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Performance of a new micro-bubble generator with a spherical body in a

flowing water tube

Article  in  Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science (EXP THERM FLUID SCI) · June 2005
DOI: 10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2004.08.006

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 Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 29 (2005) 615–623
www.elsevier.com/locate/etfs

Performance of a new micro-bubble generator with a spherical

body in a flowing water tube
a,*
M. Sadatomi , A. Kawahara a, K. Kano a, A. Ohtomo b

a
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto 860-8555, Japan
b
Applied Electronics Research Center, Kumamoto Technology and Industry, 861-2202, Japan

Received 15 March 2004; received in revised form 28 July 2004; accepted 28 August 2004

Abstract

A new micro-bubble generator with a spherical body in a flowing water tube has been invented, and its trial products have been
tested. In the generator, pressurized water is introduced into a pipe with a spherical body in the core. From conservation equations
of mass and energy, the water velocity around the body especially in a downstream region becomes higher than the inlet velocity,
and thus the pressure there becomes lower. If the pressure becomes less than atmospheric pressure, air is automatically sucked into
the water stream through a number of small holes drilled on the pipe wall in the lower pressure region downstream from the center
of the body. Since the water flow there is highly-turbulent and shear flow, the air sucked is well broken into a great number of micro-
bubbles. In the tests of its trial products, experimental data on air suction rate, hydraulic power needed to introduce water, bubble
generation efficiency, and variation of dissolved oxygen in water after bubbling were obtained by changing water supply rate sys-
tematically. From the tests, we found an optimum diameter ratio of spherical body to pipe, and confirmed that the generator could
generate micro-bubbles with a lesser energy consumption rate within 40 W and raise effectively the dissolved oxygen, etc.

2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Micro-bubble; Bubble generator; Hydraulic power; Efficiency; Bubble diameter; Dissolved oxygen

1. Introduction In this paper, a new micro-bubble generator with a

Micro-bubbles are known to be useful to improve
water quality and to promote the growth of shellfishes,
such as oyster and pearl oyster [1]. In addition, different
types of micro-bubble generators have been developed
by Ohnari [1], Serizawa et al. [2] and Minagawa et al.
[3] and begun testing in various situations. In these gen-
erators, air was automatically sucked by a vacuum pres-
sure produced hydraulically by flowing water, and air
sucked was broken into a number of micro-scale bubbles
by a shear flow of water inside the generators.
*
Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +81 96 342 3757.
E-mail address: sadatomi@mech.kumamoto-u.ac.jp (M. Sadatomi).
spherical body in a flowing water tube invented by Sad-
atomi [4] and shown in Fig. 1 has been presented, and
the test results of its trial products have been described.
In the new generator, pressurized water is introduced
into a pipe with a spherical body in the core. From con-
servation equations of mass and energy, the water velo-
city around the body especially in a downstream region
becomes higher than the inlet velocity, and thus the
pressure there becomes lower. If the pressure becomes
less than atmospheric pressure, air is automatically
sucked into water stream through a number of small
holes drilled on the pipe wall in the lower pressure re-
gion. Since the water flow there is highly-turbulent and
shear flow, the air sucked is well broken into a great
number of micro-bubbles. Fundamental principle of
the new micro-bubble generator is similar to that of a

0894-1777/$ - see front matter
2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.expthermflusci.2004.08.006
616 M. Sadatomi et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 29 (2005) 615–623

Nomenclature

d diameter of sphere (m) x distance from the center of sphere to air suc-
d0 diameter of air suction holes (m) tion holes (m)
dB diameter of equal-volume-spherical bubble
(m) Greek symbols
D diameter of pipe (m) gB bubble generation efficiency defined as Eq. (4)
DO dissolved oxygen (mg/l) (dimensionless)
H depth of micro-bubble generator (m) q density (kg/m3)
l length of air suction hole (m) l viscosity (Pa s)
LW hydraulic power defined as Eq. (3) (W)
N number of air suction holes (dimensionless) Subscripts
p pressure (Pa) G gas
Q volume flow rate (m3/s) L liquid
ReL liquid Reynolds number defined as 1 cross-section without spherical body
qLvL2(D
d)/lL (dimensionless) 2 cross-section with spherical body
v mean velocity (m/s)

