Influence of syngas components and ash particles on the radiative heat transfer in a radiant syngas cooler

Radiant syngas cooler(RSC)is widely used as a waste heat recovery equipment in industrial gasification.In this work,an RSC with radiation screens is established and the impact of gaseous radiative property models,gas components,and ash particles on heat transfer is investigated by the numerical simulation method.Considering the syngas components and the pressure environment of the RSC,a modified weighted-sum-of-gray-gases model was developed.The modified model shows high accuracy in validation.In computational fluid dynamics simulation,the calculated steam production is only 0.63%in error with the industrial data.Compared with Smith's model,the temperature decay along the axial direction calculated by the modified model is faster.Syngas components are of great significance to heat recovery capacity,especially when the absorbing gas fraction is less than 10%.After considering the influence of particles,the outlet temperature and the proportion of radiative heat transfer are less affected,but the difference in steam output reaches 2.7 t·h^(-1).The particle deposition on the wall greatly reduces the heat recovery performance of an RSC.

Analysis of the Erosion-Corrosion Mechanism of the Air Cooler in a Hydrocracking Unit:A Numerical and Experimental Study

Corrosion leakages often occur in the air cooler of a hydrocracking unit,with the failure sites mainly located in the entrance area of the tubes.An analysis of the macroscopic morphology and corrosion products confirmed that the damage was caused by erosion-corrosion(E-C).Numerical and experimental methods were applied to investigate the E-C mechanism in the air cooler.Computational fluid dynamics(CFD)was used to calculate the hydrodynamic parameters of the air cooler.The results showed that there was a biased flow in the air cooler,which led to a significant increase in velocity,turbulent kinetic energy and wall shear within 0.2 m of the tube entrance.A visualization experiment was then performed to determine the principles of migration and transformation of multiphase flow in the air cooler tubes.Various flow patterns(pure droplet flow,mist flow,and annular flow)and their evolutionary processes were clearly depicted experimentally.The initiation mechanism and processes leading to the development of E-C in the air cooler were also determined.This study provided a comprehensive explanation for the E-C failures that occur in air coolers during operation.

Experimental Study on the Thermal Performances of a Tube-Type Indirect Evaporative Cooler

The so-called indirect evaporative cooling technology is widely used in air conditioning applications.The thermal characterization of tube-type indirect evaporative coolers,however,still presents challenges which need to be addressed to make this technology more reliable and easy to implement.This experimental study deals with the performances of a tube-type indirect evaporative cooler based on an aluminum tube with a 10 mm diameter.In particular,the required tests were carried out considering a range of dry-bulb temperatures between 16℃ and 18℃ and a temperature difference between the wet-bulb and dry-bulb temperature of 2℃∼4℃.The integrated convective heat transfer coefficient inside the tube in the drenching condition has been found to lie in the range between 36.10 and 437.4(W/(m^(2)⋅K)).

Design calculation of porous ceramics tube type dew point indirect evaporative cooler

To improve the wall surface hydrophilicity of a tube type indirect evaporative cooler,a new method adopting porous ceramics is proposed.This method realizes the combination of porous ceramics and the evaporative cooling technique.The design calculation of the porous ceramics tube type dew point indirect evaporative cooler are carried out from such aspects as the volumes and status parameters of the primary and secondary air,the cooler structure,the heat transfer of the solid porous ceramic tubes and the resistance of the cooler.The calculation results show that the design is reasonable.Finally,based on the design calculation,the porous ceramics tube type dew point indirect evaporative cooler is successfully manufactured.

Influence of regenerator flow resistance on stability of pulse tube cooler

Based on the fluid network theory,the possibility of utilizing regenerator flow resistance to suppress the direct current （DC） flow induced by the introduction of a double-inlet in a pulse tube cooler is investigated theoretically. The calculation results show that increasing regenerator flow resistance can lead to a smaller extent of DC flow.Therefore,a better stability performance of the cooler can be realized.On this basis,the stability characteristics of the cooler with various regenerator matrix arrangements are studied by experiments.By replacing 30% space of 247 screens of stainless steel mesh at the cold part of the regenerator by lead balls of 0.25 mm diameter,a long-time stable temperature output at 80 K region is achieved. This achievement provides a new way to obtain stable performance for pulse tube coolers at high temperature and is helpful for its application.

