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A Study on Mixing Efficiency in a Two-Channel Circular Micromixer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2011

M. Chang ,
Y.-H. Hu ,
S.-W. Chau  and
K.-H. Lin
M. Chang*
Affiliation:
R&D Center for Membrane Technology and Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chung Li, Taiwan 320, R.O.C.
Y.-H. Hu*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nanya Institute of Technology, Chung Li, Taiwan 320, R.O.C.
S.-W. Chau*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chung Li, Taiwan 320, R.O.C.
K.-H. Lin*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ching Yun University, Chung Li, Taiwan 320, R.O.C.
*
*Professor
**Assistant Professor
**Assistant Professor
**Assistant Professor
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Abstract

The mixing behavior of a two-channel micromixer with a circular mixing chamber at four different chamber depths and six different flow rates had been investigated. Experiments were implemented with the mixings of two fluids. An image inspection method using the variance of the image gray level contrast as the measurement parameter to determine the mixing efficiency distribution in these mixers. The steady, three-dimensional and laminar flow fields inside the micromixers were also simulated numerically with a finite volume discretization. Through the numerical integration over the chamber depth, the three-dimensional numerical prediction could be compressed into a two-dimensional result, which could be directly used to compare with the experimental measurements. Experimental results show that the measured mixing efficiency is raised with the increase of chamber depth. The numerical prediction of mixing efficiency agreed qualitatively with those obtained from the experimental measurements, while the ratio of the depth to diameter of the mixing chamber is big enough to eliminate the viscosity effect.

Keywords

MicromixerMixing efficiencyFlow rateImage gray level
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Mechanics , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , December 2006 , pp. 331 - 338
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, R.O.C. 2006

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