Venturi tube type by Minagawa et al. [3]. The new gen- Results of the experiments are presented and discussed
erator, however, has two merits of easiness in manufac- in this paper.
turing and easiness in drilling a lot of small holes in
comparison with the Venturi tube type. In addition,
the new generator is expected to be lesser energy con- 2. Principle of the new micro-bubble generator
sumption than the forgoing types by Ohnari [1], Seri-
zawa et al. [2] and Minagawa et al. [3], because the Fig. 2 illustrates the new micro-bubble generator in-
electric power of the water circulation pump used in vented by Sadatomi [4]. Pressurized water is introduced
the present apparatus is lower than that in [1–3]. into a pipe with a spherical body in the core. From con-
In order to confirm these merits and to study its per- servation equations of mass and energy, the water velo-
formance, we have conducted experiments using several city around the body, vL2, becomes higher than the inlet
trial products with different diameter ratios of the spheri- velocity, vL1, and pressure there, p2, becomes lower than
cal-body to the pipe and/or with the air holes at different the inlet pressure, p1, as follows:
downstream locations. In the experiments, bubbles were 2
vL2 ¼ vL1 =f1
ðd=DÞ g, ð1Þ
generated in a water tank by changing water flow rate
systematically. Air suction rate, pressures at the inlets

qL v2L2
v2L1
of water and air, bubble diameter and time variation p2 ¼ p1

ploss,in
of dissolved oxygen in water after bubbling were mea- 2
( )
sured to determine the performance of the generator. qL v2L1 1
¼ p1

1
ploss,in : ð2Þ
2 f1
ðd=DÞ2 g2
In these equations, d and D are the diameters of the
spherical body and the pipe, respectively, qL the density