Effect of sinter layer porosity distribution on flow and temperature fields in a sinter cooler

When sinters are filled into the sinter cooler from the sintering machine, it is commonly seen that, due to segregation effects, sinters of larger size usually accumulate closer to the inner wall of the sinter cooler, whereas those of smaller size are to the outer wall. This nonuniform distribution of sinters has led to uneven cooling effect throughout the cooler. This causes the sinters leaving the cooler at a large temperature difference. This undesired temperature difference leads to the deformation and even the destruction of the conveyors. The computational fluid dynamics （CFD） technique was used in the present work to investigate the heat and fluid flow phenomena within the sinter cooler corresponding to the different distribution of sinter layer porosity, which was highly dependent on the arrangement and orientation of sinters within the sinter cooler. It is confirmed that a high mass flow rate within the sinter layer causes a low temperature region and vice versa. The flow fields for vertically reducing porosity distribution and random distribution are almost identical indicating the relative insignificance of convective heat transfer mechanism.

Designing for Long Campaign Life Blast Furnace (1)──The Mathematical Model of Temperature Field for Blast Furnace Lining and Cooling Apparatus and New Concept of Long Campaignship Blast Furnace Cooler Design

The physical and mathematical model of temperature field for blast furnace stave coolers was established. The computation results show that the heat resistance of 2-6 mm water scale within the cooling pipe is about 7%-20% of the total heat resistance of cooling stave body, as for drilling duct type, the heat resistance of 2-6 mm water scale is about 88%-98% of the total heat resistance. Using drilling duct or full cast pipe can eliminate gas clearance and coating layer between pipes and cast iron body and reduce the heat resistance of the cooler sharply and improve the coefficient of heat transfer to a great extent. The water velocity within coolers can be kept at the 1evel of 0.5- 1 .5 m/s, the higher water velocity can not decrease the hot surface temperature, but can increase energy consumption for cooling water.

Ammonium Salt Deposition Characteristics in an Air Cooler System Based on the Coupling of Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer Simulation

The ammonium salt corrosion is a typical failure mode for the hydrogenation reaction effluent air cooler(REAC) system. In order to investigate the corrosion characteristics in the REAC system, numerical simulations were performed by using the mixture model, the heating transfer model, and the particles tracking model. The results show that the differences between the temperature and the velocity at each cross section of the first-row and second-row tubes are small. The inertia of the particles plays an important role in the particle’s deposition, and the smaller particles distribute more uniformly in the air cooler. However, for larger particles, they prefer falling from the inner side of the vertical elbow, and preferentially depositing at the inlet header and pipes before saturation. In the heat exchanger tubes, the particle deposition number is larger in the second-row tubes than that in the first-row tubes, and the high-risk tubes mainly concentrate on the middle and right side of the air cooler. The kinetic parameters of the particles are in accordance with the blocking-prone position in many real operating conditions.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation on Erosion Corrosion of the Air Cooler Tube Bundle in a Residue Hydrotreating Unit

Corrosion leakage occurred in the 14th tube bundle in the first row of a residual oil hydrotreating air cooler after operating for two years.The failure location was 0.5 m from the outlet header box.In this paper,the erosion corrosion of the air cooler tube bundle was investigated by experimental and numerical methods.Visual inspection,scanning electron microscopy(SEM),and X-ray diffraction(XRD)experiments were performed,and the failure morphology and material composition confirmed that the damage was caused by erosion corrosion.The shear stress transport k–ωturbulence model(SST-k–ω)was then used to investigate the flow and erosion corrosion characteristics,combined with mass transfer,corrosion rate,and ionization equilibrium models.The numerical simulation results revealed that the water phase volume fraction increased with flow and heat transfer in the fluid,which increased the mass flow rate and concentration of hydrogen sulfide.The mass transfer coefficient and corrosion rate were proposed as important parameters to characterize erosion corrosion.Moreover,the local concentration of wall shear stress was found to increase the risk of erosion corrosion.The predicted high-risk area was consistent with the actual failure area,which verified that this failure incident was attributable to erosion corrosion by the water phase.

Numerical simulation and optimization design of the EGR cooler in vehicle

The EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) technique can greatly reduce the NOx emission of diesel engines, especially when an EGR cooler is employed. Numerical simulations are applied to study the flow field and temperature distributions inside the EGR cooler. Three different models of EGR cooler are investigated, among which model A is a traditional one, and models B and C are improved by adding a helical baffle in the cooling area. In models B and C the entry directions of cooling water are different, which mostly influences the flow resistance. The results show that the improved structures not only lengthen the flow path of the cooling water, but also enhance the heat exchange rate between the cool and hot media. In conclusion we suggest that the improved structures are more powerful than the traditional one.

