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Design and numerical study on a novel micromixer based on Cantor fractal structure

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Abstract

The application of micromixer in many fields is becoming more and more important, and lots of researchers have proposed different designs. In this paper, in order to improve the efficiency of the micromixer, we propose a novel fractal micromixer based on Cantor fractal principle. The mixing performance of the device is investigated by numerical simulation. We discuss the influence of primary fractal obstacle and secondary fractal obstacle (SFO) on the mixing efficiency. And we compare two micromixers: SFO micromixer and TFO (third fractal obstacle) micromixer. When Re > 10, their mixing efficiency can be more than 90%. Then, the effects of SFO and TFO on the mixing efficiency are deeply studied. We compare the velocity streamline and velocity cross section of the fluid, and analyze the effect of SFO on the concentration trend. The results reveal that SFO can effectively improve the mixing efficiency. SFO can break the laminar flow, and it makes the fluid more likely to produce mixing convection and can increase the contact area of the fluid by folding and deflecting.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by The Key Project of Department of Education of Liaoning Province (JZL201715401). We sincerely thank Prof. Chong Liu for his kind guidance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Liaoning University of Technology, Jinzhou, 121001, China

    Zeyang Wu & Xueye Chen

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  1. Zeyang Wu
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  2. Xueye Chen
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Correspondence to Xueye Chen.

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Wu, Z., Chen, X. Design and numerical study on a novel micromixer based on Cantor fractal structure. Microsyst Technol 24, 4863–4873 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-018-3900-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-018-3900-8

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