Fig. 1. Photograph of a new micro-bubble generator by Sadatomi [4]. Fig. 2. Illustration of Sadatomi
s micro-bubble generator.
 M. Sadatomi et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 29 (2005) 615–623
of water, and ploss,in the pressure loss from the
cross-section 1 to 2. When vL2 is much higher
than vL1, p2 becomes negative. Under such a condi-
tion, air is automatically sucked into the water stream
in the pipe through a number of small holes drilled on
the pipe wall in the lower pressure region, and the air
sucked is well broken into a great number of micro-
bubbles by the action of a highly-turbulent shear
flow. 1
3. Tests of trial products
3.1. Experimental method
Fig. 3 shows the test rig to study the performance of
the new micro-bubble generator. Placing the micro-bub-
ble generator at the depth of H = 0.21 m in a water tank
of 0.15 m3, we introduced a tap water into the generator
with a compact centrifugal pump. The circulation rate
of water was measured with a calibrated turbine flow
meter, QL, and was systematically varied with the flow
control valve. In the respective water flow rates, air suc-
tion rate, QG, air suction pressure, pG, and water pres-
sure at 30 mm upstream from the center of the sphere
in the bubble generator, pL, were measured with a cali-
brated gas flow meter and two calibrated pressure trans-
ducers of different ranges. The uncertainties of these
measurements were within 2.0%, 5.1%, 0.6% and 1.8%
of the readings respectively for QL, QG, pG and pL. In
order to measure bubble diameter, we took the pictures
of bubbles together with transparent ruler at about
15 cm from the exit of the bubble generator with a digital
camera with microscope lens. Arithmetic mean diameter
of equal-volume-spherical bubble was calculated from
the major and the minor axes of more than 200 bubbles
on the pictures, and the uncertainty of the diameter was
within 0.005 mm. In addition, time variation of dissolved
oxygen in the water after bubbling was measured with a
DO meter. A stirrer was used to induce water flow con-
tinuously to the sensor tip of DO meter according to the
instruction book of the manufacturer; however small
bubbles were not broken into much smaller ones by
the stirrer because of low rotation speed. The uncer-
tainty of DO measurement was within 0.1. Water tem-
perature was 11.5–15.5 C.
1
The minimum value of the liquid Reynolds number was 7740
when air was started to suck in the present experimental range. Here,
the Reynolds number is defined as ReL = qLvL2(D
d)/lL, i.e., the
mean water velocity and the hydraulic equivalent diameter at
the narrowest cross-section are used as the characteristic velocity and
the diameter, and ReL = 7740 corresponds to QL = 10 l/min for the
products L3–L7 (see Fig. 8).
617
Fig. 3. Test rig.
In order to find an optimum design of the micro-bub-
ble generator, the above measurements were conducted
for 12 trial products listed in Table 1. Firstly, trial prod-
ucts with different pipe diameters, D = 11, 12, 13 mm, at
a fixed sphere diameter of d = 9.53 mm, product number
S1–S3, were tested to know the effects of the diameter
ratio of the sphere to the pipe. All these products have
six 0.5 mm ID air suction holes on the pipe circumfer-
ence at x = 0 mm, in which x is the distance downstream
from the center of the sphere. Secondary, trial products
with the air suction holes at x = 0 or 2 or 4 mm, product
number S3–S5, were tested at a fixed condition of the
diameter ratio (d = 9.53 mm and D = 11.0 mm, d/
D = 0.866). In addition, a trial product with twelve
0.5 mm ID air suction holes at x = 4 mm, product num-
ber S5*, was tested to know the effect of the number of
the holes at the same axial location. Thirdly, 4/3 times
geometrically larger trial products, product number
L3–L7, were tested. The diameters of the sphere, the
pipe and the air suction holes were fixed at 12.7 mm,
14.7 mm (d/D = 0.864) and 0.7 mm, respectively. The
axial position of 12 air suction holes was varied from
x = 0 to 10.7 mm, corresponding to x = 0–8 mm for the
smaller products. Furthermore, a trial product with
the air suction holes at four axial positions of x = 0,
2.7, 5.3 and 8 mm (the number of the holes was
12 · 4), product number L3–6, was tested to study the
effects of the number of the holes.
3.2. Hydraulic power and bubble generation efficiency
In order to evaluate the performance of the micro-
bubble generator, we newly defined the following two
parameters, i.e., the hydraulic power, LW, and the bub-
ble generation efficiency, gB.


LW ¼ p1 þ qL v2L1 =2 QL , ð3Þ
gB ¼ qL gHQG =LW : ð4Þ
Here, vL1 is the mean water velocity at 30 mm upstream
from the sphere where the inlet pressure of water was
618 M. Sadatomi et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 29 (2005) 615–623

Table 1
Specimens of trial products
Sphere diameter, Pipe diameter, Air hole diameter, Position of holes, The number Product
d (mm) D (mm) do (mm) x (mm) of holes, N number
9.53 13 0.5 0 6 S1
9.53 12 0.5 0 6 S2
9.53 11 0.5 0 6 S3
9.53 11 0.5 2 6 S4
9.53 11 0.5 4 6 S5
9.53 11 0.5 4 12 S5*
12.7 14.7 0.7 0 12 L3
12.7 14.7 0.7 2.7 12 L4
12.7 14.7 0.7 5.3 12 L5
12.7 14.7 0.7 8 12 L6
12.7 14.7 0.7 10.7 12 L7
12.7 14.7 0.7 0, 2.7, 5.3, 8.0 12 · 4 L3–6

measured, qL the density of water, g the acceleration due 1.0

to gravity. LW in Eq. (3) is important in the selection of d = 9.53 mm, x = 0
a water circulation pump, and is lower the better. The 0.8
numerator of right hand side of Eq. (4) is the energy re- ηB LW D mm
ceived by the air from the water per unit time between 0.6 13 (6 holes)
two positions far upstream from the air inlet and far 12 (6)
60
11 (6)
downstream from the outlet of the micro-bubble 0.4
generator. Of course, gB is higher the better. 40
0.2
20

