Constant Volumetric Flow Rate Research Articles

Consecutive Gated Injection-Based Microchip Electrophoresis for Simultaneous Quantitation of Superoxide Anion and Nitric Oxide in Single PC-12 Cells.

As important reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), cellular superoxide anion (O2(•-)) and nitric oxide (NO) play significant roles in numerous physiological and pathological processes. Cellular O2(•-) and NO also have a close relationship and always interact with each other. Thus, the simultaneous detection of intracellular O2(•-) and NO, especially at the single-cell level, is important. In this paper, we present a novel method to simultaneously detect and quantify O2(•-) and NO in single cells using microchip electrophoresis based on a new consecutive gated injection method. This novel injection method achieved consecutive manipulation of single cells, guaranteeing an almost constant volumetric flow rate and thus good quantitative reproducibility. After cellular content separation by microchip electrophoresis and detection by laser-induced fluorescence (MCE-LIF), O2(•-) and NO in single PC-12 cells were simultaneously quantified in an automated fashion. This is the first report of consecutive absolute quantitation at the single-cell level. The quantitative results obtained from single cells is beneficial for deep understanding of the biological roles of cellular O2(•-) and NO. This new method constitutes a consecutive, accurate way to study the synergistic function of O2(•-) and NO and other biomolecules in various biological events at the single-cell level.

PIV and electrodiffusion diagnostics of flow field, wall shear stress and mass transfer beneath three round submerged impinging jets

This paper reports on measurements of velocities, wall shear rates and mass transfer in an impinging round jet issued from a round nozzle. The effect of the nozzle shape on transfer phenomena was investigated. A round orifice perforated either on a flat plate (RO/P) or on a hemispherical surface (RO/H) was compared to a reference convergent nozzle (CONV). All the nozzles have the same exit diameter D. The exit volumetric flow rate was also conserved and led to the same Reynolds number based on the exit bulk velocity, Reb=5620. The nozzle-to-wall distance was constant and equal to 2D.The Particle Image Velocimetry technique (PIV) was used to capture the jet flow field. The limitations of the PIV technique in the vicinity of the target disk are addressed by using the electrodiffusion technique (ED) to obtain the wall shear rate distribution. The ED technique was extended for the measurement of local mass transfer distribution and global mass transfer on the target disk.The whole velocity field, wall shear rates and mass transfer in the three impinging round jets were compared. It was shown that at constant volumetric flow rate, the use of an orifice nozzle not only improves wall shear rate, but also increases local and global mass transfer. The global mass transfer on a target disk of a 3.2D diameter is 25% and 31% higher for RO/H and RO/P nozzles, respectively, compared to the reference CONV nozzle.The orifice nozzles generate narrower exit profiles relatively to the convergent nozzle. The vena contracta effect in orifice jets, more intense with RO/P than with RO/H, generates an increase of the exit centerline velocity. The hemispherical surface of RO/H nozzle stretches the flow at the exit and somewhat attenuates the vena contracta effect. The characteristic scale representation of the data confirms the origin of the observed differences between the three jets.A link between the wall shear stress and the mass transfer is revealed. The wall shear rate and the mass transfer are in a close relationship with the near field flow features, themselves affected by the nozzle geometry. Time-resolved tomographic PIV technique reveals that the wall shear rate fluctuation is related to the dynamics of the jet coherent structures.The instantaneous PIV fields indicates the formation of secondary vortices in the region where a secondary peak in local mass transfer emerges. The level of this secondary peak is sensitive to the nozzle shape. The higher is the jet acceleration, the more intense is the level of the secondary peak.

Structural optimization of porous media for fast and controlled capillary flows.

A general quantitative model of capillary flow in homogeneous porous media with varying cross-sectional sizes is presented. We optimize the porous structure for the minimization of the penetration time under global constraints. Programmable capillary flows with constant volumetric flow rate and linear evolution of flow distance to time are also obtained. The controlled innovative flow behaviors are derived based on a dynamic competition between capillary force and viscous resistance. A comparison of dynamic transport on the basis of the present design with Washburn's equation is presented. The regulation and maximization of flow velocity in porous materials is significant for a variety of applications including biomedical diagnostics, oil recovery, microfluidic transport, and water management of fabrics.

