8/10/2015 Sen Lin1, Longyu Zhao, James K. Guest, Timothy P. Weihs and Zhenyu Liu
J. Mech. Des 137(8), 081402 (Aug 01, 2015); doi: 10.1115/1.4030297 

Fixed geometry fluid diodes are devices that allow fluid to flow in one direction but inhibit flow in the reverse direction.  Unlike valves, which have moving parts, fixed geometry fluid diodes achieve this effect by using the inertia of the fluid to guide flow into tortuous paths in the reverse flow case.  Topology optimization is used in this paper to design diodes of various aspect ratios, including an example to reproduce the Tesla valve, a fixed geometry diode originally designed and patented by Nicola Tesla.  The objective function is to maximize diodicity, measured as the ratio of pressure drop in the reverse flow case to the forward flow case, and a gradient-based optimizer is used to solve the topology optimization formulation. An optimized design was 3D printed and experimentally tested to verify diode-like behavior.

For Abstract and Full Paper please visit ASME’s Digital Collection.