Pressure Drop for Subsonic Gas Flow in Microchannels and Nanochannels

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhipeng Duan
2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung Chan Cho ◽  
Yun Wang

In this paper, two-phase flow dynamics in a micro channel with various wall conditions are both experimentally and theoretically investigated. Annulus, wavy and slug flow patterns are observed and location of liquid phase on different wall condition is visualized. The impact of flow structure on two-phase pressure drop is explained. Two-phase pressure drop is compared to a two-fluid model with relative permeability correlation. Optimization of correlation is conducted for each experimental case and theoretical solution for the flows in a circular channel is developed for annulus flow pattern showing a good match with experimental data in homogeneous channel case.


Author(s):  
Nathaniel Metzger ◽  
Archana Sekar ◽  
Jun Li ◽  
Xianglin Li

Abstract The gas flow of carbon dioxide from the catalyst layer (CL) through the microporous layer (MPL) and gas diffusion layer (GDL) has great impacts on the water and fuel management in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). This work has developed a liquid–vapor two-phase model considering the counter flow of carbon dioxide gas, methanol, and water liquid solution in porous electrodes of DMFC. The model simulation includes the capillary pressure as well as the pressure drop due to flow resistance through the fuel cell components. The pressure drop of carbon dioxide flow is found to be about two to three orders of magnitude higher than the pressure drop of the liquid flow. The big difference between liquid and gas pressure drops can be explained by two reasons: volume flowrate of gas is three orders of magnitude higher than that of liquid; only a small fraction of pores (<5%) in hydrophilic fuel cell components are available for gas flow. Model results indicate that the gas pressure and the mass transfer resistance of liquid and gas are more sensitive to the pore size distribution than the thickness of porous components. To buildup high gas pressure and high mass transfer resistance of liquid, the MPL and CL should avoid micro-cracks during manufacture. Distributions of pore size and wettability of the GDL and MPL have been designed to reduce the methanol crossover and improve fuel efficiency. The model results provide design guidance to obtain superior DMFC performance using highly concentrated methanol solutions or even pure methanol.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue-Tzu Yang ◽  
Kuo-Teng Tsai ◽  
Cha’o-Kuang Chen

The objective of this study is to use a new style of waved flow channel instead of the plane surface channel in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The velocity, concentration, and electrical performance with the waved flow channel in PEMFC are investigated by numerical simulations. The results show that the waved channel arises when the transport benefits through the porous layer and improves the performance of the PEMFC. This is because the waved flow channel enhances the forced convection and causes the more reactant gas flow into the gas diffusion layer (GDL). The performance which was compared to a conventional straight gas flow channel increases significantly with the small gap size when it is smaller than 0.5 in the waved flow channel. The performance is decreased at the high and low velocities as the force convection mechanism is weakened and the reactant gas supply is insufficient. The pressure drop is increased as the gap size becomes smaller, and the wave number decreases. (gap size)δ> 0.3 has a reasonable pressure drop. Consequently, compared to a conventional PEMFC, the waved flow channel improves approximately 30% of power density.


Author(s):  
Dejan Brkić

Today, two very efficient methods for calculation of flow distribution per branches of a looped gas pipeline are available. Most common is improved Hardy Cross method, while the second one is so-called unified node-loop method. For gas pipeline, gas flow rate through a pipe can be determined using Colebrook equation modified by AGA (American Gas Association) for calculation of friction factor accompanied with Darcy-Weisbach equation for pressure drop and second approach is using Renouard equation adopted for gas pipeline calculation. For the development of Renouard equation for gas pipelines some additional thermodynamic properties are involved in comparisons with Colebrook and Darcy-Weisbach model. These differences will be explained. Both equations, the Colebrook’s (accompanied with Darcy-Weisbach scheme) and Renouard’s will be used for calculation of flow through the pipes of one gas pipeline with eight closed loops which are formed by pipes. Consequently four different cases will be examined because the network is calculated using improved Hardy Cross method and unified node-loop method. Some remarks on optimization in this area of engineering also will be mentioned.


Author(s):  
Jinglin He ◽  
Song-Yul Choe ◽  
Chang-Ouk Hong

The flow in gas flow channels of an operating polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell has a two-phase characteristic that includes air, water vapor and liquid water and significantly affects the water flooding, pressure distribution along the channels, and subsequently the performance of the cell and system. Presence of liquid water in channels prevents transport of the reactants to the catalysts and increases the pressure difference between the inlet and outlet of channels, which leads to high parasitic power of pumps used in air and fuel supply systems. We propose a model that enables prediction of pressure drop and liquid water distribution along channels and analysis of water flooding in an operating fuel cell. The model was developed based on a gas-liquid two-phase separated flow that considers the variations of gas pressure, mass flow rate, relative humidity, viscosity, void fraction, and density along the channels on both sides. Effects of operating parameters that include stoichoimetric ratio, relative humidity, and inlet pressure on the pressure drop and water flooding along the channels were analyzed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Goel Paridhi ◽  
K. Nayak Arun

Abstract Post Fukushima, nuclear plants are being retrofitted with severe accident mitigation measures. For attaining depressurization of the containment and mitigate the consequences of the release of the radioactivity to the environment during a severe accident condition, filtered containment venting systems (FCVS) are proposed to be installed in existing reactors and being designed for advanced reactors. The design of FCVS is particular to the reactor type. The FVCS configuration considered in this paper comprises of a manifold of venturi scrubber enclosed in a scrubber tank along with metal fiber filter and demister for an advanced Indian reactor. This study focuses on the assessment of the design of the venturi scrubber for the reactor conditions at which venting is carried out through a numerical model. The numerical model is first validated with experiments performed for prototypic conditions. The predicted pressure drop and the iodine absorption efficiency were found to be in good match with the experimental measurements. Subsequently, the model is implemented for predicting the hydrodynamics, i.e., pressure drop, droplet sizes and distribution, and iodine absorption for prototypic conditions. The hydrodynamics, i.e., pressure profile in the venturi scrubber showed a decrease in the converging section and in the throat section. The diverging section showed decrease in recovery of pressure with the decrease in gas flow because of the increased liquid loading to the scrubber. The iodine absorption efficiency showed a value of 92% for high gas velocity which decreased to 68% for the lowest gas flow rate.


Author(s):  
Elling Sletfjerding ◽  
Jon Steinar Gudmundsson

Abstract Pressure drop experiments on natural gas flow in 150 mm pipes at 80 to 120 bar pressure and high Reynolds number were carried out for pipes smooth to rough surfaces. The roughness was measured with an accurate stylus instrument and analyzed using fractal methods. Using a similar approach to that of Nikuradse the measured friction factor was related to the measured roughness values. Taking the value of the relative roughness and dividing it by the slope of the power spectrum of the measured roughness, a greatly improved fit with the measured friction factor was obtained. Indeed, a new friction factor correlation was obtained, but now formulated in terms of direct measurement of roughness.


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