Functional Link Neural Network for Predicting Crystallization Temperature of Ammonium Chloride in Air Cooler System

The air cooler is an important equipment in the petroleum refining industry.Ammonium chloride(NH4 Cl)deposition-induced corrosion is one of its main failure forms.In this study,the ammonium salt crystallization temperature is chosen as the key decision variable of NH4 Cl deposition-induced corrosion through in-depth mechanism research and experimental analysis.The functional link neural network(FLNN)is adopted as the basic algorithm for modeling because of its advantages in dealing with non-linear problems and its fast-computational ability.A hybrid FLNN attached to a small norm is built to improve the generalization performance of the model.Then,the trained model is used to predict the NH4 Cl salt crystallization temperature in the air cooler of a sour water stripper plant.Experimental results show the proposed improved FLNN algorithm can achieve better generalization performance than the PLS,the back propagation neural network,and the conventional FLNN models.

Numerical Simulation and Optimization of Perforated Tube Trolley in Circular Cooler

Three symmetrically perforated tubes were arranged in the circular cooler trolley as auxiliary cooling inlet to improve the cooling performance of the sintered body during the production process. Fluent 15.0 has been used to simulate the process;the study shows that the perforated tube structure trolley has changed the temperature field within the sintering area, thereby improving the sintering area of the cooling effect and uniformity, also greatly reducing the cooling time. Compared with the traditional trolley, the best structure of the porous tube trolley has reduced 41% cooling time and increased 50% waste heat recovery.

Performance Investigation of Capillary Tubes for Machine Tool Coolers Retrofitted with HFC-407C Refrigerant

The machine tool coolers are the best managers of coolant temperature in avoiding the deviation of spindle centerline for machine tools. However, the machine coolers are facing the compressed schedule to phase out the HCFC （hydro-chloro-floro-carbon） refrigerant and little attention has been paid to comparative study on sizing capillary tube for retrofitted HFC （hydro-floro-carbon） refrigerant. In this paper, the adiabatic flow in capillary tube is analyzed and modeled for retrofitting of HFC-407C refrigerant in a machine tool cooler system. A computer code including determining the length of sub-cooled flow region and the two phase region of capillary tube is developed. Comparative study of HCFC-22 and HFC-407C in a capillary tube is derived and conducted to simplify the traditional trial-and-error method of predicting the length of capillary tubes. Besides, experimental investigation is carried out by field tests to verify the simulation model and cooling performance of the machine tool cooler system. The results from the experiments reveal that the numerical model provides an effective approach to determine the performance data of capillary tube specific for retrofitting a HFC-407C machine tool cooler. The developed machine tool cooler system is not only directly compatible with new HFC-407C refrigerant, but can also perform a cost-effective temperature control specific for industrial machines.

Reliability Investigation of Semiconductor Coolers

The tests on the thermoelectric shock of semiconductor coolers show that the life of semiconductor coolers follows the Weibull distribution. After the early failed devices are removed, the failure rule of the devices can be described as an exponential distribution. The main failure mode is tile crack between electric couple material and welding pad. The failure mechanism is the orientated incline and easy splitting of the thermoelectric materials and the stress of substrate deformation due to the temperature difference between the two sides of the cooler. The reliability of the devices can be improved by using multi-layer metalization in electric couple welding.

Experimental Investigation of Capacity Control Scheme on System Performance for a Machine Tool Cooler

Highly accurate manufacture in machining industry can only be obtained with precise temperature control of the coolant （oil or water）.Machine tool with more accurate,stable and advanced the precision of the working component cannot be developed without appropriate cooling.However,the machine tool coolers are facing the control hunting of cooling temperature and the dramatic variation of heat load in high-accuracy machining.The main objective of this study is to evaluate the influence of the hot-gas by-pass scheme and suction regulation for capacity control of a machine tool cooler system.In this study,experimental investigation on both hot-gas by-pass scheme and suction valve regulation for capacity control has been proposed.Effects of using capillary tube and thermostatic expansion valve along with different capacity control scheme have been investigated extensively in an environmental testing room.Cooling performance and power consumption of the cooler system have been measured and analyzed as well by comparing with different opening percentage of throttling valve under specific coolant temperature.The experimental results reveal that the power consumption will reduce slightly by capacity control using the hot-gas by-pass scheme but the coefficient of performance （COP） of the overall system will decrease.Lower coolant temperature will result in higher compressor power consumption as well.While conducting suction valve regulating for capacity control,energy-saving at 10%-12% can be obtained by using thermostatic expansion valve under different evaporator load.It also reveals that suction valve regulation along with adequate choice of thermostatic expansion valve can provide alternative choice for steady capacity control and substantial energy-saving.The proposed cooler systems with different capacity control schemes are not only more cost-effective than inverter driven system,but also can perform energy-saving and precise temperature control specific for high-accuracy machine tool cooling.

