Abstract
Two-phase flow is encountered in various engineering areas, including the pharmaceutical, chemical, and food industries, desalination facilities, and thermal energy storage systems. Cost-effective and non-invasive monitoring of the solid volume fraction, which governs the thermos-physical properties of two-phase medium, is important for flow assurance. The flow loop having an inner diameter of 21.5 mm and length of about 12.2 m was equipped with square-edged orifice and slash plate pump. Tetrafluroethane (R134a) hydrate slurry of the specified solid volume fraction could be formed within the flow loop by removing an appropriate amount of water, and simultaneously injecting the pertinent amount of R134a while chilled at 275 K. The uncertainty in the thus-obtained solid volume fraction was smaller than 9%, with the largest contribution originating from the uncertain hydration number. The near power-law relationship between the orifice pressure loss coefficient and Metzner–Reed Reynolds number was recognized. However, the nonlinear nature of the Reynolds number with respect to the solid volume fraction inevitably makes the solution procedure iterative. The short span pressure differences across the orifice were regressed to yield empirical correlation, with which the solid volume fraction of R134a slurry could be determined from the measured pressure drop across the orifice and the flow rate. The uncertainty was less than 12% of the thus determined solid volume fraction.
Highlights
Over the past decade, the use of phase change material (PCM) as thermal energy storage (TES)medium has received significant research attention
Due to the larger equivalent heat capacity compared to single phase medium and better heat transfer characteristics compared to gas phase, slurries are best suited as a heat transfer fluid and TES medium [1,2,3,4,5,6]
The measurements of pressure drop across the orifice were made at different flow velocities, for different solid volume fractions of (15, 20, 25, 28, and 30)%, and for orifice bores of (10 and 15) mm
Summary
The use of phase change material (PCM) as thermal energy storage (TES)medium has received significant research attention. The use of phase change material (PCM) as thermal energy storage (TES). Interest in gas hydrates technology has grown drastically, because of its diverse disciplines, including the potential utilization as effective phase change material for TES medium [9,10,11]. Clathrate hydrates are ice-like crystalline inclusion compounds that are formed even at above zero temperature through the hydrogen bonding of water molecules, with the assistance of gas molecules if the pressure is high enough [12,13]. Hydrate slurry is a relatively new type of phase change medium, in which the solid phase is clathrate hydrate particles, and the liquid phase is liquid water, which serves as the
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