Did you know you're doing quantum physics with the Flo* products?

Did you know you're doing quantum physics with the Flo* products?

You might think “he’s gone crazy now” when you read the header but it basically is true. When talking about quantum physics some might think of names such as Heisenberg, Einstein and Schrödinger besides many other very good scientists. You might think that you are using FloEFD or FloTHERM for pumps, valves or any electronic cooling applications but how are you using quantum mechanics with it. Well this is basically very simple, we are not really going into quantum mechanics with the Flo* products but we have the same problems as they are described with Heisenberg uncertainty principle or Schrödinger’s cat experiment. Please don’t panic, you don’t have to go to school again and do a major in quantum physics, I’ll show you what I’m talking about.

Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that certain pairs of physical properties cannot be known to a 100% precision for both at the same time. For example it is not possible to measure the position and the velocity of an microscopic particle at the same time to a 100% accuracy because by measuring the position of the particle we would disturb the flow and therefore change the speed of the particle and vice versa.

So to transfer it to all the Flo* users applications… How would you know the pressure, velocity, temperature or any other physical parameter in your prototype? Correct, you’ll have to measure it. But often measuring it is hard since you don’t want to disturb the system and cause different results than the product would have without measuring it. That’s why some of our customer are working with the Flo* products to build measuring equipment such as pressure or concentration sensors that will not disturb the actual flow too much, all that to bring you measurement equipment that has the least effect on the your flow.

Preparing Recommendations

Schrödinger’s cat is a more hypothetical experiment (we don’t want you to start killing cats). This experiment was intended for a more complicated theory (Copenhagen interpretation) but is used as a touchstone in many interpretations of quantum mechanics. So in our case we can put the cat in a box with a liquid that reacts on a certain environmental influence such as light, a chemical element or a certain gas and release a toxic gas. Now put the cat in a box so everything is sealed from light and any other outside source that might bring the liquid to release the deadly gas which would kill the cat. So how would you know if the cat is still alive? If you open the box and have a look the gas would be released and the cat dies but would the cat have survived if you wouldn’t have opened the box? Who knows? This is principally the Schrödinger’s cat experiment applied to the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. By measuring the experiment (checking if the cat is still alive) we might change the result.

So every time you are trying to measure the velocity with a probe or the pressure you will disturb the flow just like in the Schrödinger’s cat experiment and often it is not very easy or cheap to measure in an enclosed system. Imagine a large and expensive autoclave or build and measure every prototype in which you made small changes in order to improve its efficiency. This is often very time consuming an expensive and by simulating your product you save money, time and don’t disturb the flow.

So altogether, don’t you think by doing a “quantum” mechanical analysis you safe a “quantum” of money and time and improve your products by a “quantum” in efficiency? I think you deserve to think of yourself as a quantum physicist equal person. After all you’re creating world changing and improving products to safe energy and with that creating green products which nowadays gets more and more important. So at least in our eyes all Flo* users are very smart by choosing to use our products to improve the world. So what’s the difference between smart engineers that change our world today and smart scientists that change our world in the future. I would say there is no difference since only if we keep saving energy today there can be a world in the future for things such as quantum computers and other products based on the quantum physics science.

Keep changing the world (and to say it with the words of one of the best popstars ever) “make it a better place, for you and for me and the entire human race”

Until next time…

More Blog Posts

Preparing Recommendations