A NOVEL QUICK-CLOSING PROBE FOR MEASURING LOCAL PARTICULATE PHASE DENSITY IN GAS-PARTICLE SUSPENSIONS

ABSTRACT

An innovative quick-closing probe system was designed, built, and tested for measuring the local particulate phase density of gas-particle suspensions. Experiments with glass beads and powder coals were conducted in a horizontal channel with an aspect ratio of 11 to 1, and also in a 0·25 m I.D. bench-scale vortex chamber. Results of particle density distributions in these two systems indicated the ability of the probe to perform in highly turbulent, swirling, dilute and intermediate phase gas-particle suspension flows. The probe was connected with a microcomputer-assisted particle weighing system for data collection and reduction. Comparison of measured data by this probe with calculated results was assessed. Since this probe requires no calibration curve nor empirical equation, it serves as a primary standard for particle density measurements. The design features, working principle, component characteristics, overall performance, and test results are discussed in this paper.