Numerical investigation of snowstorm filling

Abstract

During industrial air preparation, one of the most important issues is the proper moisture content. In vehicle brake systems, compressed air is commonly used, where condensate in the system can lead to serious problems as corrosion, frosting, etc. For avoiding malfunctions, the relative humidity of the media must decrease to 20-40%, by adsorbing its moisture content. To achieve this, air dryer units filled with desiccant granular media is commonly used in railway industry. The compressed air flows through the dryer, thus the particles can bind the water vapour. If the packing density of the desiccant can increase, the efficiency of the dryer can improve. In this paper an interesting method for container filling, the snowstorm technique was investigated and optimized by applying discrete element method. Essence of the device is a rod system placed below the filler bin, which ensures even distribution of the particles. By the numerical analysis it was revealed, the particles’ lateral velocity is increased because of the snowstorm system, but with non-optimal arrangement, the particle flow can be significantly blocked. Based on our systematic analysis, optimal geometry of the particle distribution system was found, which ensures settling more particles by 9.5% into the dryer reservoir.