4. Experimental results 0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
QL l/min
4.1. Effect of diameter ratio of sphere to pipe
Fig. 5. Hydraulic power and bubble generation efficiency against
Fig. 4 compares the air suction rates, QG, for the water supply rate (effect of diameter ratio).
three trial products, S1–S3, against the water supply
rate, QL. QG increases linearly with QL when QL is en-
ough to produce a vacuum pressure behind the spherical
body. QG increases as D decreases, i.e., as d/D ratio Eqs. (3) and (4) by substituting the measured values of
approaches unity. pL, QL and QG. LW increases as QL increases and in-
Fig. 5 compares the hydraulic power, LW, and the creases as d/D ratio approaches unity, because the pres-
bubble generation efficiency, gB, for the same products sure loss across the spherical body increases with them.
mentioned above. LW and gB were calculated from On the other side, gB increases as both QL and D in-
crease, but it could not exceed 0.7% for these products.
The low efficiency means that most of the water energy
1.2 in the bubble generator is not used to suck the air but is
d = 9.53 mm, x = 0 used to break the air into a great number of micro-bub-
1.0 bles as well as the pressure loss due to the formation of
D mm
0.8
vortices and the wall friction in usual water singe-phase
11 (6 holes)
flow. From the comparisons of these three products, it is
QG l/min

12 (6)
0.6 13 (6) found that any products with D < 11 mm (d/D > 0.87)
will not show a better performance because an extreme
0.4
increase in LW and decrease in gB are anticipated. (From
0.2 the numerical analysis of single-phase water flow, which
will be described in Section 4.4, we found that the pres-
0 sure loss of water through the micro-bubble generator
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
rapidly increase with increasing of d/D at d/D > about
QL l/min
0.87. The increase in the pressure loss results in the in-
Fig. 4. Air suction rate against water supply rate (effect of diameter crease in LW and decrease in gB.) So, in the next experi-
ratio). ment, we fixed the pipe diameter at D = 11 mm in which
 M. Sadatomi et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 29 (2005) 615–623 619

the largest QG was obtained in Fig. 4, and varied the son is that QG is larger at 12 holes at a fixed QL, and
axial position of the air suction holes. thus the void fraction, eG, and mean water velocity
(=vL2/(1
eG) are higher at 12 holes, leading larger pres-
sure loss in the region downstream from the spherical
4.2. Effect of position and the number of air suction holes body, ploss,out and thus larger p1 and LW. In addition,
gB in 6 < QL < 16 l/min is higher at 12 holes because of
Fig. 6 compares the air suction rate, QG, for the four higher QG there.
trial products, S3–S5 and S5*, being different in the po-
sition and the number of air suction holes. In the three 4.3. Effect of geometrical size and the number of air
cases of six air suction holes, QG at x = 4 mm (i.e., S5) suction holes
is larger than others. In the two cases of x = 4 mm,
the product with 12 holes alone could suck air at Fig. 8 compares the air suction rate, QG, for the six
6 < QL < 10 l/min, and sucked air about twice larger trial products, L3–L7 and L3–6, being different in the
than that with six holes at QL > 15 l/min. axial position and the number of air suction holes. In
Fig. 7 compares the hydraulic power, LW, and the the five cases of 12 holes, QG is larger at x = 5.3 mm
bubble generation efficiency, gB, for the same products (i.e., L5) than others. This result and the result men-
mentioned above. In the three cases of six holes, gB at tioned in Fig. 6 show that the best position to suck more
x = 4 mm is higher than others since QG at x = 4 mm air is x/d J 0.42. QG for the product with 48 holes (each
was larger in Fig. 6 and LW at x = 4 mm is a little bit 12 holes at x = 0, 2.7, 5.3, 8.0 mm) was only about 1.3
lower. In the two cases of x = 4 mm, LW at 12 holes is times of that with 12 holes. The reason of such a small
about three times higher than that at six holes. The rea- QG is ascribed to the existence of immersed air holes
due to the non-uniform pressure distribution along the
pipe. As to the non-uniform pressure distribution,
2.4 experimental and calculated results are shown in a later
section.
2.0 x mm Size effects of the micro-bubble generator can be eval-
4 (12 holes) uated from a comparison of QG data between geometri-
1.6 D = 11 mm,
4 (6) d = 9.53 mm
cally similar generators, say, L5 and S5*, being the size
1.2 2 (6) ratio of 4/3. QG seems proportional to the vacuum pres-
0 (6) sure behind the spherical body, p2, and from Eq. (2) p2
0.8 depends strongly on mean water velocity, vL1, together
0.4 with the diameter ratio, d/D. Thus, the comparison
should be made under the same vL1 and d/D condition.
0 Since L5 and S5* are the same in d/D, the comparison
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
was made at the same vL1 as seen in Fig. 9. Fig. 9 shows
QL l/min
that QG was about 5-times larger for L5 than S5* and p1
Fig. 6. Air suction rate against water supply rate (effect of air-hole was roughly 1/50-times lower.
position and the number). If the pressure drop in the air suction holes is mainly
caused by friction, it can be calculated from the well-
known Hagen–Poiseuille equation:
1
D = 11 mm, d = 9.53 mm
0.8
16
η L x mm x mm
80
0.6 B W 0, 2.7, 5.3, 8.0 (12x4 holes)
4(12 holes) 12 10.7 (12)
4(6) 60
8.0 (12)
0.4 2(6) 8 5.3 (12)
0(6) 40
2.7 (12)
0.2 4 0 (12)
20
d = 12.7 mm, D = 14.7 mm
0 0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 10 20 30 40
QL l/min QL l/min

