Controlled fluid dispersal techniques

A fluidic oscillator including:

• an interaction region having an upstream end, a downstream end, and left and right sidewalls which first diverge from said upstream end and then converge toward said downstream end to define an exit throat at said downstream end;
• a power nozzle adapted to receive fluid under pressure and positioned to direct a jet of said fluid into said interaction region through said upstream end;
• an outlet region located downstream of said exit throat and defined between left and right outlet walls which diverge from said throat;
• left and right control passages extending between said outlet region and the upstream end of said interaction region, said left control passage opening into said interaction region through said left sidewall and into said outlet region through said left outlet wall, said right control passage opening into said interaction region through said right sidewall and into said outlet region through said right outlet wall;
• and
• means, including the dimensions of said interaction region, for establishing a static pressure at said upstream end of said interaction region which is positive relative to the static pressure at said outlet region.

A method providing liquid spray from liquid under pressure comprising the steps of:

• forming a liquid jet;
• cyclically deflecting said jet in a prescribed path between extreme positions defined by a pair of walls, solely with the energy in said liquid under pressure;
• and
• flowing said liquid along said walls to prevent said jet from impinging directly on said walls when approaching said extreme positions;
• whereby said cyclically deflected jet breaks up into liquid droplets distributed over a spray pattern determined by said prescribed path.

The method of delivering liquid droplets in a confined spray pattern at relatively low pressures, said method comprising the steps of:

• forming a liquid jet from a supply of said liquid under pressure;
• cyclically deflecting said jet with energy solely derived from said liquid under pressure;
• issuing said cyclically deflected jet from an exit throat of a confined region to form said confined spray pattern;
• and
• establishing a static operating pressure in said confined region which is sufficiently higher than ambient pressure proximate said exit throat to prevent ingestion of ambient fluid into said confined region.

A paint spray apparatus comprising:

• a fluidic oscillator, including:
• an interaction region having an upstream end, a downstream end, and left and right sidewalls which first diverge from said upstream end and then converge toward said downstream end to define an exit throat at said downstream end;
• a power nozzle adapted to receive paint under pressure and positioned to form a paint jet which is directed into said interaction region through said upstream end;
• an outlet region located downstream of said exit throat and defined between left and right outlet walls which diverge from said throat;
• and
• left and right control passages extending between said outlet region and the upstream end of said interaction region, said left control passage opening into said interaction region through said left sidewall and into said outlet region through said left outlet wall, said right control passage opening into said interaction region through said right sidewall and into said outlet region through said right outlet wall;
• said oscillator including means for establishing a static operating pressure at the upstream end of said interaction region which is higher than the static pressure in said outlet region;
• and
• means for controllably moving said oscillator relative to a surface to be painted.

A fluidic spray apparatus comprising:

• a power nozzle of width W at its narrowest part adapted to issue a jet of liquid in response to application of pressurized liquid thereto;
• an interaction region having an upstream end defined by said power nozzle, a downstream, end, and left and right sidewalls which first diverge from said upstream end and then converge toward said downstream end to define an exit throat at said downstream end, said exit throat having a width between 1.1 W and 1.5 W at its narrowest part, the distance between said power nozzle and exit throat being less than 8 W;
• and
• an outlet region located downstream of said exit throat;
• wherein said oscillator, during operation, is characterized by the establishment of a static pressure proximate said upstream end of said interaction region which is positive relative to the static pressure at said outlet region.

A liquid spray nozzle characterized in that the nozzle issues a liquid jet which is swept in at least one dimension transverse to the nominal jet flow direction, causing said jet to break up into liquid droplets, said nozzle comprising:

• a body member;
• an inlet means defined in said body member for receiving liquid under pressure;
• said body member including means for filling said body member with the received liquid and establishing a liquid pressure therein which exceeds ambient pressure;
• jet-defining means within said body member responsive to the received liquid for forming said liquid jets;
• an outlet opening defined in said body member for issuing said jet exteriorly of said body member, said outlet opening being elongated in at least said one dimension transverse to the flow direction of said jet therethrough;
• and
• jet-sweeping means responsive solely to the pressure of said liquid located within said body member for repetitively sweeping said jet in at least said one dimension.

