The influence of distributor structure on the solids distribution and flow development in circulating fluidized beds

The influence of distributor structure on solids distribution is studied in two riser circulating fluidized bed reactors with different distributor structures but similar diameters. Optic fibre probes were used for the measurement of local solids distribution. The axial and radial distribution of solids holdup in the riser with a multi‐tube distributor is more uniform than that with a multi‐orifice distributor. The radial profiles of particle velocity in the riser with the multi‐tube distributor are also more uniform than that with the multi‐orifice distributor. In the riser with the multi‐tube distributor, both gas and particles are distributed more uniformly across the section, so that the flow acceleration is much more uniform and faster. The flow development is much faster and the fully developed region is reached early for the riser with the multi‐tube distributor. The distributor design is an important factor for the design of circulating fluidized bed reactor.     

Comparative Study of Flow Structure in Circulating Fluidized Bed Risers with FCC and Sand Particles

The combined influences of particle properties and nozzle gas distributor design on the axial and radial flow structure in two 100 mm i.d., 15.1 m and 10.5 m long risers with FCC and sand particles were investigated by measuring the axial pressure gradient profiles, and the axial and radial profiles of solids concentration. The results show that the nozzle gas distributor design has significant effects on the axial and radial flow structure for the FCC and sand particles. At lower superficial gas velocity of less than 8.0 m/s, the upward gas‐solid flow of the sand particles decelerates in various degrees with the disappearing of the nozzle gas distributor effect. The upward gas‐solid flow of the FCC particles, however, occurs without noticeable deceleration within the range of this study. In the acceleration section, the radial distributions of the local solids concentration of the FCC particles are more uniform than those of sand particles under the same operating conditions; while in the fully developed zone, the sand particles have a more uniform radial distribution than the FCC particles. The gas‐solid flow is first developed in the center region, and then extends towards the wall. The overall flow development in the riser mainly depends on the local gas‐solid flow in the wall region.     

气—液鼓泡塔中流动域和气含率的分布

利用压力传感器测定了气、液两相鼓泡塔内不同轴、径向位置上压强的脉动信号,分析了压强的脉动特征,计算了各种操作条件下塔内不同轴向位置截面上的平均气含率,发现在不同操作条件下,塔内可能出现不同的流动域分布,即全塔均匀鼓泡域、全塔过渡域、全塔湍动鼓泡域以及均匀鼓泡域,过渡域和湍动鼓泡域中的相邻2种或3种流域同时出现在塔内不同高度上。提出了不同轴向位置流域转变的判据。并发现,同一截面的不同径向位置基本处于同一流域内。同时研究了鼓泡塔内气含率在轴向上的分布规律,给出了不同流动域内气含率的关系式。     

板翅式换热器导流片结构的数值模拟

A fluid flow model of distributor was set up to investigate the effectof distributor configuration on the fluid flow distribution in plate- fin heat exchanger. At the same time, a mathematical equation was developed to generate different types of fluid flow maldistribution models considering the possible deviations in fluid flow. Using these fluid flow models, the fluid flow distributions in plate- fin beat exchanger were calculated for different configurations and operating conditions. The computational results show that nonuniform inlet velocity, inlet angle, and orifice diameter on the fin are the main factors affecting the distribution performance of distributor. The fluid flow distribution in plate- fin heat exchanger can be effectively improved by changing the distributor configuration. The distributor reaches the best distribution performance when the orifice diameter is 2 mm. The computational results are in good agreement with experimental ones.     

CFD and experimental investigation of the gas–liquid flow in the distributor of a compact heat exchanger

High performance of compact heat exchangers is conditioned by correct fluid distribution. This is especially true for gas–liquid heat exchangers where a uniform distribution is particularly delicate to obtain and where maldistribution entails significant performance deterioration. Several phenomena can lead to phase distribution problems: the fins may be subject to manufacturing defects or fouling, leading to shortcuts or dead zones. But the first source of maldistribution may be a poor distribution at the outlet of the entrance distributor. This distributor aims at mixing the phases and distributing them across the channels.     

