Design And Manufacture Of Generalized Flow Profile-Producing Devices

Abstract

The present invention provides a process for making a flow conditioning device that transforms an input flow into a desired output flow. The process includes the steps of inputting into a computer program a set of design constraints representative of the input flow and the output flow. The computer program generates a design representative of a flow-conditioning device that transforms the input flow into the output flow. The process then provides the output design to an additive manufacturing or other suitable production system adapted to form a solid representation of the flow-conditioning device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A process for making a fluid flow guide vane that transforms an input flow into a desired output flow comprising the steps of:
 obtaining an array of desired velocity vectors from within the input flow;   creating lines on a plot representing lines everywhere parallel to said input flow;   creating vane lines on said plot represented by lines everywhere perpendicular to said parallel lines;   querying the input vector field to determine a turning angle that transforms the input flow into the desired output flow along the vane lines;   using said turning angle to determine a vane geometry that transforms the input flow into the output flow at said vane lines.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said vane geometry is outputted to an additive manufacturing system adapted to form a solid representation of the vane geometry at said vane lines. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said vane geometry is outputted to a manufacturing system adapted to form a solid representation of the vane geometry at said vane lines. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said perpendicular lines are spaced at regular intervals. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a seed line is used to create a first parallel line and said vane lines are created at predetermined intervals along said seed line. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein a vane model creates a vane geometry for said vane lines by using parameters including the distance to at least one adjacent vane line. 
     
     
         7 . A process for making a flow conditioning device that transforms an input flow into a desired output flow comprising the steps of:
 inputting into a computer program a set of design constraints representative of the input flow;   inputting into a computer program a set of design constraints representative of the output flow;   generating an output design representative of a flow conditioning device that transforms the input flow into the output flow; and   providing said output design to an additive manufacturing or other suitable production system adapted to form a solid representation of the flow conditioning device.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein said computer program is a computational fluid dynamic program. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7  wherein said design constraints representative of the input flow are comprised of pressure distributions. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7  wherein said design constraints representative of the input flow are comprised of pressure or velocity distributions. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7  wherein said design constraints representative of the input flow are comprised of pressure and velocity distributions. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7  wherein said design constraints representative of the output flow are comprised of pressure distributions. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 7  wherein said design constraints representative of the output flow are comprised of velocity distributions. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 7  wherein said design constraints representative of the output flow are comprised of pressure and velocity distributions. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 7  further including a design constraint that places the fluid control device perpendicular to the fluid flow. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 7  further including a design constraint that places the fluid control device everywhere perpendicular to the fluid flow. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 7  wherein said design constraints are 1) representative of the input are comprised of pressure and velocity distributions, 2) representative of the output are comprised of pressure and velocity distributions and 3) place the fluid control device everywhere perpendicular to the fluid flow. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 7  wherein said computational fluid dynamic program is adapted to make local design changes in angle, chord length and location, and thickness to create a final vane design. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 6  wherein a vane model creates a vane geometry for said vane lines by using parameters including the distance to the nearest two vanes lines and the desired vane thickness and solidity. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1  wherein an array of desired velocity vectors is obtained from computational fluid dynamics or measurements from an experiment within the input flow.