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1 – 10 of 50Wei Wang and Hairui Yang
Rectangular fluidised beds are commonly used in industry, e.g. circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boilers. Apparently, no one has tried to imagine rectangular fluidised beds by…
Abstract
Purpose
Rectangular fluidised beds are commonly used in industry, e.g. circulating fluidised bed (CFB) boilers. Apparently, no one has tried to imagine rectangular fluidised beds by electrical capacitance tomography (ECT). The purpose of this paper is to design a rectangular ECT sensor to understand the behaviour of a rectangular CFB riser.
Design/methodology/approach
A rectangular sensor with eight electrodes is adopted to obtain the capacitance data. The sensitivity map is simulated to calculate the grey level of pixels for visualisation using the linear back‐projection algorithm.
Findings
Experiments showed that the position of the objects in the riser can be obviously indicated and the central region of the object(s) has significantly higher grey level than other regions in the images using the rectangular ECT sensor.
Research limitations/implications
It has a limitation in providing a higher resolution image.
Practical implications
The results obtained by the rectangular ECT sensor show that it is promising to study the characteristics of flow non‐uniformity in the fast fluidisation regime of CFB.
Originality/value
Without using square and circular ECT sensors, this is the first time a rectangular ECT sensor has been developed to study the unique problems of the characteristics of flow non‐uniformity in a rectangular CFB riser.
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Wan Norhisyam Abd Rashid, Elmy Johana Mohamad, Ruzairi Abdul Rahim, Jaafar Abdullah and Hanis Liyana Mohmad Ameran
There are demands from the industry to have a modern application of Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) system which is mobile and agile. One of the factors why such system is…
Abstract
Purpose
There are demands from the industry to have a modern application of Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT) system which is mobile and agile. One of the factors why such system is needed in the industry is because of the requirement to install the measurement sensors in a hostile and harsh environment which demands a special kind of ECT system. This paper will discuss the features of mobile or portable ECT which is more practical to be implemented in the harsh environment. Besides, the implementation of cloud computing and wireless technology in the portable ECT systems is also discussed. This review outlines some key features of portable or in another word mobile ECT as a complete system.
Design/methodology/approach
There are demands from the industry to have a modern application of ECT system which is mobile and agile. One of the factors why such system is needed in the industry is due to the requirement to install the measurement sensors in hostile and harsh environment which demands a special kind of ECT systems. This paper will discuss the features of mobile or portable ECT which is more practical to be implemented in the harsh environment. Besides, the implementation of cloud computing and wireless technology in the portable ECT systems is also being discussed. This review outlines some key features of portable or in another word mobile ECT as a complete system.
Findings
This review outlines some key features of portable or in another word mobile ECT as a complete system. A lot of improvement can be done to realize a reliable and stable ECT system. It is seems that in the near future, machine to machine communication will become the main stream.
Originality/value
This paper fulfils an identified need to study improvement that can be done to develop a portable ECT system which is reliable and stable. Besides, the implementation of cloud computing and wireless technology in the portable ECT systems is also discussed.
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Lucilla Coelho de Almeida, Joao Americo Aguirre Oliveira Junior and Jian Su
This paper aims to present a novel approach for computing particle temperatures in simulations coupling computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM) to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a novel approach for computing particle temperatures in simulations coupling computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and discrete element method (DEM) to predict flow and heat transfer in fluidized beds of thermally thick spherical particles.
Design/methodology/approach
An improved lumped formulation based on Hermite-type approximations for integrals to relate surface temperature to average temperature and surface heat flux is used to overcome the limitations of classical lumped models. The model is validated through comparisons with analytical solutions for a convectively cooled sphere and experimental data for a fixed particle bed. The coupled CFD-DEM model is then applied to simulate a Geldart D bubbling fluidized bed, comparing the results to those obtained using the classical lumped model.
Findings
The validation cases demonstrate that ignoring internal thermal resistance can significantly impact the temperature in cases where the Biot number is greater than 0.1. The results for the fixed bed case clearly demonstrate that the proposed method yields significantly improved outcomes compared to the classical model. The fluidized bed results show that surface temperature can deviate considerably from the average temperature, underscoring the importance of accurately accounting for surface temperature in convective heat transfer predictions and surface processes.
Originality/value
The proposed approach offers a physically more consistent simulation without imposing a significant increase in computational cost. The improved lumped formulation can be easily and inexpensively integrated into a typical DEM solver workflow to predict heat transfer for spherical particles, with important implications for various industrial applications.
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Hanqiao Che and Tang Chen
The objective of this study is to investigate several issues related to particle circulation within the TFB, including exploring an appropriate method to quantify particle…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this study is to investigate several issues related to particle circulation within the TFB, including exploring an appropriate method to quantify particle circulation time, the effects of different operational parameters on particle circulation time, and the relationship between particle mixing and particle circulation.
Design/methodology/approach
The computational fluid dynamics coupled with the discrete element method (CFD-DEM) is applied to investigate the particle circulation characteristics of a tapered fluidized bed (TFB). An approach for defining particle circulation, which accounts for the horizontal motion of each particle, is proposed to estimate particle circulation time.
Findings
It is found that the overall particle circulation in a TFB could be accelerated by increasing air velocity and wall inclination angle, while an increase in particle size and an increase in inter-particle cohesive forces decelerate particle circulation; the increase in the open area ratio of the central region of the air distributor would decelerate the particle circulation. Moreover, the particle circulation time and mixing rate are independent variables that describe the flow dynamics of particles from different perspectives.