用于微通道换热器的循环流道分流器的设计方法与应用效果

在家用和商用空调领域中常采用分流器实现多路微通道换热器中制冷剂的分流。分流器应用中最普遍的问题是制冷剂分流不均匀。提出一种利用循环流道实现制冷剂均匀分流的分流器。在传统圆筒式分流器的基础上,设计了循环流道,使制冷剂形成离散泡状流并均匀分流到每根扁管中。新型分流器的关键几何尺寸包括喷孔直径和上行流道水力直径。通过离散泡状流的形成条件推导出喷孔直径的计算公式;通过两相流循环流动的形成条件推导出上行流道水力直径的计算公式。给出新型分流器的设计实例,并通过试验对分流器性能进行验证。试验结果表明分流器进口制冷剂质量流量为14.0、18.0、22.0 g/s时,新型分流器的不均匀度分别为比传统分流器下降46.8%、32.0%、24.4%。     

Design methodology for barrier‐based two phase flow distributor

The barrier‐based distributor is a multiphase flow distributor for a multichannel microreactor which assures flow uniformity and prevents channeling between the two phases. For N number of reaction channels, the barrier‐based distributor consists of a gas manifold, a liquid manifold, N barrier channels for the gas, N barrier channels for the liquid, and N mixers for mixing the phases before the reaction channels. The flow distribution is studied numerically using a method based on the hydraulic resistive networks (RN). The single phase hydraulic RN model (Commenge et al., 2002;48:345–358) is extended for two phases gas‐liquid Taylor flow. For Re_GL <30, the accuracy for the model was above 90%. The developed‐model was used to study the effects of fabrication tolerance and barrier channel dimensions. A design methodology has been proposed as an algorithm to determine the required hydraulic resistance in the barrier channels and their dimensions. This methodology is demonstrated using a numerical example. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012     

喷管型气体分布器和颗粒物性对提升管内气固两相流动行为的联合影响

在两套均采用喷管型气体分布器的循环流化床实验装置上分别采用河沙和FCC颗粒系统测试了提升管内的轴向压力梯度分布和局部颗粒浓度,研究了气体分布器结构和颗粒直径及密度对上行气固两相流动行为的共同影响.结果表明,当表观气速小于8.0 m·s-1时,粗重的河沙颗粒在喷管型气体分布器效应逐渐消失的过程中会出现不同程度的减速,而细轻的FCC颗粒在本实验的测试范围内则不存在上述现象.当采用喷管型气体分布器时,粗重的河沙颗粒在加速过程中,不仅其颗粒浓度显著高于FCC,而且其沿径向分布的不均匀程度也明显大于FCC;但在充分发展段,河沙的颗粒浓度不仅比FCC低,而且在径向的分布也更为均匀.     

Experimental investigation of maldistribution in vertical plate falling film tower

Falling film towers are popular in process industries due to moderate air side pressure drop, less energy ingesting liquid distribution and easy cleanup features. Two major limitations of falling film towers are the uneven distribution of liquid across solid surfaces (maldistribution) and contraction of falling liquid film on the solid surface (poor wetting). Maldistribution of liquid is primarily dependent on the type of liquid distributor and scope of liquid flow (slit opening) across solid surfaces. In the current communication; the influence of liquid distributor on maldistribution problem for vertical plate falling film tower has been experimentally investigated. Four types of liquid distributors: plain tube, spray nozzle, perforated plate, and branch tube distributor have been tested. Effect of parameters: slit opening, liquid flow rate, and the number of plates on maldistribution are also explored. It is found that branch tube distributor is best suited for vertical plate falling film tower application.     

导流筒分布器位置对环隙气升式气固环流反应器流体力学性能的影响

环流反应器的研究绝大多数都局限于气液、气液固系统,涉及气固环流反应器的研究较为稀少,且大多针对气升式气固环流反应器和喷动床。本文研究了一种处理A类粒子的环隙气升式气固环流反应器,考察了操作条件和导流筒分布器位置对床层密度分布、环流速度和质量流率的影响。发现将分布器位置下移后可以有效地改善区域的流化质量、减小滑移区,床层密度沿径向的分布得到了明显改善,颗粒环流质量流率有了明显提高;进气位置以上r/R<0.367的床层得到了良好的流化,但是0.367相似文献   

新型阳极保护管槽式分酸器的研制与应用

介绍新型阳极保护管槽式分酸器的结构特点及在硫酸装置中的应用。该分酸器由分酸支管内设置节流孔板进行一级分酸，由分酸槽内的落酸管进行二次分酸。在落酸管的上端开一道长槽，以保证每个落酸管均匀满管出酸，并且增强了对管壁的阳极保护作用，避免了偏流和堵塞发生。工业应用表明该分酸器效果良好，预期使用寿命为10年。     

Simulation of Orifice Flow Influenced by Lateral Flow in a Trough‐Type Liquid Distributor

A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is performed to investigate the influence of lateral flow on the orifice flow in a trough‐type liquid distributor. The discharge coefficients from the simulation are in good agreement with the experimental values, indicating that the CFD simulation is accurate in describing the outflow through orifices. The lateral flow near an orifice can change the velocity and pressure distributions of flow regions in front of this orifice, causing a decrease in the discharge coefficient. This phenomenon is supported by the theory of flow past a blunt body. An important implication derived from this finding is that the influence of lateral flow should be minimized in the design of a trough‐type liquid distributor, because the decrease in the discharge coefficient leads to non‐uniform outflow. The structure of a trough‐type liquid distributor is optimized to improve the liquid distribution performance by reducing the influence of lateral flow.     

