Bowles Fluidics Corporation

Other

Ronald D Stouffer

Aland Santamarina

Dharapuram N Srinath

Ernest W Chesnutis, Jr

Russell Hester

Surya Raghu

Harry C Bray, Jr

Milan Kuklik

Peter H Bauer

Gregory Adam Russell

Michael D Leshner

Keith Berning

Robert Bower

Fred Heil

Joseph W Morris

Kevin Stuart

Patrick T Sharkitt

Paul L Sulsky

Otho Boone

Christian Williams

Michael C David

David A Bray

A drug inhaler of the type having an air jet entraining liquid medicine at an entrainment region from a medicine reservoir and nebulize or atomize entrained liquid by impacting a liquid medicine-laden air jet on a flat surface, and deliver the atomized medicine to a patient via a medicine delivery channel. A breath-activated fluidic switch has a power nozzle coupled to a source of air under pressure. The fluidic breath-activated switch has a pair of diverging legs, one of the diverging legs has a control port connected to sense inhalation of the patient, the other of the legs is coupled to the medicine entrainment region, whereby the entrainment of medicine at the medicine entrainment region is prevented by air supplied to the medicine entrainment region from the other of the legs in the absence of sensed patient inhalation at the control port. The fluidic control port is located downstream of the power nozzle a predetermined distance downstream of the wall attachment point.

Breath-activated fluidic switch and method for drug delivery

An oscillating spray device comprising an oscillation chamber. A power nozzle for projecting a jet of liquid under pressure into the oscillation chamber in a given direction. A reversing member in the chamber has a reversing wall for reversing the direction of flow of the fluid jet in a direction 180&#xb0; opposite the given direction. A system of vortices is formed thereby for alternately passing fluid to one side or the other of the reversing member. A pair of passages, one on each side of the reversing member, convey alternate pulses of fluid through the passageways in the given direction past the reversing member to an outlet to ambient, and an island barrier positioned in the outlet to ambient and forming two separate passageways to the outlet and a third passageway between the reversing member and the island barrier. The spray characteristics can be adjusted by changing the spacing between the reversing member and island barrier.

Fluidic oscillator and method

An improved spray head that is more effective and efficient at providing a wider range of desired spray distributions includes the following elements: (a) a plurality of fluidic oscillators, each oscillator having a fluidic circuit embedded in its top surface, with this circuit forming a path in which a fluid may flow through the oscillator, wherein these oscillators are stacked one on top of the other, with the sides of the oscillators being configured so that they stack such that the flow of fluid from adjoining oscillators in the stack have an angle of divergence between the centerlines of the planes defined by the flows from the outlets of the adjoining oscillators that is in the range of 2&#x2013;5 degrees, (b) a plurality of cover plates, with each cover plate being proximate the top surface of one of the fluidic oscillators and attached to the oscillator so as to provide a seal against the flow of fluid from the oscillator's fluidic circuit, (c) a carrier assembly having a front and a rear surface and a cavity extending between these surfaces, with this cavity being configured so to receive and hold the stack of fluidic oscillators in the spray head, and (d) a stopper unit that attaches to the assembly's rear surface and seals it against leakage from the assembly's rear surface.

Fluid spray apparatus

A full coverage area spray device has an oscillation chamber. Chamber end plates have a diameter D and the distance between the inlet and outlet apertures is L and ratio L/D determines the spray pattern and is adapted to support a basic toroidal flow pattern that remains captive within the confines of the oscillation chamber. The toroid spins about its cross-sectional axis and being supplied energy from the jet of liquid issued into the oscillation chamber. The toroidal flow pattern has diametrically opposed cross-sections which alternate in size to cause the jet to move in radial paths and also in tangential direction and thereby choose a different radial path at each sweep, whereby there is a random sweeping of the jet issuing from the outlet aperture over the area.

Liquid scanner nozzle and method

A fluidic oscillator capable of generating free fluid jets having distinctive, controllable and industrially/commercially useful flow patterns has a switching chamber having an inlet port that allows a pressurized fluid to enter and flow through the oscillator, an exhaust passage having a sidewall that forms one boundary wall of the switching chamber, a container passage having a sidewall that forms the second boundary wall of the switching chamber, a compliance member connected to the distal end of the container passage, and an expansion chamber connected to the distal end of the exhaust passage, with the expansion chamber having an exhaust orifice that allows fluid to flow from the oscillator. In operation, such an oscillator yields a contained fluid jet that issues from the inlet port into the swishing chamber and alternately switches its flow direction between the container and exhaust passages. This switching action serves to generate controllable pressure waves in the exhaust passage and expansion chamber which act to control the pattern of the free fluid jet that flows from the orifice.

Means for generating oscillating fluid jets having specified flow patterns

A backload-responsive fluidic switch having high pressure recovery of more than 50% comprises a body member with a power nozzle having a width W and a centerline CL which is adapted to be coupled to a source of fluid under pressure for issuing a jet of fluid along the centerline. A pair of diverging fluid flow passages have a common connection with the power nozzle and respective bounding walls, each respective bounding wall diverging from the centerline no more than about 50&deg;, and a splitter defining respective inner walls of the pair of diverging walls, the splitter being spaced a distance of about 3W from the power nozzle. Inflatable bladder(s) connected to the diverging fluid flow passage(s), and a vent connected to the other of said fluid flow passages.

