Mass Flow Controller Research Articles

Dynamic simulation and optimal design of a combined cold and power system with 10 MW compressed air energy storage and integrated refrigeration

A combined cold and power system with 10 MW compressed air energy storage and integrated refrigeration (CCR) is proposed. In traditional 10 MW compressed air energy storage (CAES) system, outlet pressure of air tank is throttled to a low pressure by throttling device. In CCR system, the throttling device is replaced by a piston turbine to achieve control of pressure and mass flow. Meanwhile, pressure potential energy of compressed air is converted to mechanical work, which is used to drive refrigeration subsystem. The dynamic mathematic model of proposed CCR system is built up. According to energy and exergy analysis of the whole dynamic process, it is confirmed that the proposed model obeys the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The optimal solution for T23 and γAC are calculated to be 259.6896 K and 1.2335, respectively. The Pareto frontier of multi-objective optimization of energy and exergy efficiencies are conducted. Energy efficiency of proposed CCR system is higher than that of CAES system by at least 32.8 %. The electrical efficiency of proposed CCR system is also higher than that of CAES system. It suggests that the pressure potential energy wasted in the throttle process is well utilized by the piston turbine in CCR system.

PI gain tuning for pressure-based MFCs with Gaussian mixture model

A vast number of mass flow controllers (MFCs) are used in semiconductor industry. For the stable supply, an efficient production method of MFC is required. The gain tuning of the proportional-integral (PI) control to realize a setting flow rate is essential for efficient mass production. The gains are tuned to meet the specifications required for evaluation indices of response time and overshoot amount in a step response waveform. The tuning is complicated especially for the case of pressure-based MFCs. In this paper, we propose a simple method for the PI gain tuning using the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) and the direct inverse analysis applicable to the pressure-based MFCs’ production. The relationship between the gains and evaluation indices for a standard unit of the MFC is modeled as the GMM. The direct inverse analysis calculates the difference between the standard and a test unit. Under the assumption that the difference can be compensated by a simple shift, gains likely to meet the specifications for the test unit are searched. We applied the method to seven test units. The result showed that the gains of all the test units were tuned within only a few iterations whose numbers were much less than the conventional manual tuning method, and there was no untunable unit.

Retrofit of a Marine Engine to Dual-Fuel Methane–Diesel: Experimental Analysis of Performance and Exhaust Emission with Continuous and Phased Methane Injection Systems

Shipping is a highly energy-intensive sector, and fleet decarbonization initiatives can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the short-to-medium term, internal combustion engines will continue to be used for propulsion or as electricity generators onboard ships. Natural gas is an effective solution which can be used to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the marine sector. Considered to be a transitional fuel, it can provide a potential reduction in CO2 emissions of around 20–30%, compared with conventional marine fuels. This work investigated the influence of diesel-injection strategies on the performance and emissions of a single-cylinder prototype compression-ignition engine for marine applications, retrofitted to run as a Low-Pressure Dual-Fuel Engine using natural gas. Two different injection systems were used: a mass flow controller enabling continuous-mode gas feeding, and a Solenoid-Operated Gas Admission Valve for marine applications, the latter allowing phased natural-gas injection. Experimental tests were focused on partial-load conditions, which are critical for dual-fuel engines, with a natural gas/diesel mass ratio of 4:1. Phased injection resulted in reductions in fuel consumption, compared to continuous mode, of up to 11%. Further experiments demonstrated reductions in fuel consumption of up to 20.7% (in equivalent diesel); on the other hand, the unburned hydrocarbon emissions which resulted were an order of magnitude larger than the reference values for full diesel, reducing the benefits in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, with a reduction in Global Warming Potential of only 3% compared to full diesel.

Novel Gas Supply System for Multi-Chamber Tri-Gas Cell Culture: Low Gas Consumption and Wide Concentration Range

Gas plays a crucial role in cell culture as cells require a specific gas environment to maintain their growth, reproduction, and function. Here, we propose a gas supply system for tri-gas multi-channel cell incubators to meet the specific needs of various cells. The system utilizes a circulating gas supply method powered by air pumps for each chamber. Gas inflow from the cylinder is independently controlled by Mass Flow Controllers (MFCs), and a quantitative step-by-step adjustment control strategy is employed to calculate the volume of different gases being introduced. Through mixing simulations and experiments, we identified the SV static mixer with an L/D ratio of 2.5 as the optimal choice. To evaluate the concentration accuracy and gas consumption of the gas system, we conduct gas mixing and distribution experiments under different conditions. The results show that the system could achieve a concentration range of 0–100% for O2 with an accuracy of ±0.5%, and a concentration range of 0–10% for CO2 with an accuracy of ±0.1%. The daily gas consumption during cultivation is 3570 mL of N2, 330 mL of CO2, and 115 mL of O2, significantly lower than conventional incubators. Overall, our system can effectively manage dynamic gas concentration changes, particularly in high O2 concentration environments. It offers advantages such as low gas consumption, a wide concentration range, and high accuracy compared to existing incubators.

