Super Critical Carbon Dioxide Metal Working Fluid Delivery System

Abstract

Currently metal working fluids (MWF) are used worldwide to provide lubrication and cooling in metal machining operations. Aqueous MWFs are composed of water, oil and surfactants. These fluids are very expensive and require extensive pumping systems to deliver MWF around a manufacturing plant. Further, they are harmful to both the environment and workers and disposal of these fluids is very expensive.

Recently a MWF composed of supercritical Carbon Dioxide (scCO2) and dissolved soybean oil has been created. This system substantially reduces the environmental and worker impact while providing better lubricity and cooling in machining operations. The goals of our project are enhance the current system by:

1) increasing the flow rate for high intensity machining operations 2) designing a method for determining the oil level in the pressure vessel 3) designing a new subsystem that will continuously deliver oil 4) designing a control that can be used to vary the MWF mixture