A computational fluid dynamics investigation of a novel flooded-bed dust scrubber with vibrating mesh

This work proposes a vibrating mesh screen as an alternative to the static mesh screen currently used in conventional flooded-bed dust scrubbers for removing airborne coal mine dust in the continuous mining environment.Fundamental assessments suggest that a vibrating screen may improve the dust collection efficiency of scrubber systems and mitigate the clogging issues associated with the conventional design.To evaluate this hypothesis,computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulations were carried out to assess the effects of vibration conditions(i.e.,frequency and amplitude)on the dust particle-mesh interaction and mesh wetting conditions,which are the two decisive factors in determining the dust collection efficiency.The results suggest that the vibrating mesh screen can enhance dust particle collision opportunities on the mesh and increase mesh wetted area as compared to the static mesh screen.The effects of mesh screen aperture,coal dust concentration,and spray nozzle flow rate on the performance of the vibrating mesh are also evaluated.Finally,a simplified three-phase flow simulation including airflow,dust particles,and water droplet spray is performed,and the results reflect a significant improvement of dust collection efficiency in the liquid-coated vibrating mesh screen.

Dynamic analysis of new type elastic screen surface with multi degree of freedom and experimental validation

A feasible method was proposed to improve the vibration intensity of screen surface via application of a new type elastic screen surface with multi degree of freedom(NTESSMDF). In the NTESSMDF, the primary robs were coupled to the main screen structure with ends embedded into the elastomers, and the secondary robs were attached to adjacent two primary robs with elastic bands. The dynamic model of vibrating screen with NTESSMDF was established based on Lagrange's equation and the equivalent stiffnesses of the elastomer and elastic band were calculated. According to numerical simulation using the 4th order Runge-Kutta method, the vibration intensity of screen surface can be enhanced substantially with an averaged acceleration amplitude increasing ratio of 72.36%. The primary robs and secondary robs vibrate inversely in steady state, which would result in the friability of materials and avoid stoppage. The experimental results validate the dynamic characteristics with acceleration amplitude rising by62.93% on average, which demonstrates the feasibility of NTESSMDF.