A liquid spray nozzle characterized in that the nozzle issues a liquid jet which is swept in at least one dimension transverse to the nominal jet flow direction, causing said jet to break up into liquid droplets, said nozzle comprising:

• a body member;
• an inlet means defined in said body member for receiving liquid under pressure;
• jet-defining means within said body member responsive to the received liquid for forming said liquid jet;
• an outlet opening defined in said body member for issuing said jet exteriorly of said body member, said outlet opening being elongated in at least said one dimension transverse to the flow direction of said jet therethrough;
• and
• jet-sweeping means responsive solely to the pressure of said liquid located within said body member for repetitively sweeping said jet in at least said one dimension;
• wherein said jet-defining means is a power nozzle and said jet-sweeping means is a fluidic oscillator, said oscillator comprising:
• an interaction region having an upstream end, a downstream end and left and right sidewalls which first diverge from said upstream end and then converge to define an exit throat at said downstream end, said power nozzle being arranged to issue said jet into said interaction region at said upstream end;
• an outlet region located downstream of said exit throat and upstream of said outlet opening and defined between left and right outlet walls which diverge from said exit throat;
• left and right control passages extending between said outlet region and the upstream end of said interaction region, said left control passage opening into said interaction region through said left sidewall and into said outlet region through said let outlet wall, said right control passage opening into said interaction region through said right sidewall and into said outlet region through said right outlet wall;
• and
• means for establishing a static pressure at the upstream end of said interaction region which is positive relative to the static pressure in said outlet region such that liquid flows from said interaction region to said outlet region along said outlet walls via said control passages.

The method of dispensing liquid in droplet form comprising the steps of:

• a. flowing liquid under pressure into a body member to fill the body member and established a liquid pressure therein which is greater than ambient pressure;
• b. defining a jet of said liquid in said body member;
• c. under the sole initiative of the pressure of said liquid, sweeping said jet in said body member repetitively in at least one dimension transverse to the nominal jet flow direction;
• and
• d. issuing the repetitively swept jet from said body member to cause the swept jet to break up into liquid droplets residing substantially within the path transversed by the jet during its sweep.

A liquid spray apparatus characterized in that the nozzle issues a liquid jet which is swept in at least one dimension transverse to the nomnal jet flow direction, causing the issued jet to break up into liquid droplets, said nozzle comprising:

• a body member;
• inlet means defined in said body member for receiving pressurized liquid;
• nozzle means, located within said body member, for forming said liquid jet from pressurized liquid received by said inlet means;
• means for establishing a liquid pressure inside said body member which is greater than ambient pressure;
• sweep means responsive solely to said pressurized liquid for repetitively sweeping said jet within said body member;
• outlet means for conducting liquid from within said body member to exteriorly thereof;
• and
• means for conducting said repetitively swept jet to said outlet means while maintaining said jet integral and individual;
• wherein said outlet means is sufficiently wide to permit said swept jet to be issued from said body member in a sweeping spray pattern.

A personal liquid spray apparatus comprising:

• a body member;
• an inlet adapted to conduict pressurized liquid into said body member;
• means for establishing a positive liquid pressure inside said body member relative to ambient;
• means located interiorly of said body member for forming a jet of the liquid conducted into said body member;
• means located interiorly of said body member and responsive solely to the pressurized liquid conducted into said body member for repetitively sweeping said liquid jet transversely of its flow direction;
• an outlet for issuing the sweeping jet exteriorly of said body member;
• a container of said liquid;
• and
• manually-operable means for selectively delivering said liquid from said container to said inlet under pressure.

The method of delivering liquid droplets in a defined spray pattern comprising the steps of:

• filling and then continuing to supply a confined region with liquid to the extent that the region is pressurized by the liquid to a pressure greater than ambient pressure;
• forming a jet of said liquid;
• causing said jet to cyclically sweep back and forth in at least a portion of said confined region in a direction generally transverse to the flow direction of said jet in said confined region;
• and
• issuing the cyclically swept jet to ambient from said confined region such that the jet breaks up into multiple droplets following respective multiple diverging flow paths.

The method of spraying fluid in a defined spray pattern comprising the steps of:

• supplying and filling a confined region with said fluid such that the region is pressurized above ambient pressure by the fluid;
• establishing a first flow pattern of said fluid inside said confined region;
• cyclically sweeping said flow pattern in said confined region in a direction generally transverse to the flow direction of said flow pattern;
• and
• issuing the swept flow pattern to ambient from said confined region such that the swept flow pattern forms multiple spaced droplets which flow in divergent paths from said confined region.

The method of dispersing one flowable material with a second material comprising the steps of:

• filling and then continuing to supply said second material under pressure to a confined region such that said second material establishes a pressure in said confined region which exceeds ambient pressure;
• forming a flow stream of said second material in said confined region;
• cyclically sweeping said flow stream transversely of its flow direction;
• and
• supplying said one material into said flow stream in said confined region.

An agricultural spray apparatus comprising:

• a body member having a hollow interior region;
• means for filling and continuing to supply spray fluid to said interior region to establish a higher pressure therein than ambient pressure;
• means for forming a stream of said spray fluid in said interior region;
• means for cyclically sweeping said stream transversely of its flow direction;
• and
• means for controllably issuing the swept stream over a field of crops.