Optimization of Pneumatic-Actuated Vacuum Pumps for Surgical Smoke Evacuators

Liew, Tze Ken (2017) Optimization of Pneumatic-Actuated Vacuum Pumps for Surgical Smoke Evacuators. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

Text Liew Tze Ken Full text.pdf Restricted to Registered users only Download (2MB)

Abstract

Ejector designs have the potential to be greater utilized in generating vacuum. In the current research, an ejector is employed and optimized as a vacuum pump for surgical smoke evacuators. The purpose of this project is to reduce the size of the vacuum pump present in surgical smoke evacuators, while retaining the pump performance. A more technical objective is to investigate the effects of geometry and size of each ejector segment on the performance of the ejector. Various geometries and sizes are studied for each ejector segment to study their effects on mass flow rate of entrained air and entrainment ratio of the ejector design. In the current report, 4 designs are discussed in Section 4 (Results and Discussion). In the project, numerical analysis is performed by SolidWorks 2014 Fluid Simulation. To summarize the outcome of the research, the geometry of the ejector determines the effectiveness of the ejector in entraining air, while the sizing ratio of the ejector on the entrained inlet and motive inlet determines the flow regime (underexpansion / overexpansion) in the ejector, which is more important on determining the entrained ratio of the ejector. Generally from the design simulations, it is observed that the greater the degree of shock present in the flow (observed as successive regions of high and low pressure at reducing magnitude), the lower the effectiveness and the efficiency of the ejector design