I-Corps: Commercialization Plan for a High Performance Piezoelectric Pneumatic Valve

I-Corps：高性能压电气动阀的商业化计划

• 批准号: 1940068
• 负责人: Thomas Chase
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-08-15 至 2022-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1940068&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Commercialization; Plan; Performance; Piezoelectric

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project lies in the field of pneumatic valves, which control the flow of compressed gases through tubes or channels in industrial equipment and medical devices. Examples of equipment which incorporate pneumatic valves include mass flow controllers, which are used to meter the flow of gases into chambers where electronic integrated circuits are fabricated, and medical devices, such as ventilators and portable oxygen systems. Valves developed as an outcome of this project have the potential to largely displace current pneumatic valve technology, as they require less electric power to operate them, they respond faster, they generate less heat, and they may be cost-competitive. Improved performance in mass flow controllers, enabled by the new valves, may make it possible to increase the production rate of computer processors and memory which are now ubiquitous in consumer products. The low power consumption of the new valves expand the horizons for utilizing pneumatics in portable and wireless devices, such as human assist robotic devices. The new valves are potentially suitable for usage in evolving fusion reactors for power generation, where powerful magnetic fields interfere with the utilization of conventional valves. This I-Corps project is based on a new architecture for pneumatic valves. Pneumatic valves typically meter flow by moving a plate closer to an orifice to reduce flow or away from the orifice to increase flow. The actuator used to move the plate in a conventional valve typically consists of an electromagnetic coil and plunger. The new architecture replaces the electromagnetic actuator with a piezoelectric actuator. Previous attempts at utilizing piezoelectric actuators have been limited by the fact that actuators with good displacement capacity produce very low force, which limits the pressure capacity of the valve, and actuators with good force capacity produce very low displacement, which limits the flow capacity of the valve. This research is based on the discovery, in a prior NSF project, that the flow capacity of a valve which incorporates a low displacement actuator can be increased dramatically by replacing a single orifice with an array of micro-orifices. Market research will be performed in this project to develop a value proposition of the new technology in a target market of mass flow controllers. The outcomes will be enlisted to guide future development of the new technology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于气阀领域，该阀控制着通过工业设备和医疗设备中的管子或通道的压缩气体流动。 装有气阀的设备的示例包括质量流控制器，这些设备用于将气体的流动到制造电子集成电路的腔室中，以及呼吸机和便携式氧气系统等医疗设备。 作为该项目的结果而开发的阀门有可能在很大程度上取代当前的气动阀技术，因为它们需要更少的电力来操作它们，它们的响应速度更快，产生的热量较少，并且可能具有成本竞争力。 由新阀启用的质量流控制器的性能提高了，可能会使现在在消费产品中无处不在的计算机处理器和内存的生产率。 新阀的低功耗扩大了在便携式和无线设备（例如人类辅助机器人设备）中使用气动的视野。 新阀可能适合在发电的融合反应器中使用，在该反应器中，强大的磁场会干扰常规阀的利用。 这个I-Corps项目基于气动阀的新体系结构。 气阀通常通过将板移到孔口靠近孔口以减少流动或远离孔口以增加流量来计量流量。 用于在常规阀中移动板的执行器通常由电磁线圈和柱塞组成。 新的架构用压电执行器代替电磁执行器。 以前的尝试使用压电执行器的尝试受到了以下事实的限制：具有良好位移能力的执行器会产生非常低的力，从而限制了阀的压力容量，并且具有良好力量能力的执行器会产生非常低的位移，从而限制了阀门的流动能力。 这项研究基于在先前的NSF项目中的发现，即可以通过用一系列微型孔子代替单个孔口来大大增加包含低位移执行器的阀的流量。该项目将在该项目中进行市场研究，以在质量流控制器的目标市场中开发新技术的价值主张。 结果将被邀请指导新技术的未来发展。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的评论标准来评估值得支持的。

项目成果

Characterization of compressible flow through microscale orifice arrays

通过微型孔板阵列的可压缩流的表征

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatfluidflow.2023.109173
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow
• 影响因子: 2.6
• 作者: Hagstrom, Nathan P.;Gallagher, Matthew L.;Chase, Thomas R.
• 通讯作者: Chase, Thomas R.