The limits of operation modes for apparatuses with cavitation excitation

Cavitation in the chamber of a rotor apparatus with flow modulation was considered. A method was proposed for determining the limits of precavitation and cavitation, cavitation and supercavitation operation modes for apparatuses with pulsed cavitation excitation as a key factor of production process stimulation. The experimental dependence of the critical cavitation number on the excess liquid pressure in the chamber of a rotor apparatus was given and showed an insignificant hysteresis of the critical cavitation number. The dependences of the amplitude of the first cavitation pressure pulse on the generalized cavitation number at different rotor apparatus modulator shuttering rates and temperatures of water (up to 99°C) flowing through one stator hole and of the integrated cavitation noise pressure on the excess liquid pressure (up to 2 MPa) in the chamber of a modified rotor apparatus at constant volumetric flow rates (up to 27 m3/h) were also reported.

Hysteretic trapping and relative permeability of CO2 in sandstone at reservoir conditions

Hysteretic nonwetting phase trapping behavior is predicted to be a significant factor determining long term immobilization of injected CO2. This paper presents results from an experimental investigation of hysteresis in residual trapping and relative permeability of CO2 in a CO2/water system at 50°C and 9MPa in a Berea sandstone core. Carbon dioxide saturation data were collected using the steady-state method in a horizontal core-flooding apparatus with X-ray computed tomography. Three flooding cycles were completed at a constant total volumetric flow rate by incrementally increasing and decreasing the fractional flow rates of supercritical CO2 and water. The fractional flow rates were chosen such that the maximum CO2 saturation of each cycle was greater than that of the previous cycle. During the injection stage of a cycle, CO2 displaced water in a wetting-phase drainage process (water saturation decrease). Following injection, water displaced CO2 in a wetting-phase imbibition process (water saturation increase). The fractional flow of CO2 was then increased during the next cycle. Results showed the CO2 saturations trapped during wetting-phase imbibition increased with the maximum CO2 saturations reached during each cycle. The residually trapped CO2 saturation is a hysteretic function, depending on the maximum saturation reached by the core before imbibition. A linear model with coefficient 0.5 describes the nonwetting trapping relationship. The experimental relative permeability data for CO2 fit a single bounding primary drainage curve while CO2 saturations increased, but followed three different scanning curves during wetting-phase imbibition. The CO2 relative permeability data can be fit by making a minor modification in the Van Genuchten–Burdine relative permeability data to account for hysteresis.

Infiltration Velocity and Thickness of Flowing Slag Film on Porous Refractory of Slagging Gasifiers

Two analytical formulations that describe the fluid interactions of slag with the porous refractory linings of gasification reactors have been derived. The first formulation considers the infiltration velocity of molten slag into the porous microstructure of the refractory material that possesses an inherent temperature gradient in the direction of infiltration. Capillary pressures are assumed to be the primary driving force for the infiltration. Considering that the geometry of the pores provides a substantially shorter length scale in the radial direction as compared with the penetration direction, a lubrication approximation was employed to simplify the equation of motion. The assumption of a fully developed flow in the pores is justified based on the extremely small Reynolds numbers of the infiltration slag flow. The second formulation describes the thickness of the slag film that flows down the perimeter of the refractory lining. The thickness of the film was approximated by equating the volumetric slag production rate of the gasification reactor to the integration of the velocity profile with respect to the lateral flow cross-sectional area of the film. These two models demonstrate that both the infiltration velocity into the refractory and the thickness of the film that forms at the refractory surface were sensitive to the viscosity of the fluid slag. The slag thickness model has been applied to predict film thicknesses in a generic slagging gasifier with assumed axial temperature distributions, using slag viscosity from the literature, both for the case of a constant slag volumetric flow rate down the gasifier wall, and for the case of a constant flyash flux distributed uniformly over the entire gasifier wall.