Numerical simulation of hydrodynamics in downers using a CFD-DEM coupled approach

The gas-solid flows in a two-dimensional downer of 10 m in height and 0.10 m in width were simulated using a CFD-DEM method, where the motion of particles was modeled by discrete element method (DEM) and the gas flow was described by Navier-Stokes equations. The simulations revealed a rich variety of developing flow structures in the downer under different operating conditions. The two-phase flow development can be clearly characterized by the micro-scale particle distributions in the downer. Near the inlet, the particle distribution is dominated by the distributor design. Then, the particles disperse in the column, forming a homogeneous transit region. After that clusters start to form and modulate the gas-solid flow field till the fully-developed state. The particle-scale simulation disclosed that the clusters are composed of loosely collected particles, and these particles have the same flow direction as the bulk flow so that no particle backmixing can be observed. As the particles in the downer have the tendency to maintain the inertia, the capability of lateral transfer of particles is relatively weak, which was illustrated by tracking the movement of the single particles and clusters. The simulations of the inlet effect on the hydrodynamics in the downer showed that the gas-solid flow structure and the mixing behavior are sensitive to the inlet design. An inappropriate design or operation would probably cause the undesired flow phenomena such as the wide distribution of residence times. The time-averaged hydrodynamics based on the transient simulations showed good agreement with the experimental findings in the literature. The simulation based on the CFD-DEM coupled approach provides a theoretical way to comprehensively understand the physics at micro- to macro-scales in the co-currently downward gas-solid flows.     

Magnetic Resonance Visualisation of Flow and Pore Structure in Packed Beds with Low Aspect Ratio

Different NMR techniques were combined to obtain the structure and velocity information for a systematic investigation of fixed beds with low aspect ratio (tube diameter to particle diamter, d_t/d_p) in the range 1.4 to 32. The structure of the void space was determined for a variety of packed beds of glass beads or regular and irregular porous pellets by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Based on the images the radial distribution of the voids within the bed was obtained. Ordering effects were found even for non‐spherical and polydisperse particles, and a maximum of the fluid density near the tube wall was confirmed for all pellet geometries and sizes. By combining MRI with velocity encoding, velocity profiles and distributions of flow velocity components of a single fluid phase through packed beds have been acquired. The radial velocity distribution follows an oscillatory pattern which largely reflects the ordering of the particles, which can be accessed from the density distribution of the interparticle fluid. Maximum velocities of up to four times the average value were found to occur near the tube wall. This wall effect was observed for all but the smallest particles, where the aspect ratio was d_t/d_p = 32. Moreover, a visualisation of flow pattern in the presence of packed particles was achieved by using a tagging technique, and the stationary flow field could be identified for an experimental time of several hours.     

Convective heat transfer and solid conversion of reacting particles in a copper(II) chloride fluidized bed

This paper develops a predictive model of convective heat transfer and conversion of cupric chloride particles in a fluidized bed reactor of a copper–chlorine (Cu–Cl) cycle of thermochemical hydrogen production. The hydrolysis reaction of particles in the fluidized bed is endothermic and it requires excess steam for complete conversion of cupric chloride solid. The excess steam supply may be used for partial heat supply to the endothermic reaction, and also to avoid defluidization in the bed. To avoid defluidization, the change of gas flow in the bed due to the reaction should be minimized at a given operating condition. The model predicts the maximum possible steam inlet temperature, steam conversion, amount of partial heat supply, and also gas flow rates through the bed to avoid defluidization. The new model presents significant new insight by analyzing the hydrodynamic and mass transport processes, considering the equilibrium limitation on the conversion of cupric chloride solid. The model results indicate that the chemical reaction requires a high mole ratio of steam for complete conversion of cupric chloride particles. The maximum steam conversion is limited by temperature, pressure, and the presence of hydrogen chloride gas. The maximum conversion of steam at 400 °C is 3.75% and it requires excess steam of 12.8 moles per unit mole of cupric chloride solid for complete conversion of solid. The heat supply by steam for the reaction, as well as raising the solid feed to the reaction temperature, varies with reaction temperature. The paper also adds significant new insight by analyzing the steam flow requirement in terms of temperature, conversion rate, and quality of fluidization. Additional new results are presented and applications discussed for the Cu–Cl cycle of nuclear hydrogen production.     

