Cavitation reactor

A pulse valve comprising:

• (a) a housing having a cylindrical bore having an axis extending laterally, the bore being defined by an inner cylindrical surface of the housing, the housing having an outer surface and having at least two pairs of ports, each pair or ports comprising a pulse valve segment input port and a pulse valve segment output port, each of the ports providing a separate fluid communication path between the outer surface of the housing and the cylindrical bore;
• and
• (b) a multi-segment valve shaft coaxially positioned in the cylindrical bore and having at least front and rear segments, each segment comprising a central portion and at least two lands extending radially therefrom, each land having a surface and having an end proximate to the cylindrical inner surface of the housing, the valve shaft being rotatable inside the cylindrical bore around the bore axis by a drive shaft connected to the central portion, each pair of adjacent segments being separated by a disk shaped separator having a cylindrical outer surface and being sized so the outer surface of the separator is proximate to the cylindrical inner surface of the housing so that fluid cannot pass between the segments,
• wherein the lands extend laterally so that a fluid conduit is defined by the surfaces of each pair of adjacent lands in each segment and the central portion therebetween, in combination with the housing and the separators,
• wherein adjacent pairs of ports are laterally spaced apart from each other and positioned so that by rotating the valve shaft, each of the pairs of ports may be brought into fluid communication with each of the fluid conduits of one of the segments,
• wherein the valve shaft is continuously rotatable so that each fluid conduit in each segment moves between a position in which the pulse valve input port of that segment and the pulse valve segment output port of that segment are not in fluid communication with each other, so that the fluid communication path of that segment is closed, and an open position in which the pulse valve segment input port of that segment and the pulse valve segment output port of that segment are in fluid communication with each other, so that the fluid communication path of that segment is open and fluid flows from the pulse valve segment input port of that segment, through the conduit and out the pulse valve segment output port of that segment.

A cavitation reactor comprising:

• (a) a pulse valve comprising:
• (a) a valve body defining at least one input port and at least one pulse valve output port, each port providing a separate fluid communication path between an outer surface of the valve body and a cylindrical bore extending along an axis defined by the valve body;
• and
• (b) a cylindrical valve shaft coaxially positioned within the cylindrical bore,
• wherein an outer surface of the valve shaft defines a first fluid conduit extending across the bore axis, the first fluid conduit being a conduit for fluid communication between the input port and the pulse valve output port,
• and wherein the valve shaft is operable to rotate at a pre-determined rotational rate so that, when fluid is entering the input port, the conduit sequentially brings the input port and the pulse valve output port through a fluid communication cycle consisting of:
• (i) a state of an increasing fluid flow;
• (ii) a state of maximum fluid flow;
• (iii) a state of decreasing fluid flow, and (iv) a state of minimum or zero fluid flow;
• and
• (b) a resonance chamber having a fundamental frequency, the resonance chamber being in fluid communication with the pulse valve output port, the resonance chamber having a resonance chamber output port,
• wherein when fluid is injected into the input port, a pulsed fluid flow is produced at the pulse valve output port, which drives a resonant wave in the resonance chamber, and the fluid moves through the resonance chamber from the pulse valve output port to the resonance chamber output port.