Capillary pumps with constant flow rate

This paper unambiguously derives, ab initio starting from the Navier–Stokes and Laplace equations, the geometric parameters defining capillary pumps (CPs) with rectangular cross section with constant volumetric flow rate and steady velocity profile. The parametric formulation of the channel shape is derived using Taylor series approximations of the capillary pressure and the hydrodynamic flow resistance with negligible error. First, the design parameters are derived for a CP consisting of a single channel and illustrated with an example. Thereafter, the design parameters for multichannel and for micropillar array CPs are derived. Finally, the design of CPs for multistep constant flow rates derived and those for arbitrarily varying flow rates are discussed.

Experimental analysis of a direct expansion geothermal heat pump in heating mode

Abstract In this study, we present an experimental analysis of a direct expansion (DX) geothermal heat pump (GHP) installed in the Thermal Technology Center (TTC) of the Ecole de technologie superieure in Montreal. The residential heating system studied consists of three geothermal 30 m deep wells, which use R22 as refrigerant. During the test campaign, which ran over a one-month period in early spring, the coefficient of performance of the heat pump varied between 2.70 and 3.44, with a daily average of 2.87. The heating capacity reached a daily average of 8.04 kW, for a cooling water constant volumetric flow rate of 0.38 L s −1 . The mean the ground heat extraction rate from was 58.2 W m −1 . The tests performed helped to highlight a pressure drop coupled with a relatively large superheating revealing a flow rate mal-distribution in geothermal evaporators. The effects of some factors (condenser cooling water inlet temperature, condensing temperature, pressure drop in the evaporator, thermal properties of soil and grout) that affect DX system performance are also presented. Finally, a comparative study between the use of electricity and the DX heat pump as home heating source shows that the DX heat pump provides savings of approximately 70% over the electricity.

Studies on pressure losses and flow rate optimization in vanadium redox flow battery

Premature voltage cut-off in the operation of the vanadium redox flow battery is largely associated with the rise in concentration overpotential at high state-of-charge (SOC) or state-of-discharge (SOD). The use of high constant volumetric flow rate will reduce concentration overpotential, although potentially at the cost of consuming excessive pumping energy which in turn lowers system efficiency. On the other hand, any improper reduction in flow rate will also limit the operating SOC and lead to deterioration in battery efficiency. Pressure drop losses are further exacerbated by the need to reduce shunt currents in flow battery stacks that requires the use of long, narrow channels and manifolds. In this paper, the concentration overpotential is modelled as a function of flow rate in an effort to determine an appropriate variable flow rate that can yield high system efficiency, along with the analysis of pressure losses and total pumping energy. Simulation results for a 40-cell stack under pre-set voltage cut-off limits have shown that variable flow rates are superior to constant flow rates for the given system design and the use of a flow factor of 7.5 with respect to the theoretical flow rate can reach overall high system efficiencies for different charge–discharge operations.

Analysis of ignition in a diesel particulate filter

We derive explicit criteria predicting the inlet gas temperature and time needed to ignite the particulate matter (PM) deposit in an initially cold diesel particulate filter (DPF) using a limiting two-phase two-channel model. The criteria predict that the ignition temperature can be lowered without affecting the ignition time by increasing the PM thickness and/or oxygen concentration. The ignition time can be decreased without affecting the ignition temperature by decreasing the filter wall thickness and/or solid volumetric heat capacitance. Increasing the channel aspect ratio (L/D) under constant volumetric inlet flow rate and DPF volume has a minor impact on the ignition temperature and time when the effective heat Peclet number is under transverse heat Peclet number control. The ignition temperature (time) decreases (increases) with increasing channel hydraulic diameter and cell density. The explicit predictions are in good agreement with simulations of the full model.Depending on the system design and operating conditions ignition may occur either at the upstream, middle or downstream. When the magnitude of the peak temperature is not a constraint, upstream ignition is the best option as it leads to a more efficient and complete combustion of the deposited PM. The peak temperature and thermal stress generated by a middle or downstream ignition are lower than those following an upstream one, but it may lead to only partial regeneration. The peak regeneration temperature can be reduced with complete PM combustion by use of a two-step ignition (starting with downstream/middle ignition followed by upstream ignition).

