Marks and Clerk
MTS-CFD were commissioned by Marks and Clerk to consider a patent for an e-cigarette flow measuring device and, based on the content of the patent only, determine the practicality of the device.
The problem
The geometry of the flow sensor was created by taking an image of the sensor from the patent and, by comparison with the dimensions of an existing e-cigarette, calculating the dimensions of the sensor.
The sensor was then modeled using Computational Fluid Dynamics to determine the forces on the measurement diaphragm of the sensor.
Results
It was found that the sensor would be able to measure the flow rate and direction over the range of flows tested. It was also found that the sensitivity of the device was a function of the size of the sensor diaphragm and the size of the diaphragm should be optimised to give the highest sensitivity in the operating flow direction.
