Design study of printer nozzle spray dryer by computational fluid dynamics modeling

Abstract

Milk powder production is one of the most energy-consuming processes in the dairy industry. To reduce production costs and increase spray dryer efficiency, the EU sponsored an international project named ENTHALPY. One of the results of the project was the development of mathematical models and computational fluid dynamics simulation methodology for the milk spray-drying process. This article introduces the methodology of CFD model development and presents simulation results as the basis for further drying tower design optimization. The CFD simulations were performed for a new design of monodisperse multistream atomizer. As a result of the CFD simulation, sets of parameters such as drying efficiency, protein thermal degradation, collision frequency, and wall deposition were obtained.     

Isothermal Drying of Pore Networks: Influence of Friction for Different Pore Structures

An existing network model for isothermal drying of capillary porous media is extended to account for viscosity in the liquid phase so that it is no longer restricted to structures with large pores. Modeling challenges and solution methods are presented in detail. The model is compared with a bundle of capillaries model of drying. Finally, simulation results for two-dimensional pore networks with mono-modal and bimodal pore structure are shown and discussed.     

Feature Extraction for Crack Detection in Rain Conditions

The solution of the features selection problem is critical for robust detection of crack signals in noisy environment, varying from short-time impulses such as raindrops to the wide-band white Gaussian noise. In this paper, two novel feature selection methods were used to reduce an initial set of 90 features, 67 estimated in the time domain and 23 in the frequency domain, decreasing significantly the memory requirements and the computational complexity of a Radial-Basis-Function (RBF) cracks detector. The evaluation process is carried out in a database including of more than 6000 cracks, raindrops and simultaneous crack and raindrops signals. Additive white Gaussian noise is used to distort the real signals at ?20 to 20 dB Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR). The experimental results show that the number of features can be reduced to approximately 25, without affecting the classification rate of cracks and raindrops in the noisy signals, if the SNR is better than 0 dB. In noise-free environment a classification rate of 91% for a single crack/raindrop event is achieved using only five features. A different set of five features reaches a rate of 85% at 10 dB SNR.     

KnowBaSICS-M: an ontology-based system for semantic management of medical problems and computerised algorithmic solutions

In this paper, an ontology-based system (KnowBaSICS-M) is presented for the semantic management of Medical Computational Problems (MCPs), i.e., medical problems and computerised algorithmic solutions. The system provides an open environment, which: (1) allows clinicians and researchers to retrieve potential algorithmic solutions pertinent to a medical problem and (2) enables incorporation of new MCPs into its underlying Knowledge Base (KB). KnowBaSICS-M is a modular system for MCP acquisition and discovery that relies on an innovative ontology-based model incorporating concepts from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS). Information retrieval (IR) is based on an ontology-based Vector Space Model (VSM) that estimates the similarity among user-defined MCP search criteria and registered MCP solutions in the KB. The results of a preliminary evaluation and specific examples of use are presented to illustrate the benefits of the system. KnowBaSICS-M constitutes an approach towards the construction of an integrated and manageable MCP repository for the biomedical research community.     

Immune Microenvironment and Immunotherapeutic Management in Virus-Associated Digestive System Tumors

The development of cancer is a multifactorial phenomenon, while it constitutes a major global health problem. Viruses are an important factor that is involved in tumorigenesis and is associated with 12.1% of all cancer cases. Major examples of oncogenic viruses which are closely associated with the digestive system are HBV, HCV, EBV, HPV, JCV, and CMV. EBV, HPV, JCV, and CMV directly cause oncogenesis by expressing oncogenic proteins that are encoded in their genome. In contrast, HBV and HCV are correlated indirectly with carcinogenesis by causing chronic inflammation in the infected organs. In addition, the tumor microenvironment contains various immune cells, endothelial cells, and fibroblasts, as well as several growth factors, cytokines, and other tumor-secreted molecules that play a key role in tumor growth, progression, and migration, while they are closely interrelated with the virus. The presence of T-regulatory and B-regulatory cells in the tumor microenvironment plays an important role in the anti-tumor immune reaction. The tumor immune microenvironments differ in each type of cancer and depend on viral infection. The alterations in the immune microenvironment caused by viruses are also reflected in the effectiveness of immunotherapy. The present review aims at shedding light on the association between viruses and digestive system malignancies, the characteristics of the tumor immune microenvironment that develop, and the possible treatments that can be administered.     

Turbulent Flow Over and Within a Porous Bed

The characteristics of turbulent flow in open channels with a porous bed are studied numerically and experimentally. The “microscopic” approach is followed, by which the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are solved numerically in conjunction with a low-Re k-ε turbulence model above and within the porous bed. The latter is represented by a bundle of cylindrical rods of certain diameter and spacing, resulting in permeability K ranging from 5.5490×10?7 to 4.1070×10?4?m2 and porosity ? from 0.4404 to 0.8286. Mean velocities and turbulent stresses are measured for ? = 0.8286 using hot-film anemometry. Emphasis is given to the effect of Darcy number Da on the flow properties over and within the porous region. Computed and experimental velocities in the free flow are shown to decrease with increasing Da due to the strong momentum exchange near the porous medium/free flow interface and the corresponding penetration of turbulence into the porous layer for highly permeable beds. Computed discharge indicates the significant reduction of the channel capacity, compared to the situation with an impermeable bed. On the contrary, laminar flow computations, along with analytical solutions and measurements, indicate opposite effects of the porous medium on the free flow.