Structure-dependent mobility of a dry aqueous foam flowing along two parallel channels

The velocity of a two-dimensional aqueous foam has been measured as it flows through two parallel channels, at a constant overall volumetric flow rate. The flux distribution between the two channels is studied as a function of the ratio of their widths. A peculiar dependence of the velocity ratio on the width ratio is observed when the foam structure in the narrower channel is either single staircase or bamboo. In particular, discontinuities in the velocity ratios are observed at the transitions between double and single staircase and between single staircase and bamboo. A theoretical model accounting for the viscous dissipation at the solid wall and the capillary pressure across a film pinned at the channel outlet predicts the observed non-monotonic evolution of the velocity ratio as a function of the width ratio. It also predicts quantitatively the intermittent temporal evolution of the velocity in the narrower channel when it is so narrow that film pinning at its outlet repeatedly brings the flow to a near stop.

Interpretation of dynamic frontal analysis data in solid/supercritical fluid adsorption systems. I: Theory

A theory is proposed to relate the elution times of the adsorption front shocks of breakthrough curves recorded during classical dynamic frontal analysis (FA) experiments with selected compounds and their adsorption isotherms in solid/supercritical fluid adsorption systems. The actual density and viscosity of binary mixtures of CO2 and methanol were obtained from the NIST REPPROP software. Diluted solutions of S-naproxen were considered (<2% in mass) but the possible effects of the analyte concentration on the viscosity and the density of the eluent percolating through the column were neglected. This allows the determination of the excess adsorption isotherm (or Gibbs excess isotherm) of the adsorbed analyte in the whole column at constant mass and volumetric flow rate of pure CO2 and of the modifier solution. A local Langmuir adsorption isotherm and a constant saturation capacity were assumed in the calculations. The variation of the adsorption–desorption constant with the eluent density was taken from the experimental variation of the retention factor of S-naproxen on a chiral column packed with Whelk-O1 particles. The results show that the isotherm parameters obtained from the best adjustment of the Langmuir model to the SFC excess adsorption data deviates by less than 7% from the assumed saturation capacity and from the average of the equilibrium constant along the chromatographic column. In practice, this conclusion holds true provided that the precision of the measurement of elution times of front shocks of breakthrough curves is better than 1% and that the maximum surface coverage qexp,max/qS is at least equal to 20%.

An experimental investigation on heat transfer characteristics of multi-walled CNT-heat transfer oil nanofluid flow inside flattened tubes under uniform wall temperature condition

An experimental investigation on heat transfer characteristics of MWCNT-heat transfer oil nanofluid flow inside horizontal flattened tubes has been carried out under uniform wall temperature condition. Nanoparticle weight fractions were 0%, 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.4%. The copper tubes of 14.5mm I.D. were flattened and used as the test section of oblong shape with inside heights of 13.4mm, 11.7mm, 10.6mm, and 8.6mm. The nanofluid flowing inside the tube was heated inside a steam chamber to keep the temperature of the tube wall constant. The required data were acquired for laminar hydrodynamically fully developed regime. The effects of different parameters such as volumetric flow rate, nanoparticle weight fraction, and hydraulic diameter on the heat transfer behavior of the tested systems have been investigated experimentally. For a given flattened tube at a constant nanoparticle weight fraction, increasing volumetric flow rate results in heat transfer enhancement. In addition, as the tube profile becomes more flattened and the hydraulic diameter decreases, the heat transfer coefficient goes up at constant volumetric flow rate. Utilizing nanofluids instead of the base fluid, the heat transfer rate enhances remarkably. The higher the nanoparticles weight fraction, the more the rate of heat transfer enhancement. Finally, the results show that the amount of increase in heat transfer coefficient caused by employing nanofluid instead of the base fluid is comparable to what caused by flattening the tube.

