Numerical evaluation of bubble eliminator for hydraulic systems

Abstract

Air bubbles in working oil influence stiffness and efficiency of hydraulic systems, thus it is important for technical issues to eliminate the air bubbles actively from the hydraulic oil. Bubble eliminator is a device that removes air bubbles by using a swirling flow. The purpose of this study is to design optimal shape of the bubble eliminator. Flow and volume fraction of bubble in the bubble eliminator have been studied by numerical analysis. It is numerically evaluated to confirm effects of some parameters: diameter of outlet port, diameter of vent port, inlet flow, height of inlet port, length of inlet tube, length of tapered tube and diameter of inlet tube. The optimal dimensions of the bubble eliminator are proposed and the performance of bubble eliminator is evaluated by numerical simulation.