Fig. 7. Hydraulic power and bubble generation efficiency against Fig. 8. Air suction rate against water supply rate (effect of air-hole
water supply rate (effect of air-hole position and the number). position and the number).
620 M. Sadatomi et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 29 (2005) 615–623

12 1000 fall of LW is ascribed to the fall of p1 in Fig. 9, namely

QG p1 No the fall of the pressure loss of the flow around the spher-
10
L5 ical body. In addition, the rise of gB is ascribed to both
8 S5* 100 the fall of LW and the rise of QG.
6 p1
QG 4.4. Axial distribution of wall pressure
4 10
2 As reference data on the optimum position of the air
0 1 suction holes in the present bubble generator, spatial
0 1 2 3 4 5 distributions of velocity and pressure around the sphere
vL1 m/s in a single-phase water flow in a circular pipe were cal-
culated numerically with a commercial CFD soft
Fig. 9. Comparison of air suction rate and upstream pressure between
L5 and S5*. (CFD2000 Professional edition 4.01.2002, Simunet cor-
poration). In the calculation, a finite volume method
and a k–e turbulence model were adopted. In addition,
the flow rate of water was taken as QL = 20 l/min, the
128lG lQG QG pressures at the inlet and outlet as pin = 181 kPa and
Dp ¼ / 3 , thus QG / Dpd 3o : ð5Þ
pd 4o do pout = 2.1 kPa, the temperature as 300 K, in accordance
In Eq. (5), the length of air suction hole, l, is assumed to with the following experiment. In the experiment, the
be proportional to its diameter, do, because of geometri- axial distribution of wall pressure was measured with a
cal similarity. Since do is 1.4-times larger for L5 than pressure transducer at QL = 20 l/min in the single-phase
S5*, QG is estimated to be 2.7-times larger for L5 than water flow. In these calculation and experiment, the
S5* when the same Dp is assumed. This is one of the diameters of the sphere and the pipe were taken as
probable causes of why QG is 5-times lager for L5 than 9.53 mm and 11.0 mm in order to simulate the bubble
S5*. generator S3 or S4 or S5.
Fig. 10 compares the hydraulic power, LW, and the Fig. 11(a) and (b) show the calculated results of the
bubble generation efficiency, gB, for the same products distributions of velocity and pressure on the flow around
mentioned in Fig. 8. The symbols for LW data are the sphere in the single-phase water flow in the pipe. In
slightly darkened but the shapes of the symbols are the these figures, the measures of velocity and pressure are
same as those for gB. Effects of the air suction holes po- classified by a number of colors from red to dark blue
sition on LW were not observed at 12 air suction holes representing high to low values. In these figures, the
and gB is a little higher at x = 5.3 mm than others. In highest velocity and the lowest pressure appear in the re-
addition, the increase in the number of the air suction gion a little bit downstream from the narrowest point
holes did not induce a drastic increase in gB. The most between the pipe and the sphere. In addition, the high-
important finding is that LW fell down to about 10 W speed diverging flow there impinges on the pipe wall.
and gB rose up to about 25%, respectively being about Fig. 12 compares the pressure distribution along the
a quarter and 40-times of those for the smaller products pipe wall surface between the experiment and the calcu-
shown in Fig. 7. Thus, we can conclude that the larger lation. A similar trend is observed in these two, but the
the better in the present micro-bubble generator. The calculated pressure is unrealistically low at x = 0. In
reality, a cavitation must occur as the pressure is re-
duced near to the vapor pressure, and cavitation bubbles
d = 12.7 mm, D = 14.7 mm emerges, and thus the pressure cannot fall down to the
x mm
0, 2.7, 5.3, 8.0 (12x4 holes) gauge pressure of
101.32 kPa, the vacuum pressure.
10.7 (12) However, the cavitation is not taken into account in
8.0 (12) the present calculation. This is the main cause of the
5.3 (12) above unrealistic low pressure. In order to seek an opti-
2.7 (12) mum design of the micro-bubble generator with a CFD
0 (12) 20
soft in a future study, the cavitation has to be taken into
account.
LW 10 Concerning the experimental pressure distribution,
we obtained the data at QL = 13 l/min and 16 l/min be-
0 sides 20 l/min as shown in Appendix A. From the results,
0 10 20 30 40 we could confirmed that the optimum positions of small
QL l/min
holes to introduce air into water flow do not change irre-
Fig. 10. Hydraulic power and bubble generation efficiency against spective of QL and therefore the liquid Reynolds number
water supply rate (effect of air-hole position and the number). in the present experimental range.
 M. Sadatomi et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 29 (2005) 615–623 621

