Simulation and Optimization of Tesla Valves

T-Q Truong and N-T Nguyen
School of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, SG

Keywords: Tesla valve, valveless, no-moving-parts valves, micropump, optimization

Abstract:
Tesla valve is a no-moving-parts valve. It has many advantages over conventional checkvalves in microscale. However, there has been very few literatures discussing its optimization. Systematic construction of the valve’s geometry has not been reported. This lack of information has hindered the application of Tesla valve. We present a comprehensive method to optimize the Tesla valve . Complete design optimization parameters of the valve are identified for the first time. A method to construct the geometry of the valve is also proposed. Design parameters are varied to form different valve’s configurations. Numerical software (ANSYS FLOTRAN) is used to construct steady flow 2-D models of different valves. The performance index is the diodicity, the ratio of pressure drop in reverse direction to that of forward direction. Diodicity is found to be inversely proportional to the radius of the curve section. Optimal configurations are flow-rate dependant. Three “best” valves, correspondent to three different flow rates, are identified.

NSTI Nanotech 2003 Conference Technical Program Abstract