Experimental evaluation of various flow meters using gaseous CO2

The need for accurate flow measurement within the Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) transport network is widely reported and understood as a requirement of Emission Trading Schemes and commercial contracts. In meeting this requirement, traceable calibration is needed in conditions which closely mimic the process conditions. However, currently accredited calibration facilities cannot meet the conditions for calibrating in gaseous CO2 and so a likely alternative solution for these custody transfer flow meters is to be calibrated with an alternative fluid and the calibration transferred. In this article, which was produced under the framework of the EMPIR project “Metrology for Decarbonising the Gas Grid”, the authors will investigate this approach with a number of flow meters tested in natural gas, nitrogen gas and finally in carbon dioxide gas at varying pressures. The results of which will suggest that orifice and Coriolis meters can be calibrated in another fluid however, an ultrasonic meter would require further work and potentially require calibration in CO2. This article will also investigate the effects of impurities in a CO2 gas stream for a rotary displacement flow meter and a thermal mass flow controller compared against a piston prover which provides a primary reference flow standard.

Development of a Controlled Humidity Differential Electrochemical Gas Monitoring System

Lithium-air batteries (LABs) represent a promising future battery technology due to their high energy density, although several challenges hinder them from achieving their theoretical performance. These challenges include clogging of the porous air cathode by insoluble discharge products and high overpotentials during cycling [1, 2]. A recent proposal to address these issues involves the reversible formation and oxidation of LiOH in nonaqueous LABs. Of course, LiOH-based LABs require a proton source to form LiOH from the electrochemical reaction of oxygen and lithium ions [3]; humidity in air is an obvious choice for the proton source, making the relative humidity of LAB feed gas an important parameter to control and monitor during LAB electrochemical analysis.For LABs, galvanostatic charge/discharge coupled with quantitative gas evolution/consumption measurement is essential to understand the electrochemical processes during battery operation. Here, we report an advanced operando pressure measurement system that allows the control and monitoring of humidity in the cell headspace while also tracing overall gas consumption and evolution. Our gas handling system generates humid air using a water-containing chamber with a temperature control vessel to generate water vapor. A mass flow controller mixes dry air with humid air to generate specific relative humidity and send it to the cell. Using various low-volume in-line sensors, our system can track headspace humidity, temperature, and pressure within a custom-modified Swagelok-type cell. The total headspace volume must be small (~mL) since gas consumption occurs on a μmol scale in our lab-scale cells. To minimize headspace and dead volume within the Swagelok-type cell, a digital humidity and temperature sensor with exceptional accuracy was integrated into a customized printed circuit board (PCB). This PCB is attached to the small dead-volume Tee connection. To control the humidity inside the cell and achieve sensor data simultaneously, all sensors in the monitoring system are controlled by a LabVIEW program (National Instruments). To show the utility of this new system, we will present analyses of nonaqueous and solid-state LAB cells that operate at various humidities and current rates, while employing various known 2 e- and 4 e- oxygen reduction catalysts.

Feedback based gas sensing setup for ppb to ppm level sensing.

Sensing and quantification of gas at low concentrations is of paramount importance, especially with highly flammable and explosive gases such as hydrogen. Standard gas sensing setups have a limit of measuring ultra-low concentrations of few parts per billion unless the external gas cylinders are changed to ones with low concentrations. In this work, we describe a home-built resistance based gas sensing setup that can sense across a wide concentration range, from parts per billion to parts per million, accurately. This was achieved using two dilution chambers: a process chamber and a feedback assembly where a part of the output gas from the dilution chamber is fed back to the inlet mass flow controller, enabling enhanced dilutions without increasing the number of mass flow controllers. In addition, the gas-sensing setup can measure across a large temperature range of 77-900K. The developed setup was then calibrated using palladium thin films and ZnO nanoparticle thin films. The setup was tested for reproducibility, concentration response, temperature response, etc. Corresponding sensitivity values were calculated and found to be in good agreement with published values, validating our setup design.

