An Investigation of the Erosion Wear of Pitched Blade Impellers in a Solid-Liquid Suspension

This paper reports on a study of the erosion wear mechanism of the blades of pitched blade impellers in a solid-liquid suspension in order to determine the effect of the impeller speed n as well as the concentration and size of the solid particles on its wear rate. A four-blade pitched blade impeller (pitch angle α = 30°), pumping downwards, was investigated in a pilot plant fully baffled agitated vessel with a water suspension of corundum. The results of  experiments show that the erosion wear rate of the impeller blades is proportional to n2.7 and that the rate exhibits a monotonous dependence (increase) with increasing size of the particles. However, the erosion rate of the pitched blade impellerreaches a maximum at a certain concentration, and above this value it decreases as the proportion of solid particles increases. All results of the investigation are valid under a turbulent flow regime of the agitated batch

Pitched Blade Turbine Efficiency at Particle Suspension

Mixing suspensions is a very important hydraulic operation. The pitched six-blade turbine is a widely-used axial-flow impeller. This paper deals with effect relative impeller size and particle content on theefficiency of a pitched six-blade turbine at particle suspension. Two pitched six-blade turbines were used in model measurements of just suspension impeller speed. The ratios of the vessel to agitator diameter D/d were 3 and 4.5. The measurements were carried out in a dish-bottomed vessel 300 mm in diameter. The just suspension impeller speeds were measured using an electrochemical method, and were checked visually. A 2.5 % NaCl water solution was used as the liquid phase, and glass particles with four equivalent diameters between 0.18 and 0.89 mmand volumetric concentration from 2.5 % to 40% were usedasthesolid phase. The criterion values πs=Po√Fr'3(d/D)7 were calculated from the particle suspension and power consumption measurements. The dependencies of πs on particle content cv show that larger agitators are more efficient for higher particle content

Study of Pumping Capacity of Pitched Blade Impellers

A study was made of the pumping capacity of pitched blade impellers in a cylindrical pilot plant vessel with four standard radial baffles at the wall under a turbulent regime of flow. The pumping capacity was calculated from the radial profile of the axial flow, under the assumption of axial symmetry of the discharge flow. The mean velocity was measured using laser Doppler anemometry in a transparent vessel of diameter T = 400 mm, provided with a standard dished bottom. Three and six blade pitched blade impellers (the pitch angle varied within the interval a Îá24°; 45°ń) of impeller/vessel diameter ratio D/T = 0.36, as well as a three blade pitched blade impeller with folded blades of the same diameter, were tested. The calculated results were compared with the results of experiments mentioned in the literature, above all in cylindrical vessels with a flat bottom. Both arrangements of the agitated system were described by the impeller energetic efficiency, i.e, a criterion including in dimensionless form both the impeller energy consumption (impeller power input) and the impeller pumping effect (impeller pumping capacity). It follows from the results obtained with various geometrical configurations that the energetic efficiency of pitched blade impellers is significantly lower for configurations suitable for mixing solid-liquid suspensions (low impeller off bottom clearances) than for blending miscible liquids in mixing (higher impeller off bottom clearances)

Study of the Blending Efficiency of Pitched Blade Impellers

This paper presents an analysis of the blending efficiency of pitched blade impellers under a turbulent regime of flow of an agitated low viscous liquid. The conductivity method is used to determine of the blending (homogenization) time of miscible liquids in pilot plant mixing equipment with standard radial baffles. For the given homogeneity degree (98 %) a three-blade pitched blade impeller is tested with various off-bottom clearances, vessel/ impeller diameter ratios and various impeller pitch angles. The experimental results show in accordance with theoretical data from the literature, that the greatest effect on the dimensionless blending time is exhibited by the vessel/ impeller diameter ratio and the impeller pitch angle. The number of total circulations necessary for reaching the chosen homogeneity degree depends on the impeller pitch angle and amounts more than three. Finally, the energetic efficiency of the blending process is calculated. The results of this study show, that the highest energetic efficiency of the three-blade pitched blade impeller appears for the pitch angle a = 24°, the impeller/vessel diameter ratio T/D = 2 and the impeller off-bottom clearance h/D = 1

Heat Transfer at the Bottom of a Cylindrical Vessel Impinged by a Swirling Flow from an Impeller in a Draft Tube

