Geometrical Optimization of Micro-Mixer with Wavy Structure Design for Chemical Processes Using Taguchi Method

Abstract

Micro-mixer has been widely used in mixing processes for chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Conventional design of micro-mixer T-junction has poor mixing performance; while improved micro-mixer design typically requires expensive manufacturing processes due to complex geometrical structure. In previous work, we introduced improved yet easy to manufacture micro-mixer design utilizing wavy structure micro-channel T-junction which can be easily manufactured using simple stamping method. To extend our work, we optimize the geometrical parameters, i.e., wavy frequency, wavy amplitude, width and height of the micro channel. A robust Taguchi statistical method is employed for this purpose with regard to the mixing performance (mixing index), pumping power, and Figure of Merit (FoM). The results indicate that high mixing performance does not always associates with high FoM due to higher pumping power. The advantages and limitations of the designs and objective functions are discussed in the light of present numerical results.