Effect of flow rate conditions on bubble formation

An experimental study has been carried out on bubble generation by means of air injection through an orifice submerged in water. An orifice, drilled in an hydrophobic horizontal plate and a radius a=1mm, have been used to investigate the effect of the flow rate working conditions on the bubble formation process; a wide range of volumetric gas flow rates (2.0×10⩽Q⩽1.8×104mm3/s) has been used, including different chamber volumes before the injection orifice.Two volumetric gas flow rates are apparent: the one into the experimental setup, which could be assumed as a constant, and a higher one into de bubble through the injection orifice; there is a first and significant time step with zero gas flow through the orifice. This drives to two different working conditions, named: constant volumetric gas flow rate, when both flow rates are equal, and non-constant volumetric gas flow rate, when both flow rates are different. First, a short experimental study, for constant volumetric gas flow rate, is presented; it represents a link between both working conditions. The main part of the work are devoted to non-constant volumetric gas flow rate and, it showed that the experimental data can be reduced approximately to a single bubble volume/flow rate relationship, as in the case of constant volumetric gas flow rate, if the properly scaled volumetric gas flow rate is used. Finally a simplified model, to estimate this proper volumetric gas flow rate, is presented and checked experimentally.

Visualization, velocimetry, and mass spectrometric analysis of engineered and laser-produced particles passing through inductively coupled plasma sources

Velocities of particles passing through the load coil region of an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) attached to a quadrupole mass spectrometer (MS) were measured by particle image velocimetry (PIV). Particles were produced either by laser ablation (LA) of solid targets or from drying analyte-spiked microdroplets ejected by a piezoelectrically actuated quartz capillary. For instance, velocities determined under conditions typically applied to LA-ICP-MS analyses were found to range between 10 and 20 m s−1, depending on the axial position. Our data, furthermore, evidence significant changes of the gas velocity upon modifications of the ICP operating conditions such as plasma power, gas flow rate, and torch injector diameter if helium is admixed in excess of >50% of the total gas flow passing through the injector. For instance, an increase of the ICP RF power from 800 to 1600 W resulted in particle velocity gradients up to 15 m s−1 kW−1 measured after the third turn of the RF-coil. Temporal changes in velocity, i.e. particle accelerations over the axis of the load coil region were specified to 300–1000 m s−2. In addition, ICP-MS analyses of laser-produced aerosols carried out at constant volumetric flow rates but reduced injector diameters made signal intensities of elements such as Y, Ce, or U drop by up to two orders of magnitude suggesting incomplete particle evaporation as well as notably different aerosol penetration depths. Sensitivities measured in this case turned out to correlate with boiling points of the respective oxides rather than the element-specific ionization potentials commonly observed. The mechanisms controlling gas velocity and sensitivity variations are discussed and consequences on LA-ICP-MS analyses are drawn.

Assessment of mixing quality for an industrial pulp mixer using electrical resistance tomography

AbstractThe quality of mixing of a pulp suspension and chlorine dioxide by a static mixer in an industrial chlorine dioxide bleaching stage was evaluated using electrical resistance tomography (ERT) as a function of process operating conditions, including chemical flow rate, suspension flow rate, and suspension mass concentration. The uniformity was quantified by a mixing index based on the coefficient of variation of the individual conductivity values in each image pixel. An increase in the mixing index, indicating lower mixing quality, was observed when the chemical flow rate increased. In addition, the mixing quality decreased with a decrease in suspension flow rate. On the other hand, a decrease in the suspension mass concentration at a constant volumetric suspension flow rate gave better mixing quality. The results show that ERT can be used to evaluate industrial‐scale mixer performance and to monitor the changes in the mixing quality as a function of process operating conditions. The results are in good agreement with those in the literature based on other measurement techniques for similar mixer installations.

