• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.27-33
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• 2007

Rarefied gas flows through two-dimensional micro channels are studied numerically for the performance optimization of a nanomembrane-based Knudsen compressor. The effects of the wall temperature distributions on the thermal transpiration flow patterns are examined. The flow has a pumping effect, and the mass flow rates through the channel are calculated. The results show that a steady one-way flow is induced for a wide range of the Knudsen number. The DSMC(direct simulation Monte Carlo) method with VHS(variable hard sphere) model and NTC(no time counter) techniques has been applied in this work to obtain numerical solutions. A critical element that drives Knudsen compressor Is the thermal transpiration membrane. The membranes are based on aerosol or machined aerogel. The aerogel is modeled as a single micro flow channel.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.36-40
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• 2008

Minimization of nozzle induces many flow losses in micro-propulsion system. In this study, we studied about thermal transpiration based new conceptual micro propulsion system to overcome these losses. Thermal transpiration device(Knudsen pump) having no moving parts can self-pump the gaseous propellant by temperature gradient only (cold to hot). We designed, fabricated the knudsen pump and analyzed pressure gradient efficiency of membrane according to Knudsen number under vacuum condition. In this paper, we compared mass flow rate of Knudsen pump by using different membrane type ; Polyimide and Hangi, Korean traditional paper.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.228-233
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• 2005

Two-dimensional Stokes flows through a micro channel with a couple of symmetric vertical fins are investigated. At far up- and down-stream from the fins, the plane Poiseuille flow exists in the channel. The slip boundary conditions are applied to take account of the Knudsen number effects. For the analysis, the method of eigen function expansion and collocation method are employed. By the results, the streamline patterns and pressure distributions are shown and the force exerted on the fin and the excess pressure drop due to the fins are determined as functions of the length of the fin and Knudsen number. It may be conjectured that the force and the excess pressure drop are almost independent of the Knudsen number.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.8-18
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• 2001

The direct simulation Monte Carlo Method is applied to investigate the two-dimensional flow fields of a turbomolecular pump(TMP) in both molecular and transition flow regions. The pumping characteristics of the TMP are investigated for a wide range of the Knudsen number. The maximum of compression ratio and of pumping speed strongly depend on the Knudsen number in transition region, while they weakly depend on the Knudsen number in free molecular flow region. The present numerical results show good agreement with the previously known experimental data. Finally. the results of the single blade row in both molecular and transition regions are used to predict the overall performance of a TMP, which has three kinds of blade with 24-rows.

• Journal of Advanced Marine Engineering and Technology
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• v.38 no.10
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• pp.1237-1243
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• 2014

The aim of the present paper is to analyze the friction and mass flow in a rough microchannel using Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM). The LBM is a kinetic method based on the particle distribution function, so it can be fruitfully used to study the flow dependence on Knudsen number including slip velocity, pressure drop in rough microchannel. The surface roughness elements are taken to be considered as a series of circular shaped riblets throughout the channel with relative roughness height up to a maximum 10% of the channel height. The friction coefficients in terms of Poiseuille number (Pn), mass flow rate and the flow behaviors have been discussed in order to study the effect of surface roughness in the slip flow regime at Knudsen number (Kn), ranging from 0.01 to 0.10. It is seen that the friction factor and the flow behaviors in a rough microchannel strongly depend on the rarefaction effect and the relative roughness height. The friction factor in a rough microchannel is higher than that in smooth channel but the mass flow rate is lower than that of smooth channel. Moreover, it is seen that the friction factor increased with relative roughness height but decreased with increasing the Kundsen number (Kn) whereas the mass flow rate is decreased with increasing both of surface roughness height and Knudsen number.