A Simplified Model for Analysis of Heat and Mass Transfer in an Indirect Evaporative Cooler

A simplified model for analysis of heat and mass transfer between air stream and flowing down water film in counter-flow plate heat exchanger which serves as an indirect evaporative cooler is theoretically analyzed in this paper. Indirect evaporative cooler is used for sensible cooling of air which then is used for air conditioning purposes. Mathematical model was developed allowing determining heat transfer surface, outlet air temperature and specific humidity of the air being cooled. To make the model simpler some simplifications have been incorporated. The model has high level of correctness and can be used to calculate and design different types of evaporative heat exchangers. Analysis of results of calculations by the help of the developed model prove that the surface of heat exchanger depends on the thickness of water film layer by the regularity of direct proportionality. Moreover, increasing of the water film thickness brings to the decreasing of the efficiency of evaporative type heat exchanger. The model can be used for correct calculation and design of an evaporative cooling air conditioning systems.

MATERIALS FOR RETENTION OF LIQUID CRYOGENS CONTAINED IN SPACE QUALIFIED COOLER

A new kind of material used in liquid cryogen cooler has been found and investigated in our group It is anticipated that the materials can be applied in the conditions of launching, rotation in any orientation and weightlessness. The mechanism on which the material relies is similar to 'sponge' trapping the liquid cryogens within its micro-pores with surface tension. Preliminary tests have been performed on wicking. Also,we apply the materials to the cryogenic optical cooler whjch needs to be maintained within the temperuture range of 80-100 K. The results are satisfactory.

Computational fluid dynamic simulation of an inter-phasing pulse tube cooler

An inter-phasing pulse tube cooler (IPPTC) consists of two pulse tube units, which are connected to each other at hot ends of the pulse tubes through a needle valve. This paper presents the computational fluid dynamic (CFD) results of an IPPTC using a 2D axis-symmetrical model. General results such as the phase difference between pressure and velocity at cold end and hot end, the temperature profiles along the wall, the available lowest temperature as well as its oscillations and the coefficient of performance (COP) for IPPTC are presented. The formation of DC flow and its effects on the performance of the cooler are investigated and analyzed in detail. Turbulence, which is partially responsible for the poor overall performance of a single orifice pulse tube cooler (OPTC), is found to be much reduced in IPPTC and its performance is improved significantly compared with the single OPTC.

DC FLOW SUPPRESSION IN A SINGLE-STAGE G-M TYPE PULSE TUBE COOLER

An experimental investigation on DC flow suppression in a single-stage G-M type pulse tube cooler is made. The influence of DC flow induced by the introduction of the double-inlet on the refrigeration performance of the cooler is experimentally examined. Two parallelplaced needle valves with an opposite flow direction called as double-valved configuration, instead of conventional single-valved configuration as the double-inlet is used to reduce the DC flow. With the double-valved configuration, the minimum temperatures of 18.4 K and 14.7 K, and the cooling powers of 11.5 W and 29.5 W are also obtained by RW2 and CP4000, respectively.

Experimental Study on the Radiative Properties of Fly Ash in the Radiant Syngas Cooler of Gasifier

Radiant syngas cooler (RSC) is the key heat recovery equipment in coal gasification system. The syngas from gasifier carries large amount of slags in which the mass fraction of fly ash less than 100 μm is about 20%. Studying the optical properties of fly ash has high significance for the optimization of heat transfer calculation in RSC. A new experimental method was proposed to inversely calculate the radiative parameters of particles—“KBr transmittance-reflectance method”. By measuring the “directional-hemispherical” reflectance and transmittance of fly ash particles by FTIR under the wavelength range of 0.55 - 1.65 μm, using the four-flux model to solve the radiative transfer equation and combing with Mie theory, the absorption and scattering efficiency of 22.7 μm fly ash and optical constant (also known as complex refractive index, m = n + ik) of fly ash were inversely calculated. The results indicated that for fly ash with large size parameter, there was no obvious change of the absorption and scattering efficiency when the mass fraction of Fe2O3 was between 5.65% and 16.53%, which was well explained by Mie theory;The obtained optical constant was close to the results of KBr trans-mittance method.