Heat transfer at the bottom of a cylindrical vessel impinged by a flow with tangential velocity component generated by an axial-flow impeller in a draft tube was measured using the electrodiffusion experimental method. Local values of the Nusselt numbers along the radial coordinate of the heat transfer surface and corresponding mean values are presented for relatively small distances of the draft tube from the impinged surface (0.25 ≤ h / d ≤ 1). Such small distances are typical for mixing of liquids, which ensures good homogenization and increases the intensity of heat and mass transfer in many industrial operations. Results are compared with literature data for unconfined impinging jets with no tangential velocity components. The additional tangential velocity component generated by the rotating impeller significantly influences the hydrodynamics of the impinging jet and decreases the heat transfer intensity in the case of small distances from the impinged surface. A correlation describing the mean Nusselt number at the vessel bottom is proposed. It can be used in a design of a real industrial piece of equipment with heat transfer situated at the bottom. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Wall Shear Rates in Taylor Vortex Flow

Wall shear rate and its axial and azimuthal components were evaluated in stable Taylor vortices. The measurements were carried out in a broad interval of Taylor numbers (52-725) and several gap width (R1/R2 = 0.5 – 0.8) by two three-segment electrodiffusion probes and three single probes flush mounted in the wall of the outer fixed cylinder. The axial distribution of wall shear rate components was obtained by sweeping the vortices along the probes using a slow axial flow. The experimental results were verified by CFD simulations. The knowledge of local wall shear rates and its fluctuations is of primordial interest for industrial applications like tangential filtration, membrane reactors and bioreactors containing shear sensitive cells

Heat transfer measurements with TOIRT method

Temperature Oscillation Infra-Red Thermography (TOIRT) method was used to measure heat transfer coefficients between a at surface and a confined impinging jet generated by an impeller in a difusor and baffled vessel. The TOIRT method is based on measuring a phase-lag between the oscillating heat flux applied to the heat transfer surface and the surface temperature response using a contactless infra-red camera. The phase lag is in a direct relationship with the heat transfer coefficient

Pedagogical Agents for Fostering Question-Asking Skills in Children

Question asking is an important tool for constructing academic knowledge, and a self-reinforcing driver of curiosity. However, research has found that question asking is infrequent in the classroom and children's questions are often superficial, lacking deep reasoning. In this work, we developed a pedagogical agent that encourages children to ask divergent-thinking questions, a more complex form of questions that is associated with curiosity. We conducted a study with 95 fifth grade students, who interacted with an agent that encourages either convergent-thinking or divergent-thinking questions. Results showed that both interventions increased the number of divergent-thinking questions and the fluency of question asking, while they did not significantly alter children's perception of curiosity despite their high intrinsic motivation scores. In addition, children's curiosity trait has a mediating effect on question asking under the divergent-thinking agent, suggesting that question-asking interventions must be personalized to each student based on their tendency to be curious.Comment: Accepted at CHI 202

MicroRNA-22 and promoter motif polymorphisms at the Chga locus in genetic hypertension: functional and therapeutic implications for gene expression and the pathogenesis of hypertension

Hypertension is a common hereditary syndrome with unclear pathogenesis. Chromogranin A (Chga), which catalyzes formation and cargo storage of regulated secretory granules in neuroendocrine cells, contributes to blood pressure homeostasis centrally and peripherally. Elevated Chga occurs in spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) adrenal glands and plasma, but central expression is unexplored. In this report, we measured SHR and Wistar–Kyoto rat (control) Chga expression in central and peripheral nervous systems, and found Chga protein to be decreased in the SHR brainstem, yet increased in the adrenal and the plasma. By re-sequencing, we systematically identified five promoter, two coding and one 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR) polymorphism at the SHR (versus WKY or BN) Chga locus. Using HXB/BXH recombinant inbred (RI) strain linkage and correlations, we demonstrated genetic determination of Chga expression in SHR, including a cis-quantitative trait loci (QTLs) (i.e. at the Chga locus), and such expression influenced biochemical determinants of blood pressure, including a cascade of catecholamine biosynthetic enzymes, catecholamines themselves and steroids. Luciferase reporter assays demonstrated that the 3′-UTR polymorphism (which disrupts a microRNA miR-22 motif) and promoter polymorphisms altered gene expression consistent with the decline in SHR central Chga expression. Coding region polymorphisms did not account for changes in Chga expression or function. Thus, we hypothesized that the 3′-UTR and promoter mutations lead to dysregulation (diminution) of Chga in brainstem cardiovascular control nuclei, ultimately contributing to the pathogenesis of hypertension in SHR. Accordingly, we demonstrated that in vivo administration of miR-22 antagomir to SHR causes substantial (∼18 mmHg) reductions in blood pressure, opening a novel therapeutic avenue for hypertension