• KSTLE International Journal
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.27-34
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• 2006

Knudsen number is the ratio of molecular mean free path versus mm thickness and the criterion to determine the flow form. When its value is lower than 0.01, the flow can be assumed to has no slip boundary condition. And in the case that the value is between 0.01 and 10, then the flow has slip boundary condition at both the adjacent walls. The condition of the air flow between the rotating journal and top foil in the air foil bearing is determined by the rotating speed and load, and the Knudsen number is also varied by those values. Because the molecular mean free path is variable to the pressure and temperature, more exact formulation is necessary to understand and analyze the flow regime. In this study, the analysis considering Knudsen number formulated with those variables (pressure, temperature and mm thickness) was executed. The approximate value was examined using the equation to confirm whether the flow has the slip or no-slip boundary condition. From the analytic investigation, it was decided to range approximately 0.01 to 1.0 and the flow can be supposed to have the slip boundary condition. Under the condition of the slip flow, the static characteristics of the air foil bearing were examined using modified Reynolds equations. The results were compared with those considering no slip condition. It shows that the slip condition makes the flow decelerates and the load carrying capacity decreases compared with no slip condition. And as the bearing number and eccentricity ratio increase, the load carrying capacity also increased at both the cases. From this result, it can be supposed that the bearing torque also increases. In the analysis of the dynamic characteristics, the perturbed Knudsen number was taken into consideration. Because the Knudsen number is expressed as the terms of each variable, the perturbed equation can be simply derived. The results of both cases considering and not considering Knudsen number were compared each other. In the case of the direct terms of the stiffness and damping coefficients, the difference between both cases was little and increased as the bearing number and eccentricity ratio increased. And the cross terms have less or more differences.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.14-19
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• 2008

Effects of the Reynolds and Knudsen numbers on a micro-viscous pump are studied by using a Navier-Stokes code based on a finite volume method. The micro viscous pump consists of a circular rotor and a two-dimensional channel. The channel walls are treated by using a slip velocity model. The Reynolds number is studied in the range of $0.1{\sim}50$. The Knudsen number varies from 0.01 to 0.1. Numerical solutions show that the pump works efficiently when two counter rotating vortices formed on both sides of the rotor have the same size and intensity. As the Reynolds number increases, the size and intensity of the vortex on the inlet side of the pump decrease. It disappears when the Reynolds number is larger than about Re=20. The characteristics of the performance of the pump is shown to deteriorate, in terms of mean velocity and pressure rise, as the Reynolds number increases. The Knudsen number shows a different effect on the characteristics of the pump. As it increases, the mean velocity and pressure rise decrease but the characteristics of the vortex flow remains unchanged, unlike the effect of Reynolds number.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.483-490
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• 2008

Minimization of nozzle induces many flow losses in micro-propulsion system. In this study, we studied about thermal transpiration based micro propulsion system to overcome these losses. Thermal transpiration device(Knudsen pump) having no moving parts can self-pump the gaseous propellant by temperature gradient only (cold to hot). We designed, fabricated the Knudsen pump and analyzed pressure gradient efficiency of membrane according to Knudsen number under vacuum condition. Experimental results showed that thick membranes are more effective than thin membranes in transition flow regime, and pressure gradient efficiency according to Knudsen number is increased to maximum 82% apart from membrane thickness in free molecular regime.

• 유체기계공업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.493-496
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• 2006

Rarefied gas flows through two-dimensional micro channels are studied numerically for the performance optimization of a nanomembrane-based Knudsen compressor. The effects of the wall temperature distributions on the thermal transpiration flow patterns are examined. The flow has a pumping effect, and the mass flow rates through the channel are calculated. The results show that a steady one-way flow is induced for a wide range of the Knudsen number. The DSMC(direct simulation Monte Carlo) method with VHS(variable hard sphere) model and NTC(no time counter) techniques has been applied in this work to obtain numerical solutions.

• Journal of Power System Engineering
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.207-214
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• 2014

Mass and flow resistance in a square ribbed microchannel have been studied numerically using the Lattice Boltzmann Method. It has been build up on two dimensional nine velocity vectors model with single relaxation time method called the Lattice Bhatnagor-Gross-Krook model. To analyze the roughness effect on the flow resistance namely the friction factor and mass flow has been discussed at the slip flow regime, $0.01{\leq}Kn{\leq}0.10$, where Kn is the Knudsen number. The wall roughness is considered by square microelements with a relative roughness height up to maximum 10% of channel height. The velocity profiles in terms of streamlines near the riblets are demonstrated to be responsible for the roughness effect. It is found that the roughness effect leads to increase the flow resistance with roughness height but it is decreased significantly with increasing the space between two roughness elements as well as the Knudsen number. In addition, the mass flow decreased linearly with increasing both roughness height and gap but significantly changed at the slip flow regime.