Flow distribution in different microreactor scale-out geometries and the effect of manufacturing tolerances and channel blockage

Amador, Carlos; Gavriilidis, Asterios; Angeli, Panagiota

doi:10.1016/j.cej.2003.11.031

Cited by 177 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The flow distribution within the catalysts bed was also analyzed by 2-D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations. Amador et al 4 studied manifold structures (consecutive and bifurcation) used for even flow distribution in microchannels. The proposed analytical model, analogous to electrical resistance networks, can be effectively used to study the effect of manufacturing tolerances and channel blockages on the flow distribution in downstream microchannels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Header design for flow equalization in microstructured reactors

et al. 2006

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in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com).To enhance the uniformity of fluid flow distribution in microreactors, a header configuration consisting of a cone diffuser connected to a thick-walled screen has been proposed. The thick-walled screen consists of two sections: the upstream section constitutes a set of elongated parallel upstream channels and the downstream section constitutes a set of elongated parallel downstream channels positioned at an angle of 908 with respect to the upstream channels. In this approach the problem of flow equalization reduces to that of flow equalization in the first and second downstream channels of the thick-walled screen. In turn, this requires flow equalization in the corresponding cross sections of the upstream channels. The computational fluid dynamics analysis of the fluid flow maldistribution shows that eight parallel upstream channels with a width of 300-600 mm are required per 1 cm of length for flow equalization. The length to width ratio of these channels has to be >15. The numerical results suggest that the proposed header configuration can effectively improve the performance of the downstream microstructured devices, decreasing the ratio of the maximum flow velocity to the mean flow velocity from 2 to 1.005 for a wide range of Reynolds numbers (0.5-10).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Header design for flow equalization in microstructured reactors

et al. 2006

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“…The influences of the geometrical characteristics of microchannel structures on the flow distributions were analyzed to optimize the reactor design for maximum flow uniformity. Amador et al [11] proposed an electrical resistance network model to evaluate the difference of flow uniformity of microchannels with consecutive and bifurcation manifold structures. In previous research [12][13][14], an equivalent simplified resistance network model was developed by dividing the manifolds into multiple approximate rectangular channels, and the effects of complex manifold geometries [12], singular losses, and microchannel structural parameters [13] on the velocity distribution among parallel microchannels were analyzed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Several works [8][9][10][11] were performed to estimate the flow uniformity in a single microchannel plate based on mathematical models or numerical simulation. With respect to mathematical models, Commenge et al [10] investigated the features of fluid flow through microchannel reactors by an approximate pressure drop model.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Velocity Uniformity in a Single Microchannel Plate with Rectangular Manifolds at Different Entrance Velocities

2013

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The velocity distribution among microchannels with rectangular manifolds at different entrance velocities and the influences of structural parameters and entrance velocity on flow uniformity are investigated. The flow uniformity of a microchannel plate with rectangular manifold decreases with higher entrance velocity. At relatively low entrance velocity, the velocity distribution of the microchannel plate with centrosymmetric manifold is approximately symmetric. The velocity distribution becomes monotonically increased in a plate with large inlet manifold, whereas it becomes monotonically decreased in the one with large outlet manifold. A relatively uniform flow distribution can be obtained by the following conditions: longer microchannel, smaller microchannel width, symmetric manifold structure, larger manifold area, and perpendicular direction of inlet/outlet to the microchannel plane.

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“…They are shown in Fig. 1 [23]. In consecutive manifolds the main fluid stream is divided continuously into channels as it reaches them.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selected studies of flow maldistribution in a minichannel plate heat exchanger

Dąbrowski¹,

Klugmann²,

Mikielewicz³

2017

Archives of Thermodynamics

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Analysis of the state of-the-art in research of minichannel heat exchangers, especially on the topic of flow maldistribution in multiple channels, has been accomplished. Studies on minichannel plate heat exchanger with 51 parallel minichannels with four hydraulic diameters, i.e., 461 µm, 574 µm, 667 µm, and 750 µm have been presented. Flow at the instance of filling the microchannel with water at low flow rates has been visualized. The pressure drop characteristics for single minichannel plate have been presented along with the channels blockage, which occurred in several cases. The impact of the mass flow rate and channels' cross-section dimensions on the flow maldistribution were illustrated.

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Flow distribution in different microreactor scale-out geometries and the effect of manufacturing tolerances and channel blockage

Cited by 177 publications

References 9 publications

Header design for flow equalization in microstructured reactors

Header design for flow equalization in microstructured reactors

Analysis of Velocity Uniformity in a Single Microchannel Plate with Rectangular Manifolds at Different Entrance Velocities

Selected studies of flow maldistribution in a minichannel plate heat exchanger

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