A novel bio-inspired structural design and optimization approach for dye liquor distributor considering flow-field uniformity

Uneven dyeing is a major quality issue in yarn bobbin dyeing, causing significant material waste and increased production costs. Current research mainly focuses on improving dyeing evenness by enhancing dyeing processes. This study aims to boost dyeing efficiency by improving flow field uniformity within liquid reservoirs. A novel bio-inspired Bronchial-Dendritic (B-D) dye liquor distributor is proposed to address uneven dye liquor distribution among yarn columns. The B-D distributor, designed with a three-level branching network and double-curved tubes, precisely allocates dye liquor while reducing uneven flow caused by inertia. Its structural parameters are optimized using a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA), targeting factors like dye liquor distribution uniformity, flow deviation rate, pressure resistance and energy loss. The optimized B-D distributor is installed in the reservoir of a supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) dyeing machine, its displacement and stress have been verified through Fluid–Structure Interaction. Results show that it achieves 93.62 % flow distribution uniformity and reduces the deviation rate to 10.19 %, along with significant reductions in pressure drop and energy losses. And the B-D distributor further improves flow distribution uniformity by an additional 5.89 % compared with the conventional perforated plate distributor.