Atomization of high viscosity liquids through hydraulic atomizers designed for water atomization

Many authors studied water and gasoline atomization. The literature provides many experimental and theoretical works about this subject. However, hydraulic atomization of high viscosity liquids through atomizers originally designed to work with water or gasoline is a topic that is less covered and detailed studies on this subject are harder to find. It is of big interest to test the behavior of high viscosity liquids injection through hydraulic atomizers designed for water atomization because these atomizers are and could be used to atomize fluids more viscous than water. This paper provides a step further in describing and understanding the behavior of high viscosity liquids injection through hydraulic atomizers under different conditions related to the properties of the receiving gas and the viscosity of the liquid. Under these conditions, the mass flow rate, the discharge coefficient, the quality of the jet and droplets size are evaluated and existing correlations are adjusted to take into consideration viscosity range change and changes in the properties of the receiving gas using hydraulic atomizers with known performances for water. The viscous liquid used is the compressor lubricant POE oil (Emkarate RL32-3 MAF) usually used in heat pumps and in chillers.