Experimental data for code validation: Horizontal air jets in a semicircular fluidized bed of Geldart Group D particles

Experiments were conducted with 6 mm plastic beads (Geldart Group D) in a semi‐circular, gas‐fluidized bed with side jets. Attention was paid to particle characterization and bed measurements, making the resulting dataset ideal for CFD‐DEM validation and uncertainty quantification. The bed was operated slightly above and below the minimum fluidization velocity, with additional fluidization provided by one of two pairs of opposing jets located above the distributor near the flat, front face of the unit. Care is taken to report material properties and bed conditions with either measured distribution functions or uncertainty bounds. High‐speed video imaging and particle tracking velocimetry are used to extract bin‐averaged velocity profiles, which are used to extract jet penetration depths. The time‐averaged mean and standard deviation of the bed pressure drop is also reported. Finally, the lower jets are also inserted into the bed until the opposing jets merge to form a spout‐like pattern. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 2351–2363, 2018     

Experimental study on solid circulation in a multiple jet fluidized bed

Particle image velocimetry was used to investigate the evolution of multiple inlet gas jets located at the distributor base of a two‐dimensional fluidized bed setup. Results were used to estimate the solid circulation rate of the fluidized bed as well as particle‐entrainment into the individual jets. The effects of fluidization velocity, orifice diameter, orifice pitch, particle diameter, and particle density were studied. It was determined from this study that the solid circulation rate linearly increased with an increase in the fluidization velocity until the multiple jet system transitioned from isolated to an interacting system. In the interacting system of jets, the solid circulation increased with fluidization velocity but at a much lower rate. For multiple jet systems, this phenomenon may indicate the presence of an optimum operating condition with high circulation rate and low air input in the bed. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 3003–3015, 2012     

Investigation of fluidized bed behaviour using electrical capacitance tomography

The temporal and cross-sectional distributions of particles in a 127 mm diameter fluidized bed have been obtained using a new generation, high-speed electrical capacitance tomography. Two planes of eight electrodes were used and mounted at 160 and 660 mm from the gas distributor which was a 3 mm thick porous plastic plate (maximum pore size of 50-70 μ m). 3 mm diameter, nearly-spherical polyethylene granules made up the bed. Experiments at sampling frequencies of 200-2000 cross-sections per second and gas superficial velocities from just below the minimum fluidization to 83% above minimum fluidization velocities were used. The time series of the cross-sectional average void fractions have been examined both directly and in amplitude and frequency space. The last two used probability density functions and power spectral densities. The information gathered shows that the fluidized bed was operating in the slugging mode, which is not surprising given the size of the particles. It has been found that an increase in the excess gas velocity above the minimum fluidization velocity resulted in an increase in the mean void fraction, an increase in the length and velocity of the slug bubbles as well as the bed height, and a slight decrease in the slug frequency. The results are presented in a level of detail suitable for comparison with later numerical simulation.     

采用切圆射流及旋流布风板改进鼓泡床行为

用侧面切圆射流和旋流布风板造成了鼓泡流化床内气固流动的新流型。本文将改进鼓泡床与普通鼓泡床进行比较,在同样的空气量下,气泡尺寸减小,床面波动降低,加强了固体颗粒的横向混合,延长了颗粒床内停留时间。还研究了侧面切圆射流占总风量的份额、射流速度、喷入位置及角度对流化质量的影响。     

Determination of minimum fluidization velocity by the statistical analysis of pressure fluctuations in a gas—solid fluidized bed

The pressure fluctuations in a gas—solid fluidized bed were measured by a differential pressure transducer (DPT). It was found from this study that the measuring height on the axis of a bed was a very important factor for the determination of minimum fluidization velocity from the linear relationship between standard deviation and air velocity. That is, the linearity between two parameters is strongly dependent on the distance above the distributor, because the pressure fluctuations are influenced by the jet formed at the distributor and the bubble coalescence, which depend on particle size and air velocity.     

振动流化床中流动结构的混沌分析

在内径90mm、静床高800mm的高床层流化床中,用动态压力传感器检测了不同气速条件下普通流化床和振动流化床中沿轴向的压力脉动信号,通过小波变换对信号除噪后,用混沌理论对信号进行了分析.通过关联维数和Kolmogorov熵定量表征振动流化床中的流动结构特征.结果表明:压力脉动信号的关联维数和Kolmogorov熵能够描述振动流化床中的流化状态;振动流化床中床层的流动结构存在两个区,在近分布板区域为射流区,床层主体部分为均匀流化区.     

