Cooling with the use of a cavitating fluid flow
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy
InventorAnthony A. Ruffa
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system are provided for cooling a medium. A fluid is moved tugh the medium and bubbles are induced in the fluid as it moves through the medium. The bubble formation is induced by applying an acoustic field to the fluid as it moves through the medium. A heat sink can be thermally coupled to the fluid downstream of the medium so that heat rejected during bubble contraction and collapse is passed to the heat sink. The pressure of the fluid, i.e. the velocity of the fluid, can also controlled so that the bubbles contract and collapse in the region of the heat sink.
Claims17
A method of reducing a temperature of a medium, comprising the steps of:
- moving a fluid through said medium, the fluid having a temperature no greater than the temperature of the medium;
- and
- inducing the formation of bubbles in said fluid moving through said medium by applying an acoustic field to said fluid moving through said medium.
A method of reducing a temperature of a medium, comprising the steps of:
- providing a conduit that passes through said medium, said conduit being capable of transferring heat through the walls thereof;
- moving a fluid through said conduit, the fluid having a temperature no greater than the temperature of the medium;
- and
- inducing cavitation bubbles in said fluid moving through said medium within said conduit by applying an acoustic field to said fluid moving through said medium within said conduit.
An apparatus for reducing a temperature of a medium, comprising:
- a conduit passing through said medium, said conduit being capable of transferring heat through the walls thereof;
- a fluid moving through said conduit, the fluid having a temperature no greater than the temperature of the medium;
- at least one acoustic transducer acoustically coupled to said fluid moving through said medium within said conduit;
- and
- an excitation source coupled to said at least one acoustic transducer for exciting said at least one acoustic transducer to induce cavitation bubbles in said fluid moving through said medium within said conduit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.