Flow distribution characteristics of a gas–liquid monolith reactor

Flow distribution characteristics in a 0.05 m diameter monolith reactor, operated co-current downward in the Taylor flow regime, was investigated and quantified using gamma ray computed tomography (CT). The results indicate that the flow distribution is a strong function of liquid distributor design, and gas and liquid superficial velocities. Additionally, within the range of gas and liquid superficial velocities investigated, a window of operating condition (gas and liquid velocities) was identified which resulted in a close to uniform phase distribution.     

Constructal optimization of arborescent structures with flow singularities

This article presents analytical resolutions of the problem of optimal channel size distribution for arborescent (ramified, branched, tree-like) networks used as flow distributors or collectors. The distributor network connects a single inlet port to an array of outlet ports distributed over a specified square or rectangular surface (point-to-surface problem), and the reverse for a collector. The optimization problem is formulated as follows: find the distribution of channel radii that minimizes total viscous dissipation (or entropy production, pumping power, pressure drop) under constraints of uniform irrigation and of total volume of channels (or of average residence time) and the assumption that the flow is split equally between branches at each junction. With respect to earlier work, the present approach does not assume Poiseuille flow, but accounts instead for singular pressure losses in T-type junctions. Different situations are investigated, with the pressure loss coefficient being either a constant for the whole structure, or depending on local flow conditions. The case where both Poiseuille and singular pressure losses are present is also addressed. Also two types of networks are taken as illustrations: a dichotomic tree (a branch divides into two sub-branches), and a tetratomic tree (a branch divides into four sub-branches).The analytical results are in the form of scaling relations between the different levels of the arborescence, and in the form of distributions for channel radii, dissipation, pressure drop, porous volumes. A so-called “constructal function” is introduced that depends on the network structure and on the pressure loss relation, and is calculable as the sum of a geometric series. All explicit relations for the above quantities may then be expressed in a compact fashion in terms of the constructal function. A remarkable property of the optimized structures concerns the distribution of dissipation density (i.e. dissipation divided by volume): when the singular pressure loss coefficient is independent of local flow conditions, this quantity is uniform over the whole structure, thus satisfying “equipartition of entropy production”. A weaker form of this property is found when the singular pressure drop coefficient depends on local conditions (parity dependence).     

THE EFFECTS OF DISTRIBUTOR DESIGN ON FLUIDIZED-BED HYDRODYNAMIC BEHAVIOR

should be addressed. The distributor was investigated for the purpose of design and scale up of large fluidized-bed combustors. Four orifice plates with different configurations were used to study the effect of distributor design on bubble formation and solid mixing. Experiments were carried out on a three-dimensional fluidized bed of 27.94 cm diameter and a two-dimensional bed with dimensions of 30.48cm ×1.27 cm. Motion pictures were used to study bubble formation and coalescence. Pressure profiles inside the three-dimensional bed were measured for several distributors to study bubble flow patterns, and tracer particles were used to study mixing patterns at various superficial velocities and particle sizes. The results show that the distributor plate with two-size orifices causes a non-uniform gas bubble flow inside the bed. This non-uniform gas bubble flow is associated with variations in local bed density and local voidage. Horizontal or radial solid circulation is also caused by this non-uniform gas bubble flow. The local bed density and voidage variations and the radial solid circulation cause the bubbles to move toward the area above the smaller orifices as the bubbles rise up and coalesce. This reduces the wall effect, and the bed is very uniformly fluidized when the two-size orifice plate with small holes in the center is employed.     

Experimental research of flow patterns and pressure signals in horizontal dense phase pneumatic conveying of pulverized coal

Understanding flow patterns and their variability is important for optimal design and trouble free dense phase pneumatic conveying of pulverized coal in a horizontal tube. Employing the electrical capacitance tomography (ECT), six flow patterns were identified and utilized for quantitative analysis based on the value and distribution of cross-sectional solid concentration. The dense-phase flow patterns in the horizontal tube of the pneumatic conveying system were somehow variable even when the operating conditions were unchanged. The probability calculation results suggest changing multiple flow patterns with one or two dominant flow for each of the seven sets of experimental conveying conditions and that a finite change in the dominant flow pattern would occur with an increasing superficial gas velocity. The power spectral density (PSD) function and the Hurst exponent of the pressure signals of the pulverized coal were well correlated with its flow patterns in a horizontal tube. The PSD functions and probability density functions (PDFs) of the void fraction signals from ECT are found to be related with flow patterns and can be used to quantitatively identify flow regimes. The ECT data may therefore be utilized for monitoring the flow patterns in a horizontal tube employed for pneumatic conveying of pulverized coal.     

流化床多管式气流分布器的研究 (Ⅱ)分布器设计参数的确定

本文对流化床多管式气流分布器的设计问题进行了研究.在实验基础上,提出了主要设计参数的计算方法,并给出电子计算机设计计算实例.