INTERACTING JETS IN A FLUIDIZED BED

This work extends the Pitot-tube probe technique to the study of jetting phenomena in a three-dimensional, high-temperature gas-solid fluidized bed. For an isolated jet, the jet height was defined as the intersection of two momentum flux profiles, one along the jet axis and the other in the emulsion phase. A study of two adjacent jets confirmed that the measured jet heights were close to the visual jet heights observed through a window in the bed.

In two adjacent jets, the jets behave like two isolated jets at low nozzle velocities. As the nozzle velocity increases, the jet heights reach a maximum height in the transition zone. The jets begin to interact after the transition zone, and the jet height becomes a constant.

Similar results are obtained for two kinds of perforated-plate distributors. The maximum jet height for multiple, interacting jets is a function only of distributor geometry and is well predicted by a simple geometric model.     

Fluidization of Group B particles with a rotating distributor

A novel rotating distributor fluidized bed is presented. The distributor is a rotating perforated plate, with 1% open-area ratio. This work evaluates the performance of this new design, considering pressure drop, Δp, and quality of fluidization. Bed fluidization was easily achieved with the proposed device, improving the solid mixing and the quality of fluidization.In order to examine the effect of the rotational speed of the distributor plate on the hydrodynamic behavior of the bed, minimum fluidization velocity, U_mf, and pressure fluctuations were analyzed. Experiments were conducted in the bubbling free regime in a 0.19 m i.d. fluidized bed, operating with Group B particles according to Geldart's classification. The pressure drop across the bed and the standard deviation of pressure fluctuations, σ_p, were used to find the minimum fluidization velocity, U_mf. A decrease in U_mf is observed when the rotational speed increases and a rise in the measured pressure drop was also found. Frequency analysis of pressure fluctuations shows that fluidization can be controlled by the adjustable rotational speed, at several excess gas velocities.Measurements with several initial static bed heights were taken, in order to analyze the influence of the initial bed mass inventory, over the effect of the distributor rotation on the bed hydrodynamics.     

Mixing and circulation in fluidized beds of flour

The mixing and bulk circulation characteristics of a fluidized bed of wheat flour having a relatively high aspect ratio were determined with a 6 in. diam. column fitted with a slowly revolving paddle just above the gas distributor. In this system the bulk of the solids moved down the column in stick-slip flow which was readily observed because of the appearance of relatively stable horizontal cracks in the bed. At lower gas velocities the behavior of the system was characterized by zone fluidization which led to erratic and unreproducible mixing performance. Operation at greater than twice the minimum fluidization velocity overcame this problem and provided consistent mixing. An increase in gas velocity increased the bulk circulation rate and reduced the batch mixing time.The solids next to the wall of the column seemed to move at the same rate as the core of the bed, at least at lower gas velocities. The downward velocity of these solids was directly proportional to gas velocity and to bed height and a complex function of flour moisture content. The velocity also depended on vertical position but not on the speed of the rotating paddle.Adding an anti-agglomerant promoted smooth fluidization and reduced the minimum fluidization velocity, and for the same relative gas velocity it increased the bulk circulation rate and reduced the batch mixing time.     

The effect of distributor rotation on gas mixing in a fluidized bed

The influence of distributor rotation on gas dispersion in a 15 cm diameter fluidized bed was investigated at four rotational speeds. Gas concentrations were determined at various bed depths and radial positions, according to a recently developed method. The concentration profiles were compared with those of a two-dimensional diffusion model. Rotation of the distributor plate caused an increase in the radial dispersion of the gas essentially at fluidization velocities within a range of u_mf.     

Effect of air distributor on the fluidization characteristics in conical gas fluidized beds

The effect of an air distributor on the fluidization characteristics of 1 mm glass beads has been determined in a conical gas fluidized bed (0.1 m-inlet diameter and 0.6 m in height) with an apex angle of 20‡. To determine the effect of distributor geometry, five different perforated distributors were employed (the opening fraction of 0.009–0.037, different hole size, and number). The differential bed pressure drop increases with increasing gas velocity, and it goes from zero to a maximum value with increasing or decreasing gas velocity. From the differential bed pressure drop profiles with the distributors having different opening fractions, demarcation velocities of the minimum and maximum velocities of the partial fluidization, full fluidization, partial defluidization and the full defluidization are determined. Also, bubble frequencies in the conical gas fluidized beds were measured by an optical probe. In the conical bed, the gas velocity at which the maximum bed pressure drop attained increases with increasing the opening fraction of distributors.     

