Affiliations: Department of Mechanical and Production Engineering,
Niigata University, 8050, Ikarashi-2, Niigata, 950-2181, Japan. | Technical Center, Calsonic Co., Ltd., 7-3, Sakae,
Sano, 327-0816, Japan.
Abstract: Temperature and velocity fields in a heating unit for automobiles
are measured through a model experiment in water tunnel using flow
visualizations and image analysis to investigate the mixing mechanism of the
flow that has passed through the heater and not passed through it inside the
unit. The temperature fields are measured by the liquid crystal visualization
technique combined with the field calibration using full color spline fitting
technique, and the velocity fields are evaluated by a particle imaging
technique with a cross-correlation algorithm. These results indicate an
enhanced flow mixing at larger mix-door angles, which results in a shorter
mixing distance of temperature and velocity downstream of the mix door. The
enhanced flow mixing is caused by the high velocity fluctuations created by the
flow separation over the mix door.
Keywords: flow visualization, temperature measurement, flow measurement, liquid crystal, particle image velocimetry, heater unit