Backload fluidic switch with improved pressure recovery

An apparatus for producing oscillation of a bladder includes a three-legged fluid passage element which has first, second and third legs. An air pump is connected to one leg of the fluid passage element, an inflatable bladder connected to a second leg of the fluid passage element, and a valve having hysteresis is mounted on the third leg of the fluid passage element.

Method and apparatus for producing oscillation of a bladder

Spa nozzles having dual fluidic nozzles capable of submerged operation and of selectively providing straight, concentrated, non-oscillating jets with air entrainment or an oscillating jet or slugs of water in water to provide a soothing massaging effect with no moving parts.

Fluidic SPA Nozzles with dual operating modes and methods

Conveying systems and methods in which a series of inflatable bladders are inflated and deflated in such a way as to convey objects in given directions.

Bladder conveyor systems and method

A leak detection system and method for fluid operated device includes a backloaded fluidic oscillator having an interaction chamber, a power nozzle at its upstream end coupled to a source of fluid under pressure and an exit throat at its downstream end. The interaction chamber first diverges from the power nozzle and then converges towards the exit throat. A pair of outlet passages are connected to the exit throat; one of the outlet passages is connected to the fluid operated device and the other of the outlet passages is connected to a fixed volume and a vent whereby the backloaded fluidic oscillator oscillates at a rate which is a function of the leakage of the fluid operated device.

Leak detection method and apparatus

A low pressure fluidic oscillator having an oscillation chamber having a centerline, and a pair of mutually facing and complementary-shaped sidewalls, planar top and bottom walls, upstream end and downstream end walls. An input power nozzle is formed in the upstream end wall having a width P.sub.W and a depth PD.sub.D, for issuing a jet of liquid into the oscillation chamber and forming alternately pulsating vortices in the oscillation chamber on each side of the jet, respectively. An outlet opening is formed in the downstream end wall and substantially axially aligned with the power nozzle. A pair of short sidewalls diverge in a downstream direction from the outlet opening. The distance from the power nozzle to the outlet opening being L. A slot is formed in at least one of said top and bottom walls, the slot having a slot centerline which is spaced upstream from the outlet opening a distance from about the edge of the downstream end of said oscillation chamber to about 0.48L.

'Box' oscillator with slot interconnect

A two-stage liquid spray device having an outlet region with an island and an exit aperture and a fluidic oscillator, driving said outlet region. The improvement for the spray device is operable at low pressure to achieve full-area coverage with substantially uniform droplets and wherein all of the spray droplets land on the desired work surface and do not bounce. The fluidic oscillator includes an oscillation chamber, a power nozzle for introducing a jet of liquid from a source into the oscillation chamber. The oscillation chamber is configured to produce a pair of alternating control vortices which substantially preclude wall attachment of said jet traversing said oscillation chamber thus avoiding a heavy endedness in the oscillatory jet. An outlet from the oscillation chamber to the outlet region, whereby the jet rhythmically sweeps in end pulses to each side of the island and form a sheet at the exit aperture. The sheet is rhythmically waved or swept in the ambient air to form the uniform droplets. A transverse slot defines the lateral boundary of the sweeping sheet.

Low pressure, full coverage fluidic spray device

A cooling tower having a housing for forming droplets of hot water in an air stream which causes a small portion of the hot water issuing from said oscillating spray nozzles to evaporate and remove heat from the remaining water thereby cooling said remaining water. A sump collects the remaining water and returns the remaining water to the heat source. The low pressure fluidic oscillating nozzles: (a) form large sized droplets of hot water uniformly over a large area, (b) reduce the quantity of droplets of hot water that are less than 2 mm diameter, (c) issue a spray pattern that reduces aerodynamic interference with air flow from said air blower, and (d) reduce sediments getting into the spraying of said hot water. In a preferred embodiment, the fluidic oscillator is a cusped island oscillator having an outlet with diverging sidewalls.

Fluidic spray nozzles for use in cooling towers and the like

A fluidic flow meter comprising a fluidic oscillator having an oscillation chamber, a power nozzle for issuing a jet of fluid into the oscillation chamber, an outlet for issuing fluid from the oscillation chamber. A bendable fiber optic wave guide loop has a section adapted to lose light as a result of flexing or bending is mounted in a flow path in the oscillation chamber and subjected to oscillatory flow of the fluid. Light is injected into one end of the fiber optic wave guide and a detector senses the oscillatory loss of light in the fiber optic wave guide as a measure of fluid flow through the fluidic oscillator.

Fluidic flow meter with fiber optic sensor

A vehicle washer nozzle system having a source of washer liquid under pressure, a fluidic oscillator comprising a housing and a fluidic insert having a power nozzle, an oscillation chamber having an upstream end coupled to the power nozzle for issuing a jet of washer liquid into the oscillation chamber and a downstream end having an outlet aperture for issuing a jet of wash liquid to ambient, and side and top and bottom walls, an oscillation inducing silhouette in the oscillation chamber for causing said jet of wash liquid to rhythmically sweep back and forth between the sidewalls in the oscillation chamber. Top and bottom walls of the oscillation chamber first diverge for a predetermined distance in a downstream direction and then converge towards each other through said outlet aperture. This enables the deflection angle to be adjusted for different vehicles and applications by changes to the fluidic insert without changes to the housing.

Growing community of inventors

Silver Spring, MD, United States of America

Ronald D Stouffer