Part-Level Fault Classification of Mass Flow Controller Drift in Plasma Deposition Equipment

Part-Level Fault Classification of Mass Flow Controller Drift in Plasma Deposition Equipment

Experimental investigation of a transcritical CO2 refrigeration system incorporating rotary gas pressure exchanger and low lift ejectors

Natural refrigerants like CO2 are playing a significant role in making refrigeration and heat pump systems climate-friendly by slowly phasing out the high global warming refrigerants like hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). However, the efficiency of a transcritical CO2 refrigeration system declines significantly when the ambient temperature increases, primarily attributed to the high-pressure lift and the losses incurred during expansion. To remedy this issue, this paper presents a novel rotary gas pressure exchanger (PXG) device, which simultaneously achieves high differential pressure expansion work recovery and the “free compression” of the portion of the flash gas in a compact, rotary machine. For this, a PXG device is designed, fabricated, and tested to achieve free compression of CO2 over the entire differential pressure of approximately 70 bar between a receiver and a gas cooler. This is one of the highest free-pressure lift provided by any device to date in CO2 refrigeration. However, there is a small pressure loss of approximately 1–2 bar in the system due to viscous and inertia losses in the piping and in the PXG itself, which needs to be overcome by an external booster device. Results on a baseline PXG integrated system with two low lift booster compressors are presented, which show up to 60 bar free pressure lift and up to 18.2 % COP improvement provided by PXG. Additionally, key performance characteristics of the PXG, like the expansion work recovery, the mass boost ratio, direct fluid-to-fluid contact, and no pass-through operation are experimentally quantified. This work also presents a novel method to integrate two low lift ejectors with PXG to eliminate the need for separate low lift compressors. The low lift ejectors are designed, fabricated, and tested in-house, followed by their integration with the PXG device. A new type of transcritical CO2 refrigeration system is designed to integrate these low lift ejectors with PXG, and experiments are conducted at various evaporator thermal duties and gas cooler exit temperatures, simulating varying ambient temperature conditions. A novel control system to control the gas cooler pressure to optimal thermodynamic levels using PXG rotational speed is demonstrated experimentally. Further, automated control of high-pressure low lift ejector mass flow using an in-built needle design has been successfully demonstrated to optimise PXG mass boost performance. The LP low lift ejector achieved a successful pressure lift of 3.8 bar, and the HP low lift ejector showed a lift of 5.7 bar on the top of 42 bar free pressure lift provided by PXG for up to 5.8 kg/min mass flow delivered by free PXG compression. The results from this study demonstrate that the PXG device provides a significant energy efficiency improvement to the transcritical CO2 refrigeration system, and the novel low lift ejectors, when integrated with PXG, provide a successful method to maximise PXG’s thermodynamic potential.

Internal Standard Addition System for Online Breath Analysis.

Breath analysis with secondary electrospray ionization (SESI) coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) is a sensitive method for breath metabolomics. To enable quantitative assessments using SESI-MS, a system was developed to introduce controlled amounts of gases into breath samples and carry out standard addition experiments. The system combines gas standard generation through controlled evaporation, humidification, breath dilution, and standard injection with the help of mass-flow controllers. The system can also dilute breath, which affects the signal of the detected components. This response can be used to filter out contaminating compounds in an untargeted metabolomics workflow. The system's quantitative capabilities have been shown through standard addition of pyridine and butyric acid into breath in real time. This system can improve the quality and robustness of breath data.

Design of refrigerated micro-flow thermal mass flow controller

Design of refrigerated micro-flow thermal mass flow controller

A method for generating quantitative vapor-phase infrared spectra of solids: results for phenol, camphor, menthol, syringol, dicyclopentadiene and naphthalene

A method is presented to generate quantitative vapor-phase infrared spectra from substances that naturally occur as solids with moderate volatility. The solid is gravimetrically dissolved into a solvent that has few infrared spectral features, typically CS2 and CCl4 separately. The solution is flowed at a constant rate from a linearly pumped syringe into a metered stream of nitrogen carrier gas regulated by a mass flow controller. The analyte/solvent mix is flash vaporized by volatilizing the solution across a heated stainless-steel surface as it emanates from the syringe tip. The N2 gas-solution mixture is flowed into a long-path White cell thermostatted at a desired temperature, the long optical path compensating for the modest analyte mixing ratio. A composite spectrum is generated from typically ten or more 760-Torr pressure-broadened spectra over the 600 to 6500 cm−1 spectral range at 0.1 cm−1 spectral resolution. The solid analytes reported here using this novel technique include dicyclopentadiene, menthol, syringol, phenol, camphor, and naphthalene.