基于图像法喷动床内空隙率研究

利用图像二值化方法处理图片,并采用Matlab编程实现空隙率的测量,从微观层次分析空隙率对喷动流化床内流动状态的影响。研究了颗粒粒径、喷口数量和表观气速对空隙率分布的影响。结果表明,增大表观气速使床层底部的稀相区增大,床层膨胀高度增加,空隙率也随之增加。增大颗粒粒径会增大最小临界流化速率,所以在其达到流化状态后流化床内颗粒粒径增大,床内喷动区空隙率减小比较明显。在相同条件下,与单喷口相比双喷口在床层底部附近存在合并射流,同时颗粒能到达的高度显著增加,底部两侧停滞区面积减小。结合对空隙率的分析,提出一种新的表征流化床内流化状态的参数(流化指数),可以直观地表示流化床内颗粒的流化状态。     

单组分颗粒振动流化床的流体力学研究（2）──床层膨胀和起始流化速度

本文在振动流化床中研究床层膨胀和颗粒的起始流化速度,分别研究颗粒物性、振动特性（频率、振幅）和静止床层高度对它们的影响,根据不同的振动条件下Ｇｅｌｄａｒｔ’Ａ、Ｂ、Ｄ类１３种物料起始流化速度的实验结果,关联了实验条件下起始流化速度的计算式,此计算式对振动流化床的设计具有指导意义。     

A comparative hydrodynamic study of two types of spouted bed reactor designs

In order to properly design and scale up spouted beds, one needs to predict the minimum spouting velocity of specific systems having different bed dimensions, and properties of particle and spouting gas. Because of inherent complexity of predicting minimum spouting velocity, the prevailing approach has been to use empirical correlations, a number of which are available in the literature. Central jet distributors are commonly used in the experimental studies reported in the literature. Circular slit distributor is a new concept in which air is supplied to the bed of particles through a circular slit. This paper presents results of an experimental study on the hydrodynamics of central jet and circular slit distributors. In this paper a fully connected feed-forward neural network model was used to predict the minimum spouting velocity of central jet and circular slit spouted beds. A neural network model was also developed to predict minimum fluidization velocity. The actual experimental data obtained from published literature and from the experiments carried out in this study were used for training and validating the models. The minimum spouting and fluidization velocities predicted using the neural network models developed in this study show a better approximation to the actual experimental values than those obtained from correlations available in the open literature. The position of flow regime of circular slit spouted bed was also established relative to the flow regimes of central jet spouted bed and fluidized bed.     

Effect of Scattering by Fluidization of Electrically Conductive Beads on Electrical Field Intensity Profile in Microwave Dryers

Abstract:

A technology to apply a fluidized bed of electrically conductive beads is proposed to improve uniformity of the electric field intensity in microwave dryers, which are required for uniform heating of wet media. The principle of this effectiveness lies in a dynamic random scattering of microwave due to motion of the conductive beads in the bed. The electrically conductive beads were prepared by wrapping aluminum foil around styrene foam balls with cellophane tape. The diameter and density were 13 mm and 123 kg/m³, respectively. The minimum fluidizing velocity of these beads agreed with the one predicted by the Wen–Yu equation when the distributor was a porous plate. However, the fluidization of the beads took place at a lower gas rate than the minimum fluidizing velocity due to a jet flow from the small pores for the distributor of a perforate plate. The intensity in the applicator of a commercial microwave oven became the most uniform when the beads were fluidized with a uniform holdup profile along the height of the bed placed in front of the applicator walls. The dynamic effect making the intensity uniform by the fluidization was advanced by increasing the area of apparent reflection by the fluidized bed and the holdup of beads and was superior to a conventional stirring blade.     