changed by partially closing the air suction valve,

QG = 0.98 l/min and 0.24 l/min, at a fixed water flow rate
of QL = 25 l/min.
Fig. 13(a) and (b) show the pictures of bubbles taken
for the respective cases. As the reference scale, a trans-
parent ruler with 5 mm grid was simultaneously taken
in the pictures. At QG = 0.98 l/min, small bubbles of 1–
3 mm in diameter were generated together with micro-
bubbles, and the arithmetic mean diameter of all the
bubbles was 0.49 mm. Contrary to this, at QG = 0.24 l/
min, a lot of micro-bubbles were generated, and the
mean diameter of all the bubbles was 0.12 mm.
Fig. 14(a) and (b) show the variation of the dissolved
oxygen in water after bubbling respectively against the
elapsed time, t, and the total bubble volume, VG
(=QG Æ t). The data obtained at QG = 0.98 l/min and
0.24 l/min are plotted with diamond and triangular sym-
bols, and the words ‘‘small bubble’’ and ‘‘micro-bubble’’
are put on the respective data for easier understanding.
From Fig. 14(a), we found that the increase in DO was
more rapid at QG = 0.98 l/min (small bubble) because
the number of bubbles increases with QG. Furthermore,
from Fig. 14(b), we found that the increase in DO was
steeper at QG = 0.24 l/min (micro-bubble) because both
the residence time of bubbles in water and the interfacial

Fig. 11. Calculated result of flow around the sphere in a single-phase

water flow. (a) Velocity vector distribution. (b) Pressure contour
distribution.

200
Exp.
Cal.
0

-200
Upstream Downstream

-400
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20
Distance from sphere center, x mm

Fig. 12. Comparison of wall pressure distribution between experiment

and calculation.

