A system for measuring bubble voidage and frequency around tubes immersed in a fluidized bed of particles.
Gas-solid fluidized beds are common in chemical processing and energy production industries. These types of reactors frequently have banks of tubes immersed within the bed to provide heating or cooling, and it is important that the fluid dynamics within these bundles is efficient and uniform. This paper presents a simple, low-cost method for quantitatively analyzing the behavior of gas bubbles within banks of tubes in a fluidized bed cold flow model. Two probes, one containing an infrared emitter and one containing an infrared (IR) detector, are placed into adjacent glass tubes such that the emitter and detector face each other. As bubbles pass through the IR beam, the detector signal increases due to less solid material blocking the path between the emitter and detector. By calibrating the signal response to known voidage of the material, one can measure the bubble voidage at various locations within the tube bundle. The rate and size of bubbles passing through the beam can also be determined by high frequency data collection and subsequent analysis. This technique allows one to develop a map of bubble voidage within a fluidized bed, which can be useful for model validation and system optimization.
Particle tracking velocimetry investigations on density dependent velocity vector profiles of a swirling fluidized bed
ABSTRACT Swirling fluidized bed (SFB) is a newer version of the well-known bubbling bed and very little know. An insight study is therefore required for complete understanding of the hydrodynamics of a SFB operation. The current study was conducted on stable regime of a SFB operated at different blade fin angles, blade inclination angles, particle densities and superficial air velocities. Roughly one quarter of the fluidized bed was photographed and its velocity vector field plots were generated using a MATLAB supported particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) technique. At lower superficial velocities, Gaussian distribution of the velocity vectors was predicted along the radius of the bed. Particles in the vicinity of the bed walls moved relatively slower than those marching in the middle of the bed. However, at higher superficial velocities, the particles closer to the cone boundary were moving with velocities comparable to the particles in the middle of the bed. Unlikely, the particles closer to the outer bed wall kept on moving with lower velocities regardless of increasing superficial air velocity. A further look into individual velocity vector profiles revealed negligible influence of smaller blade angles (9° and 12°) on particles’ motion. The overall velocity magnitude decreased by 6% with 3° increase in blade fin angle and by 9% with 5° increase in inclination angle. Contrarily, the particle velocity underwent a monotonic decrease with particle density.
Distribution of the gas flow in fluidized beds with a slugging behaviour
Abstract Capacitance probe measurements of the visible bubble flow rate have been made in a pressurized fluidized bed burning coal. The bed, of 0.3 × 0.3 m cross-section, was operated at pressures between 1.0 and 2.0 MPa and at temperatures between 750 and 900°C. The fluidizing velocity was 0.95 m/s and the mean particle diameter was 0.9 mm. Based on the experimental results, a model of the gas distribution between the bubble phase and the particulate phase in fluidized beds with a slugging behaviour was developed. The model accounts for the lack of bubble flow obtained if the two-phase theory is employed. In order to verify the model, simultaneous measurements of the visible bubble flow rate and of the gas flow rate through the bubbles were carried out in a bed of similar geometry but operating at ambient conditions. In this bed the fludizing velocity was varied between 1.6 and 2.7 m/s and the mean particle diameter was 1.0 mm. The through-flow of gas was measured with the aid of pressure probes. Evaluation of the experimental results using the model showed that this gas through-flow in the bubble phase subsequently increases the superficial gas velocity in the particulate phase between the vertically aligned bubbles (slugs), and that this gas velocity in excess of the incipient fluidization velocity is responsible for the large deviation from the two-phase theory. The associated increase of the particulate phase voidage was calculated via the Ergun equation.