Practical implications
A large part of fluidized beds in industrial applications can be classified as TFB. This study presents a numerical method to obtain detailed knowledge about particle circulation in a TFB, which is essential for the design, optimization, and control of related processes.
Originality/value
The particle circulation in a TFB is important but rarely investigated, and it is hard to be quantified using existing experimental approaches. The proposed numerical workflow reveals the characteristics of particle circulation from a particle-scale perspective.
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THE problem of the dissipation and transfer of heat is one that is becoming of increasing importance in aircraft with the introduction of gas‐turbines and jet propulsion as well…
Abstract
THE problem of the dissipation and transfer of heat is one that is becoming of increasing importance in aircraft with the introduction of gas‐turbines and jet propulsion as well as in view of the prospects of flight at high altitudes. We are therefore printing below summaries of all the papers read at the recent Anglo‐American conference on the subject, although some of them are not directly concerned with aeronautical applications.
Examines research work into the design and development oflow‐to‐medium volume production systems. Outlines the aim todesign a production unit capable of manufacturing a family of…
Abstract
Examines research work into the design and development of low‐to‐medium volume production systems. Outlines the aim to design a production unit capable of manufacturing a family of products, with a minimum amount of manual intervention. Investigates the use of flexible fixturing strategies using sensor‐based assembly techniques, and the concept of using modular fixture kits to locate and constrain the workpiece, including programmable conformable clamps. Looks at various assembly techniques and commercially available systems. Concludes that a number of novel assembly systems have been proposed and developed in the laboratory but that further research is needed to develop more advanced fixture design, task‐planning and analysis systems.
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Last month our introductory article summarised the general advantages and limitations of these materials for anti‐corrosion work. This second article surveys the more complex…
Abstract
Last month our introductory article summarised the general advantages and limitations of these materials for anti‐corrosion work. This second article surveys the more complex field of applying the various types of coating to the surfaces to be protected. Since failure of a plastics coating in a corrosive environment—if the plastics was a proper choice—is nearly always due to poor application, the use of correct methods is vitally important in guaranteeing the life of a coated surface
The purpose of this paper is to show how particle scale simulation of industrial particle flows using DEM (discrete element method) offers the opportunity for better understanding…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show how particle scale simulation of industrial particle flows using DEM (discrete element method) offers the opportunity for better understanding of the flow dynamics leading to improvements in equipment design and operation.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper explores the breadth of industrial applications that are now possible with a series of case studies.
Findings
The paper finds that the inclusion of cohesion, coupling to other physics such fluids, and its use in bubbly and reacting flows are becoming increasingly viable. Challenges remain in developing models that balance the depth of the physics with the computational expense that is affordable and in the development of measurement and characterization processes to provide this expanding array of input data required. Steadily increasing computer power has seen model sizes grow from thousands of particles to many millions over the last decade, which steadily increases the range of applications that can be modelled and the complexity of the physics that can be well represented.
Originality/value
The paper shows how better understanding of the flow dynamics leading to improvements in equipment design and operation can potentially lead to large increases in equipment and process efficiency, throughput and/or product quality. Industrial applications can be characterised as large, involving complex particulate behaviour in typically complex geometries. The critical importance of particle shape on the behaviour of granular systems is demonstrated. Shape needs to be adequately represented in order to obtain quantitative predictive accuracy for these systems.
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C.J. Visser, A.G. Malan and J.P. Meyer
The purpose of this paper is to focus on modeling buoyancy driven viscous flow and heat transfer through saturated packed pebble‐beds via a set of homogeneous volume‐averaged…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on modeling buoyancy driven viscous flow and heat transfer through saturated packed pebble‐beds via a set of homogeneous volume‐averaged conservation equations in which local thermal disequilibrium is accounted for.
Design/methodology/approach
The local thermal disequilibrium accounted for refers to the solid and liquid phases differing in temperature in a volume‐averaged sense, which is modeled by describing each phase with its own governing equation. The partial differential equations are discretized and solved via a vertex‐centered edge‐based dual‐mesh finite volume algorithm. A compact stencil is used for viscous terms, as this offers improved accuracy compared to the standard finite volume formulation. A locally preconditioned artificial compressibility solution strategy is employed to deal with pressure incompressibility, whilst stabilisation is achieved via a scalar‐valued artificial dissipation scheme.
Findings
The developed technology is demonstrated via the solution of natural convective flow inside a heated porous axisymmetric cavity. Predicted results were in general within 10 per cent of experimental measurements.
Originality/value
This is the first instance in which both artificial compressibility and artificial dissipation is employed to model flow through saturated porous materials.
Details
Keywords
K.P. Karunakaran, Alain Bernard, S. Suryakumar, Lucas Dembinski and Georges Taillandier
The purpose of this paper is to review additive and/or subtractive manufacturing methods for metallic objects and their gradual evolution from prototyping tools to rapid…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review additive and/or subtractive manufacturing methods for metallic objects and their gradual evolution from prototyping tools to rapid manufacture of actual parts.
Design/methodology/approach
Various existing rapid manufacturing (RM) methods have been classified into six groups, namely, CNC machining laminated manufacturing, powder‐bed technologies, deposition technologies, hybrid technologies and rapid casting technologies and discussed in detail. The RM methods have been further classified, based on criteria such as material, raw material form, energy source, etc. The process capabilities springing from these classifications are captured in the form of a table, which acts as a database.
Findings
Due to the approximation in RM in exchange for total automation, a variety of multi‐faceted and hybrid approaches has to be adopted. This study helps in choosing the appropriate RM process among these myriad technologies.
Originality/value
This review facilitates identification of appropriate RM process for a given situation and sets the framework for design for RM.
Details