A novel gas-solid flow sensing technology for lean phase pneumatic conveying to reduce power consumption
This project is led by Professor M Bradley, assisted by Dr T Deng.
Researcher: Amit Kumar
Lean phase pneumatic conveying is widely used in the process industries such as cement, power, sugar, chemical, mineral, recycling to name a small sample. In these industries, high power consumption in lean phase conveying is always a big cost concern. Reduction in the air velocity in the lean phase reduces power consumption, particle degradation and pipe wear. However, reduction in the air velocity can results in a line blockage because below the saltation level velocity many materials will slow down and block the pipelines. This happens due to the sudden transition from a stable lean phase conveying to unstable conveying.
The main objective is to develop a technology for sensing the gas-solid flow behaviour in lean phase conveying and use this information in a control system to operate conveying close to minimum conveying air velocity. For this, a continuous monitoring and feedback system is in the process of being developed using electrostatic sensors in conjunction with other hardware and data analysis techniques. This system will be able to detect minor and major disturbances in the materials flow and feedback control system will regulate the solids and airflow rate to avoid any blockages.
The Schenck Process Group known formally as Clyde Materials Handling, are part-funding this project.