MULTIORIFICE DISTRIBUTOR DESIGN FOR FLUIDISED BEDS.

A METHOD IS PROPOSED FOR THE DESIGN OF A MULTIORIFICE DISTRIBUTOR FOR A FLUIDIZED BED. A MODEL HAS BEEN DEVELOPED TO EVALUATE THE MINIMUM DISTRIBUTOR PRESSURE DROP REQUIRED TO MAINTAIN ALL THE ORIFICES OF THE DISTRIBUTOR ACTIVE. THIS CRITICAL DISTRIBUTOR PRESSURE DROP IS DEPENDENT ON THE OPERATING CONDITIONS AND BED CHARACTERISTICS U, ″RHO″ //F, A//T, U//M//F AND H//M//F. THE MODEL HAS BEEN TESTED BY EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS CONDUCTED IN A 815 MM * 14 MM TWO-DIMENSIONAL FLUIDIZED BED. THE FLUIDIZED SOLIDS WERE GLASS BALLOTINI PARTICLES AND FUSED ALUMINA. FIVE MULTIORIFICE DISTRIBUTORS, COVERING A WIDE RANGE OF NUMBER AND SIZE OF ORIFICES, WERE USED. FOR EACH DESIGN OF DISTRIBUTOR, THE BED WAS FLUIDIZED AT THREE DIFFERENT BED HEIGHTS. BED HEIGHT WAS FOUND TO AFFECT THE PERFORMANCE OF DISTRIBUTORS AND SHOULD BE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION IN THEIR DESIGN, EXCEPT IN THE CASE OF VERY DEEP BEDS. THE EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH MODEL PREDICTIONS.