Patent attributes
A fluidic oscillator suitable for use at colder temperatures for utilizing a pressurized liquid to generate a uniform spatial distribution of droplets has (a) an inlet for the pressurized liquid, (b) a set of three power nozzles that are fed by the pressurized liquid, (c) an interaction chamber attached to the nozzles and which receives the flow from the nozzles, wherein this chamber has an upstream and a downstream portion, with the upstream portion having a pair of boundary edges and a longitudinal centerline that is approximately equally spaced between the edges, and wherein one of the power nozzles is directed along the chamber's longitudinal centerline, (d) a throat from which the liquid exhausts from the interaction chamber, and (e) an island located in the interaction chamber, with this island being situated downstream of the power nozzle that is directed along the chamber's longitudinal centerline. In a preferred embodiment, this oscillator is further configured such that: (i) one of the power nozzles is located proximate each of the chamber's boundary edges, (ii) its nozzles are configured to accelerate the movement of the liquid that flows through the nozzles, (iii) its throat has right and left sidewalls that diverge downstream, and (iv) the power nozzles and island are oriented and scaled such as to generate flow vortices behind the island that are swept out of the throat in a manner such that these vortices flow alternately proximate the throat's right sidewall and then its left sidewall.