Magnetron sputtering thruster operated with a compact gas feeding system using double pulsed valves

A continuous injection of gaseous water propellant into a magnetron-type sputtering propulsion device is performed in a pseudo manner by using a combination of two high-speed solenoid-type pulsed valves and a low-pressure gas reservoir . The gas injection system provides a temporally averaged gas flow rate of about 5–10 sccm with adjustment of the repetition frequencies of the pulsed valves, while the previously used single valve system attached to a liquid water tank has caused excessive gas injection. A discharge is sustained by a high voltage dc power supply; the discharge current has pulsation synchronized with the pulsed valve repetition. A temporally averaged force induced by the magnetron sputtering thruster and exerted on a pendulum plate downstream of the thruster is measured; the results are in good agreement with the previously reported force measurement under precisely controlled gas flow rate using a commercial mass flow controller. Therefore, the precise control of the gaseous water propellant with the compact gas feeding system is achieved, while maintaining a similar thruster performance to that with the mass flow controller.

Gas viscosities from a semiconductor-manufacturing mass-flow controller

We obtain gas viscosities with a pressure-based mass-flow controller used for semi-conductor manufacturing, a rate-of-change approach, and a physics-based calculation. The novelty of this method is that it is used in an industrial process whose main goal is not to measure viscosities. In this way, for pressures of the order of 10 kPa and 25 ∘C and 35 ∘C, we obtain for seven gases viscosities with mean absolute errors with respect to reference viscosities of less than 1%. Using this method, we report viscosities for two semiconductor-manufacturing gases not available in the open literature: hexafluoroisobutene (CAS # 382-10-5) and 1,1,3,3,3-pentafluoropropene (690-27-7).

Development and validation of an innovative headspace collection technique: volatile organic compound patterns emitted by different developmental stages of Halyomorpha halys

Over the past two decades, several headspace collection techniques have been used to detect and identify volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by plants, pests, air, and soil. Volatiles emitted by pests and infected plants are usually found at low concentrations. The important challenge is to be able to capture an exact collection of relative quantities of the relevant VOCs. Here we present an innovative headspace collecting device (HSCD) for sampling VOCs, which ensures an exact regulation of mass flow velocity and collected total gas volume allowing besides qualitative analysis of collected VOCs, an exact comparison of their relative quantities in plant or insect headspace samples. The HSCD possess six parallel odor collection systems each consisting of a digital mass flow detector and controller connected to a vacuum pump, which are mounted in a trolley suitcase, connected by tubes, and wired electrically. The programming of the channels, can be done by a digital control unit. Using the HSCD, VOCs emitted by the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), Halyomorpha halys, from its different developmental stages including egg, nymphal stages, nymphal exuvia, and adults were collected on thermal desorption tubes and analyzed using an automated thermal desorber connected to a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry system. Forty-five VOCs were identified in total, which mainly consisted of tridecane (4.36-69.33%), E-2-decenal (4.24-26.48%), 2-undecenal (0.63-50.03%), and E-4-oxo-2-hexenal (1.22-20.58%). The random forest analysis revealed three different chemical patterns among BMSB life stages samples. In conclusion, these results indicate that the new developed HSCD, a mobile, easy to use, and reliable instrument, has a high potential to sample relevant VOCs of a specific life stage of an insect both qualitatively and quantitatively. It was demonstrated that this information can be used for identifying specific chemical signatures, which fit to specific life stages of the BMSB, and may be used as biomarker for on-site detection of this pest e.g. in shipping containers or agricultural areas.

An Automated "Hands-Off" Method for Sampling Mainstream Smoke from Cannabis Cigarettes.

A simple-to-use, portable, and relatively inexpensive system for characterizing the chemical components of mainstream smoke from cannabis cigarettes was developed and tested by using commercial hemp cigarettes. The system is described, and its performance for reproducing actual user puff topographies is shown along with extensive chemical analysis data, including PAHs, carbonyls, and organic and elemental carbon, for a small set of initial samples. By using a solid-state flow meter and fast-response mass flow controller, the prototype can reproduce measured puff topography with excellent fidelity, which will allow users to accurately reproduce the actual inhalation patterns for various types of smoking products and consumers, and to collect samples of mainstream smoke without the need to bring test subjects or controlled substances into a laboratory.

