A Study of the Transient Flow Characteristics of a Vacuum Ejector-Diffuser System.

In vacuum ejector-diffuser systems where a finite volume secondary chamber is used, the secondary jet exhibits transient characteristics during start-up. A steady state is achieved after some time in which mass entrainment prevails indefinitely inside the ejector, though there is no flow from the secondary chamber. An attempt is made in this work to study the infinite entrainment of secondary jet into the primary jet from a finite secondary chamber, with the help of a computational fluid dynamics method. The present study is also intended to identify the operating range of vacuum ejector-diffuser systems where the steady flow assumption can be applied without uncertainty. The results obtained show that the only condition in which an infinite mass entrainment is possible is the generation of a re-circulation zone near the primary nozzle exit. The flow in the secondary chamber attains a state of dynamic equilibrium at this point. Steady flow assumption is valid only after this point.