{"id":4017,"date":"2024-02-27T18:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-27T18:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?p=4017"},"modified":"2024-08-20T12:25:14","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T16:25:14","slug":"patented-purdue-design-inspired-by-tesla-valve-could-improve-performance-of-rotating-detonation-engines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2024\/Q1\/patented-purdue-design-inspired-by-tesla-valve-could-improve-performance-of-rotating-detonation-engines","title":{"rendered":"Patented Purdue design inspired by Tesla valve could improve performance of rotating detonation engines"},"content":{"rendered":"

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. —<\/p> \n

Researchers in Purdue University\u2019s College of Engineering<\/a> are testing a patented Tesla valve-inspired injection manifold design that could improve the performance of rotating detonation engines. RDEs are being developed as next-generation solutions in the field of jet and rocket propulsion. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Li Qiao<\/a>, a professor in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics<\/a>, is conducting numerical demonstrations on the design. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

RDE benefits and drawbacks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Qiao said RDEs convert chemical energy into thrust, with a flame traveling through the engine at supersonic speed, which can be 10 times faster than in a traditional engine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRDEs are much more efficient than traditional engines by consuming less fuel and achieving high power of thrust in much less time,\u201d Qiao said. \u201cAn RDE has no moving parts \u2014 turbines or compressors \u2014 which makes it less complex and less expensive to manufacture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qiao said RDEs face stability drawbacks, however. The pressure behind a detonation wave in the engine is enormous, but there is high pressure on the wave to move backward. That pressure could reverse the flow of the fuel and oxidizer injectors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the injection flow goes backward, the engine can lose power and power generation is lost,\u201d Qiao said. \u201cThe pressure may cause oscillation, too, which causes damage to the fuel injection system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tesla valves and RDE applications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Qiao said Purdue\u2019s Tesla valve-designed injection manifold sustains a stable shock wave in RDEs, maintaining detonation and thrust while preventing the reverse flow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTesla valves allow fluids to flow in one direction but make it virtually impossible for them to travel in another,\u201d Qiao said. \u201cTesla valves are already frequently used in other fluid devices, but ours is the first proposal to use them as injection manifolds in RDEs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During numerical demonstrations on the injection manifold design, Qiao discovered in traditional designs that a significant amount of flow made its way back to the inlet where the fuel was injected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn tests of the Tesla valve-inspired injection manifold design, very little flow returned to the inlet,\u201d Qiao said. \u201cThe majority of flow was self-impinged at the corresponding Tesla valves.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qiao and her team are looking to further perfect the design, which can be integrated into existing engine systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe would be happy to work with industry and the federal government to apply this valve concept for specific engines in commercial and defense applications,\u201d Qiao said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qiao has disclosed the innovation to the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization<\/a>, which applied for and received a patent on the intellectual property from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Industry partners interested in developing or commercializing the work should contact Matt Halladay, senior business development manager and licensing manager, physical sciences, at mrhalladay@prf.org<\/a>, about track code 2021-QIAO-69271<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Purdue University<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue\u2019s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap \u2014 including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes \u2014 at https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/president\/strategic-initiatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization<\/a> operates one of the most comprehensive technology transfer programs among leading research universities in the U.S. Services provided by this office support the economic development initiatives of Purdue University and benefit the university\u2019s academic activities through commercializing, licensing and protecting Purdue intellectual property. In fiscal year 2023, the office reported 150 deals finalized with 203 technologies signed, 400 disclosures received and 218 issued U.S. patents. The office is managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, which received the 2019 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Award for Place from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. In 2020, IPWatchdog Institute ranked Purdue third nationally in startup creation and in the top 20 for patents. The Purdue Research Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation created to advance the mission of Purdue University. Contact otcip@prf.org<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Researchers in Purdue University\u2019s College of Engineering are testing a patented Tesla valve-inspired injection manifold design that could improve the performance of rotating detonation engines. RDEs are being developed as next-generation solutions in the field of jet and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316,7],"tags":[],"department":[31,24],"source":[35],"purdue_today_topic":[],"coauthors":[44],"class_list":["post-4017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prf","category-research-excellence","department-engineering","department-research-foundation","source-purdue-research-foundation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4017"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4022,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4017\/revisions\/4022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4017"},{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=4017"},{"taxonomy":"source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/source?post=4017"},{"taxonomy":"purdue_today_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/purdue_today_topic?post=4017"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}