A new type of composite tridimensional rotational flow sieve tray is proposed. The flow pattern and operation domain of the tray were defined and divided by the image shooting method, combined with the standard deviation of the pressure difference sequence. There are membrane--drip column and foam--embolic flow in the TRST area of the internal packing--type tray, while bubbly and milk froth-ribbon flow are present in the packing area of the external packing-type tray. This study focused on the influence of the tray structure parameters on the pressure drop. Under the experimental operating conditions, the dry pressure drop was within 160 Pa, while the wet pressure drop was within 900 Pa. Under the same structural parameters, the internal packing--type pressure drop of the tray was higher than that of the external packing-type tray. A mathematical model of the pressure drop between dry and wet trays was established.

The flow characteristics of the blade unit of a tridimensional rotational flow sieve tray was investigated experimentally in this study. First, the flow patterns are defined under different liquid arrangement methods. They are bilateral film flow, continuous perforated flow, and dispersion-mixing flow in overflow distribution and film and jet flow and jet and mixed flow in spray distribution. Second, the time and frequency domain analysis of the differential pressure pulsation signal in the blade unit is carried out. The influence of perforation and mixing intensity on the flow pattern transition is clarified. Third, the rotational flow ratio of the gas-liquid phase is measured. The influence of the operating conditions on the distribution of the rotational and perforated flow for the gas-liquid phase is investigated. Finally, a prediction model for the rotational flow ratio is proposed. The prediction results agree well with the experimental data.

In the cross-flow moving bed, the gas-solid cross-flow pattern facilitates its high gas process capacity under relatively low pressure drop. In this paper, a structural optimization of gas-solid baffles, is proposed to enhance the bed operating flexibility by controlling the abnormal phenomena of cavity, pinning and air lock. According to experimental data, the relevant equations for predicting the occurrence of the abnormal phenomena are derived to explain the effects of the gas-solid baffles. It turns out that, with this proposed optimization, the cavity and pinning are weakened in both rectangular and radial beds; the air lock can be easily controlled by increasing the height and diameter of feed tube. The preferred gas-solid baffles is in the middle position (x/L=0.5) of the rectangular bed and/or (r-r1)/(r2-r1)<0.5 of the radial bed under different gas superficial velocities, particle diameters and bed voidages.