Instantaneous Injector Inspired by Bombardier Beetles

Innovation: Academia

Lund University

2019

Image: Katja Schulz / Flickr / CC BY - Creative Commons Attribution alone

Expel Gases

The most familiar forms of discharging gases are through respiration when many living systems release carbon dioxide, and when plants release oxygen as the end product of plant photosynthesis. Because gases cannot be effectively moved through pushing, a different kind of force is needed to expel them. Creating that force requires energy, even at the cellular level, so living systems must have efficient strategies worth the energy investment or use an external force. This typically entails strategies that build up pressure or use other forces to propel gases. For example, a human exhales about 15% of its spent air per breath. In contrast, when a whale surfaces, it exhales 90% of its spent air in just one spouting.

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Catalyze Chemical Breakdown

Life depends upon the building up and breaking down of biological molecules. Catalysts, in the form of proteins or RNA, play an important role by dramatically increasing the rate of a chemical transformation––without being consumed in the reaction. The regulatory role that catalysts play in complex biochemical cascades is one reason so many simultaneous chemical transformations can occur inside living cells in water at ambient conditions. For example, consider the 10-enzyme catalytic breakdown and transformation of glucose to pyruvate in the glycolysis metabolic pathway.

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Patents

Injector from Lund University uses a novel spray design to reduce diesel pollution without losing engine efficiency.

Benefits

Reduced pollution
Increased efficiency
Reduced maintenance

Applications

Aviation
Automobiles
Engines

UN Sustainable Development Goals Addressed

Goal 3: Good Health & Wellbeing
Goal 11: Sustainable Cities & Communities

The Challenge

Diesel engines are one of the leading contributors to nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution, which poses a danger to human health. Current methods of removing harmful NOx from the exhaust decreases the engine efficiency.

Innovation Details

Traditional methods to reduce NOx in diesel engine emissions use Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR). SCR injects urea through a special into the exhaust stream of a diesel engine. This creates a chemical reaction that converts the NOx to nitrogen, water and CO2, which is then expelled through the vehicle tailpipe. The novel injector was inspired by the natural spray phenomenon of the bombardier beetle. It operates by increasing the temperature of the urea to its saturated vapor pressure. An electromagnetically controlled outlet valve opens and exposes the heated fluid to lower pressure conditions. This change in pressure results in a hot, effervescent spray of fine droplets, less than 20 micrometers in size, at speeds of 60 m/s (134 miles per hour) into the SCR. This process has been shown to be more efficient at converting NOx to nitrogen and water than traditional methods.

Biological Model

Bombardier beetles rapidly eject a scalding liquid to protect themselves against predators. They have a heart‑shaped, long, narrow ejection tube that functions as a combustion chamber. Within the chamber, hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide are mixed together, accelerated by catalysts which also heat up the liquid.

See Related Strategy

a reddish brown and black beetle walks on a tan rocky surface

Biological Strategy

Combustion Chamber Sprays Scalding Liquid

Contracted bombing beetle

The combustion chamber of the bombardier beetle ejects scalding liquid by having a heart-shaped, long, narrow ejection tube.

References

Journal article

NOx-Conversion Comparison of a SCR-Catalyst Using a Novel Biomimetic Effervescent Injector on a Heavy-Duty Engine

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