray transfer processes10.1115/1.1359210 ↗
20. Bauckhage, K., Schulte, G., and Scholz, T. (1994, January 18–22). Atomization of water based metallic paint by means of electrostation rotary atomizers. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems, Rouen, France.
21. Akafuah, N.K., Salazar, A.J., and Saito, K. (2009, January 2–6). Infrared visualization of automotive paint spray transfer process. Proceedings of the ASME 2009 Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting, Vail, CO, USA.10.1115/FEDSM2009-78033 ↗
22. Shaping air flow characteristics of a high-speed rotary-bell sprayer for automotive painting processes10.1115/1.4030703 ↗
23. Settles, G.S. (2012). Schlieren and Shadowgraph Techniques: Visualizing Phenomena in Transparent Media, Springer Science & Business Media.
24. A review of recent developments in schlieren and shadowgraph techniques10.1088/1361-6501/aa5748 ↗
25. Settles, G.S. (2004, January 9–12). The penn state full-scale schlieren system. Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Flow Visualization, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
26. Settles, G.B., Hackett, E.D., Miller, J.M., and Weinstein, L. (1995, January 11–14). Full-scale schlieren flow visualization. Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Flow Visualizatio, Seattle, WA, USA.
27. Settles, G.S. (1999, January 16–19). Schlieren and shadowgraph imaging in the great outdoors. Proceedings of the 2nd Pacific Symposium on Flow Visualization and Image Processing, Honolulu, HI, USA.
28. Zhang, Z. (2010). Lda Application Methods: Laser Doppler Anemometry for Fluid Dynamics, Springer Science & Business Media.
29. Particle image velocimetry: A review10.1243/0954406971521665 ↗
30. Infrared thermography-based visualization of droplet transport in liquid sprays10.1016/j.infrared.2009.12.002 ↗
31. Mazumdar, A. (2013). Principles and Techniques of Schlieren Imaging Systems, Columbia University.
32. The simulation of the electrostatic spray painting process with high-speed rotary bell atomizers. Part I: Direct charging10.1002/ppsc.200400968 ↗
33. Domnick, J. (2010, January 6–8). Effect of bell geometry in high-speed rotary bell atomization. Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems, Brno, Czech Republic.
34. Bhandari, B.R., Bansal, N., Zhang, M., and Schuck, P. (2013). Handbook of Food Powders: Processes and Properties, Elsevier.10.1533/9780857098672 ↗