4.5. Time variation in dissolved oxygen in water

In order to confirm the validity of the present micro-

bubble generator for the enrichment of oxygen in water,
the measurement of dissolved oxygen, DO, in water was Fig. 13. Pictures of small and micro-bubbles generated at QL = 25 l/
conducted as trial for two cases. In the measurement, min. (a) QG = 0.98 l/min, dB = 0.49 mm, (b) QG = 0.24 l/min, dB =
the generator S5 was used, and the air flow rate was 0.12 mm.
622 M. Sadatomi et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 29 (2005) 615–623

10 6. Conclusions
QG = 0.98 l/min, dB = 0.49 mm
QG = 0.24 l/min, dB = 0.12 mm A new micro-bubble generator with a spherical body
9
in a flowing water tube has been invented, and its trial
Small bubble
products have been tested. In the test, experimental data
8 Micro-bubble on the air suction rate, the hydraulic power needed to
introduce water, the bubble generation efficiency, and
7 the variation of the dissolved oxygen in water after
D = 11 mm, x = 4 mm
(6holes), QL = 25 l/min bubbling were obtained by changing the water supply
6 rate systematically. From the tests, we found the
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 followings:
t min
(a)
(1) The optimum diameter ratio of the spherical body
10 to the pipe is d/D J 0.865.
(2) The optimum axial position of the air suction holes
Micro-bubble is x/d J 0.42.
9
(3) The air suction rate, QG, increases with the number
of the holes if all the holes are at the same axial
8 position, but if not QG does not increase
Small bubble
proportionally.
7 (4) The present generator could generate micro-bubbles
D = 11 mm, x = 4 mm
(6holes), QL = 25 l/min with a lesser energy consumption rate within 40 W.
6 (5) Comparison of the smaller generator with the larger
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 one showed that the larger the better in the perfor-
VG l mance, namely low hydraulic power and high bub-
(b) ble generation efficiency.
Fig. 14. Variation of dissolved oxygen in water after bubbling. (a) (6) The present generator could raise the dissolved
Comparison against elapsed time, (b) comparison against total bubble oxygen in water. The generation of a huge amount
volume. of micro-bubbles is effective for the rapid increase
in the dissolved oxygen.

area fraction per unit volume increase with decreasing of

bubble diameter at a fixed VG. These results suggest that
the generation of a huge amount of micro-bubbles is
effective for the rapid increase in dissolved oxygen in
water.
5. Practical significance
The present micro-bubble generator has a feature of a
lesser energy consumption rate within 40 W, so is oper-
able with a small power generated by, say, photovoltaic
panels. Thus, the generator is usable especially in remote
places, such as a place far from the beach or seashore of
a lake or sea. Another feature is easiness in manufactur-
ing and easiness in changing the direction of the jet of
water with micro-bubbles; the generator could discharge
the jet in all directions; horizontal, vertical up and down,
and inclined up and down directions. In addition, the
generator can be used for the mixing of various liquid
and gas as well as two different liquids. Thus, the gener-
ator has various industrial uses; promotion of the
growth of aquatic plants and shellfishes in fisheries, pro-
motion of reaction in chemical, biochemical and electro-
chemical reactors, etc.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express our heartfelt
gratitude to Mr. T. Suzuki, Mr. M. Higashi and
K. Kiyomura, students in those days at Kumamoto
University, for their cooperation in both experiment
and data reduction. Financial supports from
Kumamoto Technology and Industry as well as Nishida
Tekko Co. are also deeply appreciated.
Appendix A
Experimental data on the wall pressure distribution
were obtained at QL = 13, 16 and 20 l/min. Of these,
the data at QL = 20 l/min is shown in Fig. 12 in the main
text. In order to compare the three data, the gauge pres-
sure in each flow rate was divided by the dynamic pres-
sure, qL v2L1 =2, where vL1 was the mean water velocity at
a cross-section without sphere as shown in Fig. 2. The
resulting dimensionless pressure distribution for the
three cases, shown in Fig. 15, agrees each other espe-
cially in a downstream region. This result suggests that
 M. Sadatomi et al. / Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science 29 (2005) 615–623 623

15 therefore the liquid Reynolds number in the present

QL = 13 l/min experimental range.
10
QL = 16 l/min
5 QL = 20 l/min
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