稻草及热解半焦颗粒流化特性

研究了稻草及不同温度热解半焦颗粒在内径100 mm、高1000 mm的有机玻璃流化床中的流化特性. 结果表明,稻草颗粒无法单独流化,而其热解半焦颗粒可单独流化;半焦颗粒的最小流化速度随粒径增大而增大,与床层高度无关,筛分粒径为0.45~0.9, 0.18~0.45, 0.125~0.18 mm的半焦颗粒的最小流化速度分别为0.19, 0.16, 0.14 m/s;300~550℃温度范围内稻草热解半焦颗粒的流化特性无明显区别;半焦与稻草颗粒混合流化时,稻草颗粒不大于20%(w)时床层有较好的流化质量,混合颗粒的最小流化速度都随混合颗粒中稻草含量增大而增大.     

Geometrical and hydrodynamical study of gas jets in packed and fluidized beds using magnetic resonance

Magnetic resonance (MR) was used to image the motion of particles and gas just above the distributor of 3D beds of particles fluidized by air. Three different distributors were used: (i) a single‐orifice distributor, with orifice diameters 1.0–4.0 mm, (ii) a plate, drilled with a triangular array of 79 holes, each of 0.35 mm diameter, with a central nozzle containing a single hole of diameter 1.0, 2.5, or 9.0 mm, (iii) distributors with two or three orifices and diameters of 1.0 or 2.5 mm. It proved possible to extract geometrical information, such as the length of a jet, from MR images, each averaged over ～5 min. Also, light was shed on the question of why is there such a discrepancy between reported jet‐lengths. The fluidization state, the “start‐up” procedure and also the number of holes all play a significant role in determining the measured distance a jet penetrates into a bed. The question as to whether the observed voids represent permanent jets or streams of bubbles was considered. The evidence from ultra‐fast MR measurements strongly suggests that only the lower part of a jet from an orifice in a multi‐orifice distributor is permanent; bubbles form at the top of the jet. Consequently, the top of each jet is transient. However, most of the jet from a single orifice is a permanent cavity when the bed of particles is not fluidized. The length of a jet was successfully correlated with operating variables using dimensional analysis. Finally, the flow of particles around a single jet was measured with high resolution MR.     

气-液-固三相逆流化床动力学研究

在内径0.152 m,高2.5 m的气-液-固三相逆流化床中系统研究了动力学特性。获得了气体和液体速度及聚乙烯和聚丙烯颗粒密度对各相含率和最小液体流化速度的影响规律。研究发现随着气体速度的增加,液体最小流化速度降低;随着气体或液体速度增加,气体、液体和固体含率均增加。     

Effect of distributors on Gas—Solid Fluidization

The efficient operation of a fluidized bed is very much dependent upon distributor performance, which in turn depends on its design parameters. The work reported here deals with the characteristics of such distributors as are commonly employed in laboratories, pilot plant and large scale operations. Specifically a porous plate distributor, two bubble cap distributors of different geometries and four Johnson screen distibutors of different percent open area have been investigated in a 30.5 cm by 30.5 cm square fluidized bed as a function of air fluidizing velocity and bed height. The pressure drop data for all the distributors have been correlated by a single equation with two unknown constants. The ratio of distributor pressure drop to bed pressure drop is found to increase rapidly with increase in fluidization velocity. The bed expansion ratio is found to increase with increase in excess fluidization velocity and distributor pressure drop but decreases with increase in bed height or weight.     

Effects of acoustic vibration on nano and sub-micron powders fluidization

Fluidization of nano and sub-micron powders with and without acoustic vibration was investigated. The effects of sound pressure level and frequency were studied. Loudspeakers located under the distributor plate were used as the sound source to disintegrate larger agglomerates concentrated at the bottom of the bed. Nanoparticles showed fluid-like behavior similar to Geldart's A group and application of sound vibration improved their fluidization quality. Submicron particles were hard to fluidize and their fluidization quality was partially improved by sound excitation. Bed compaction, caused by rearranging of the agglomerates, was observed for submicron particles at low gas velocities while the bed was fixed. Nanoparticles did not experience any bed compaction. Sound vibration led to a decrease in minimum fluidization velocity and an increase in bed pressure drop and bed expansion for both types of particles. The fluidization quality of both particles increased at low frequencies, while the reverse was observed at higher frequencies. Fluidization of these particles was improved by increasing sound pressure level. There was a critical sound pressure level of 110 dB, below which the effect of sound vibration was insignificant. A novel technique was employed to find the apparent minimum fluidization velocity from pressure drop signals.