Laminar to turbulent transitions of pipe flows by resonances of natural frequencies of components of test sections

This investigation analyses special papers and doctoral theses that treat transitions of pipe flows as a resonance phenomenon of wave frequencies. These frequencies are natural frequencies of pipe flows, of components of the test section and of vortex ring formations. Resonance conditions are derived that show how the critical Reynolds number, Rec , depends on the volume of the plenum chamber, the pipe diameter, the pipe length, etc. The derived resonance relations were verified experimentally using the experimental data of the third author, yielding R e c ∼ 1 / V ple , R e c ∼ 1 / ( L D ) and other interesting results. These findings suggest that the laminar-to-turbulent transition has various modes and transitive dependences. To understand this fully, it is necessary to take all components of the test section involved into account. The test section considered in this paper consists of a mass flow controller to supply the airflow and a plenum chamber, followed by the actual pipe of interest. It is shown that all the components can contribute to the measured value of the critical Reynolds number of pipe flow transition.

Investigation on the pressure drop characteristics of ITER thermal shield cooling pipes

This paper presents the experimental results of the pressure drop through the cooling pipes of the ITER Thermal Shield (TS) panels. High pressure and room temperature nitrogen gas is selected for the experiment, which is equivalent operating condition with the 80 K helium gas from fluid mechanics point of view. Flow rate is set by a mass flow controller and pressure difference between the inlet and the outlet of the cooling pipe is measured by a differential pressure gauge. The experimental set-up is open loop type, which is connected to high pressure gas bottle. Flexible corrugated pipes are used to connect the TS cooling pipes with the measurement system line. The effect of the corrugated pipe is evaluated separately and excluded from the measurement results of the TS pipes. Test results of several TS panels are shown in this paper and are compared with the calculation using existing friction factor correlation and local loss coefficient of the pipe bends. The limitation of the calculation is discussed considering the hydrodynamic developing flow in the pipe routing.

A high resolution and wide range valve for micronewton cold gas thrusters.

Numerous scientific satellites require micronewton thrusters for compensating environmental disturbances. The mass flow control proportional valve plays a crucial role in precisely regulating the thrust. To meet the high resolution and wide range requirements of the thrusters, this paper introduces a novel proportional valve with two sets of independently controllable piezoelectric stack. One set of the piezo-stack is used to compensate the stroke loss of the valve core, mainly caused by the deformation of the valve seat. The valve sealing mechanism is carefully analyzed to reduce the stroke loss. Another set of the stack works as the primary actuator, enabling the high mass flow control resolution. Two sets of independently controlled piezoelectric stacks not only expand the range and improve the range ratio but also provide redundancy and enhance reliability. This means that the actuator can still operate at lower ranges even if one piezo-stack is damaged. The piezo-actuators are assembled using U-shaped connectors, creating a compact and space-efficient overall design. Experimental tests have been conducted to verify the performance of the valve, which demonstrated a mass flow range of 0-675 μg/s with a resolution better than 0.1 μg/s and a flow noise below 0.1 μg/s/Hz1/2 at 0.1 mHz-1Hz.

Particle Flow Distribution in a Fluidized-Particles Multitube Solar Receiver

A fluidized-particles two-tube solar receiver was tested at ambient temperature at PROMES Laboratory to investigate the influence of an inhomogeneous solar flux density on the particle mass flow rate between the tubes. The principle of this 3rd generation solar receiver is to fluidize the particles in a container, called dispenser, in which the tubes’ bottom are immersed. The fluidized particles are flowing upward the tubes by applying an overpressure in the dispenser. Air velocities are changed inside the tubes, thanks to air mass flow controllers, to represent temperature heterogeneity between the tubes. Air velocities from 0.05 up to 0.52 m/s were tested, both in homogeneous and heterogeneous conditions. In the heterogeneous ones, the differences in air velocity between the tubes aim to mimic a difference in temperature from 20 to 100 % with homogeneous air flow rates injected. The following conclusions were drawn. First, the particle mass flux in the tubes are the same with homogeneous air velocities, each one following a calibration map previously obtained. Second, different air velocities lead to different particle mass flux. Third, the rise of the total particle mass flux diminishes the pressure in the dispenser. Four, this diminution of pressure leads to a decrease of the particle mass flow rate of the tube with the lower air velocity. This influence can lead in some cases to the stop of the fluidized bed circulation in the affected tube.