An Experimental and Theoretical Study of the Flow Phenomena Within a Vortex Sink Rate Sensor

The objective of this investigation was to obtain a detailed description of the flow field within a vortex sink rate sensor and to observe the influence of viscous effects on its performance. The sensor basically consists of a vortex chamber and a sink tube. The vortex chamber consists of two circular coaxial disks held apart, at their periphery, by a porous coupling. One circular disk has an opening to permit the mounting of the sink tube, in such a manner that the vortex chamber as well as the sink tube have a common axis of rotation. Air was supplied radially to the sensor through its porous coupling as the sensor was rotated at various speeds. Particular emphasis was directed toward an understanding of the flow field in the sink tube region. Thus velocity measurements at various stations along the length of the sink tube as well as along a given radius at any designated station were taken.