Optimization Design of a Recovery System for an Automatic Spray Robot and the Simulation of VOC Recovery

Abstract

A recovery system for an automatic spraying robot to conduct the spraying operation outdoors for ships is designed in this paper, which addresses the pollution problem of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by employing the vacuum recovery method. The recovery system consists of the recovery hood, nozzle, and vacuum tubes. The recovery hood is the critical part of the recovery system and is designed with internal and external cavities, as well as four vacuum tubes for recycling VOCs. Based on the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, simulation in the time domain of the gas–liquid interaction, droplet evaporation, and wall impingement is conducted. To identify the better recovery performance, three vacuum recovery-hood schemes are designed, and their performance is compared. The numerical results show that the distance between the vacuum tubes and the intake gap has a significant impact on the VOCs’ recovery effect. One of the main reasons for the escape of VOCs is that the swirling airflows in the baffle plane act as vortices which may capture VOCs, causing the accumulation of VOCs beyond the capacity of the external cavity. Dividing the external cavity into four chambers with deflectors (with each chamber equipped with one vacuum tube only) can significantly reduce the leakage rate of the recovery system. The recovery system provides a theoretical solution for implementing the prevention and control of VOCs in shipyards as soon as possible.