Simulation of Compression Effect on Filling Process in Compression Resin Transfer Molding

The compression resin transfer molding (CRTM) filling process involves two stages: the injection phase and the compression phase. Two injection modes are considered — constant volumetric flow rate and constant pressure — while the constant compression velocity is utilized in this study. Three typical cases are used to investigate the compression initiation effects on the filling process. When the inlet condition is a constant flow rate, the numerical results show that the compression has both increase and decrease effects on the inlet pressure. Thus, a discontinuity in the inlet pressure is present at the onset or the end of compression. Among three CRTM cases, the process with a simultaneous injection and compression end maximally reduces the inlet pressure by 80% but increases the mold filling time by 65% compared with the resin transfer molding (RTM). For the inlet condition being a constant pressure, the resin may flow out of the mold cavity through the inlet when an excessively low injection pressure and high compression speed are applied concurrently. Compared with RTM, the CRTM processes reduce the mold filling time by 68–76% but cannot ensure a reduction in inlet pressure.

Microfluidic switch based on combined effect of hydrodynamics and electroosmosis

This paper presents theoretical and experimental investigations on valveless microfluidic switch using the coupled effect of hydrodynamics and electroosmosis. Switching of a non-conducting fluid stream is demonstrated. The first part of the investigation focused on flow switching of a non-conducting fluid, while the second part focused on switching of aqueous liquid droplets in a continuous oil stream. Two sheath streams (aqueous NaCl and glycerol) and a sample stream (silicon oil) are introduced by syringe pumps to flow side by side in a straight rectangular microchannel. External electric fields are applied on the two sheath streams. The switching process using electroosmotic effect for different flow rate and viscosity of sample stream is investigated. The results indicate that the switching response time is affected by the electric fields, flow rate, and viscosity of the sample. At constant inlet volumetric flow rates, the sample streams or droplets can be delivered to the desired outlet ports using applied voltages.

Separation of Bovine Serum Albumin Using Chromatographical Column: Parameters and Simulation

A liquid-solid chromatography of Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) on (diethylaminoethyl-cellulose) DEAE-cellulose adsorbent is worked experimentally, to study the effect of changing the influent concentration of (0.125, 0.25, 0.5, and 1 mg/ml) at constant volumetric flow rate Q=1ml/min. And the effect of changing the volumetric flow rate (1, 3, 5, and 10 ml/min) at constant influent concentration of Co=0.125mg/ml. By using a glass column of (1.5cm) I.D and (50cm) length, packed with adsorbent of DEAE-cellulose of height (7cm). The influent is introduced in to the column using peristaltic pump and the effluent concentration is investigated using UV-spectrophotometer at 30oC and 280nm wavelength. A spread (steeper) break-through curve is gained at lean feed concentration of 0.125mg/ml, while the flow rate greater than (3ml/min) is almost the same. So it is butter to work at low volumetric flow rate between (1-3) ml/min. The equilibrium-dispersion model of liquid-solid chromatography for a binary mixture, related with Langmuir isotherm correlation is used in the modeling of this work. The resulting model is solved numerically by using MATLAB V.6.5 program.

Towards optimum permeability reduction in porous media using biofilm growth simulations

While biological clogging of porous systems can be problematic in numerous processes (e.g., microbial enhanced oil recovery-MEOR), it is targeted during bio-barrier formation to control sub-surface pollution plumes in ground water. In this simulation study, constant pressure drop (CPD) and constant volumetric flow rate (CVF) operational modes for nutrient provision for biofilm growth in a porous system are considered with respect to optimum (minimum energy requirement for nutrient provision) permeability reduction for bio-barrier applications. Biofilm growth is simulated using a Lattice-Boltzmann (LB) simulation platform complemented with an individual-based biofilm model (IbM). A biomass detachment technique has been included using a fast marching level set (FMLS) method that models the propagation of the biofilm-liquid interface with a speed proportional to the adjacent velocity shear field. The porous medium permeability reduction is simulated for both operational modes using a range of biofilm strengths. For stronger biofilms, less biomass deposition and energy input are required to reduce the system permeability during CPD operation, whereas CVF is more efficient at reducing the permeability of systems containing weaker biofilms.