Distributor plate pressure drop

In pipe distributors, the pressure drop requited for good gas distribution is 30% of the bed pressure drop for upward facing holes, but only 10% for downward facing ones. The pressure drop calculation and the recommended hole density are the same as for a perforated plate. To maintain good gas distribution within the header system, it is recommended the relation... 

Good gas distribution is necessary for the bed to operate properly, and this requites that the pressure drop over the distributor be sufficient to prevent maldistribution arising from pressure fluctuations in the bed. Because gas issues from the distributor at a high velocity, care must also be taken to minimize particle attrition. Many distributor designs are used in fluidized beds. The most common ones are perforated plates, plates with caps, and pipe distributors. 

A perforated plate can be flat, concave, convex, or double-dished. The main advantages of the perforated plate are that it is simple, inexpensive, easy to modify, and easy to clean. The disadvantages of a perforated plate are the possibiUty of soflds leaking, ie, weeping through it into the plenum lower turndown capabiUty than other distributors the requirement of a peripheral seal and a relatively high pressure drop requited for good distribution. 

Design Considerations. For a perforated plate, the pressure drop across the distributor should be at least 30% of the bed pressure drop when operating at the lowest expected gas velocity. The number of holes in the distributor should exceed 10 per square meter. The pressure drop, AP, across the distributor is given by... 

Generally the pressure drop across the plate should be high to promote even gas distribution and is usually some fraction of the pressure drop across the fluidized bed porous distributors tend to have much higher pressure drops than other types of plate. 

The bed height is determined by consideration of the work required to overcome the pressure drop across the bed and distributor plate. The pressure drop across the bed is simply the weight of the bed. 

The overlap gill plate, introduced in 1990, vectors air more horizontally across the bed. It also allows larger opening and less pressure drop and has virtually eliminated the sandwich distributor plate (31). 

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