Powder Technology 127 (2002) 19 31

www.elsevier.com/locate/powtec

Influence of the nature of the Roots blower on pressure

fluctuations in a fluidized bed
Chien-Song Chyang *, Yen-Chin Lin
Department of Chemical Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chung-Li 320, Taiwan, ROC

Received 27 March 2001; received in revised form 6 June 2001; accepted 31 January 2002

Abstract

Experiments were conducted in a 0.29-m I.D. fluidized-bed cold model with fluidizing air supplied by a Roots blower. To investigate the
influence of the air-supply equipment on the pressure fluctuations, another experiment was carried out in a 0.10-m I.D. cold model with
fluidizing air supplied by a compressor. In this work, the effects of superficial air velocity, static bed height and windbox volume were
studied. The pressure pulsation frequency caused by the Roots blower was identified successfully from the pressure fluctuation frequency
spectrum. This pulsation frequency was found to be related to the blower impeller rotary speed and exhibited a good linear relationship. The
experimental results indicated that the blower possesses its own pressure pulsation frequency vs. superficial air velocity characteristic curve.
At a given air flow rate, a larger-scale blower produced a lower pulsation frequency, higher pulsation intensity and a higher coefficient of
variation for pressure fluctuations in the bed. With increasing superficial air velocity, the pulsation intensity abated and became less
influential on the pressure fluctuations in the bed.
D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Pressure fluctuations; Pulsation; Roots blower; Fluidized bed; Windbox

1. Introduction
1.1. Background
Numerous researchers implemented pressure fluctuation
measurements to investigate the hydrodynamic behavior of
fluidized beds. However, pressure fluctuations in a fluidized
bed can be induced by various sources, such as bubbles,
bed-height oscillations, the line configuration and even the
air supply.
The influence of the blower on the hydrodynamic behav-
ior in a fluidized bed has been noted for decades. Botterill et
al. [1] reported that the pulsed air flow resulted from the
Roots blower affects the voidage of the packed bed and the
shape of the bed pressure drop vs. air flow rate curve. The
minimum fluidization velocity estimated using the pressure
fluctuation method is affected by the blower characteristics.
Geldart [2] stated that the pressure pulsations resulted from
the blower can alter the fluidization behavior. Dhodapkar and
Klinzing [3] also pointed out that the rotating lobes in Roots
blower can cause pressure fluctuations. However, no signifi-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +886-3-4563495; fax: +886-3-4636242.
E-mail address: cschyang@mbox.cycu.edu.tw (C.-S. Chyang).
cant evidence has been reported to confirm the extent of this
influence on the pressure fluctuations in the fluidized bed.
In order to avoid the destructive measurement within the
bed and prevent the pressure probe from erosion or clogging
by the bed material, some investigators have made the
pressure fluctuation measurements in the windbox. Lirag
and Littman [4] measured pressure fluctuations in both the
bed and windbox and analyzed the signals using probability
density, autocorrelation, and power spectral density func-
tions. Baird and Kelein [5] detected the pressure fluctuations
in the windbox to investigate the spontaneous oscillation of
the gas-fluidized bed. Kage et al. [6,7] measured and
analyzed pressure fluctuation data detected in the windbox
using the power spectral density function. Wilkinson [8]
calculated the standard deviation of the pressure fluctua-
tions, rp, detected in the windbox to evaluate the minimum
fluidization velocity, U mf , via the linear relationship
between U and rp proposed by Puncochar et al. [9].
Svensson et al. [10] conducted experiments in a 12 MWth
Circulating Fluidized Bed (CFB) boiler and a cold CFB.
They made comparisons between the frequency spectra
obtained from the bed and windbox. From the research
mentioned above, measuring pressure fluctuations in the
windbox has been a trend.

0032-5910/02/$ - see front matter D 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 3 2 - 5 9 1 0 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 9 2 - X
20 C.-S. Chyang, Y.-C. Lin / Powder Technology 127 (2002) 1931

Am, density of 2540 kg/m3, subjected to Geldart Group B

particles, were used as the bed material.

2.1.1. 0.29-m I.D. cold model

The fluidized bed was fabricated with an acrylic column,
0.29 m in diameter and 1.0 m in height. A schematic
diagram of the experimental apparatus is shown in Fig. 1.
Twenty-two horizontal nozzles, 90j-bent carbon steel tubes
with an inside diameter of 6.8 mm, were mounted on an 8-
mm-thick plate as a distributor. The horizontal nozzles were
arranged in three concentric circles with all discharge exits
directed clockwise, as shown in Fig. 2. The windbox, with a
volume of V = 0.04 m3 (0.6-m high), was made of iron. In
order to explore the windbox volume effect on the pressure
fluctuations, windboxes with volumes of 0.5, 1.5 and 2V
were used as well.
Two Roots blowers, with a maximum air capacity rate of
10 and 15 Nm3/min, respectively, were used to estimate the
blower scale effect. An orifice-plate flow meter was used to
Fig. 1. The schematic diagram of the 0.29-m I.D. fluidized-bed cold model.
measure the fluidizing air flow rate.

Moritomi et al. [11] recorded the pressure histories to
investigate the influence of the pressure pulsation on the
pressure fluctuations within the bed by mandatory adjust-
ment on inlet air flow. It showed that the pressure responses
could be classified in terms of both the inlet frequency and
the gas flow rate. Instead of using the pressure record, the
frequency spectral analysis by Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)
was used in this work to investigate the influence of the
Roots blowers mechanical nature of air transport. Whether
the measurements were conducted in the bed or windbox,
the pressure fluctuations were probably influenced to some
extent by the nature of the blower. To assess the blower
influence on pressure fluctuations, measurements were
made both in the bed and windbox in this work.
2.1.2. 0.10-m I.D. cold model
The fluidized bed was made of an acrylic column, 0.10 m
in diameter, 0.74 m in height, and equipped with a porous
plate as an air distributor. A 10-hp compressor was used to
provide the fluidized air with the flow rate measured using a
rotameter.
This apparatus was employed only to explore the effect
of the air-supply equipment. Most experiments were con-
ducted in the 0.29-m I.D. cold model.

1.2. Principle of the Roots blower

Two impellers, rotating in opposite directions, were

installed inside a Roots blower case. The clearance between
the impellers or the lobe and the case was extremely small,
about 0.08 0.3 mm. When the two impellers rotate, the
inlet volume is enlarged to cause a low-pressure area to
draw air in. When the impeller blade rotates, it forms a
transient closed space with the case that traps a certain
amount of air. As the impeller blade rotates to the outlet, the
captured air is discharged from the blower. In this way, the
air-transport process in the blower is completed.

2. Experimental

2.1. Apparatus

Experiments were carried out in 0.29- and 0.10-m I.D.

fluidized-bed models. Glass beads with a diameter of 545 Fig. 2. The illustration of the multi-horizontal nozzle distributor (top-view).
 C.-S. Chyang, Y.-C. Lin / Powder Technology 127 (2002) 1931 21

Table 1 where DPi is the instantaneous value of the pressure drop,

Experimental conditions
and N is the number of sampling points.
Experimental unit 0.29-m I.D. 0.10-m I.D. The coefficient of the variation for the pressure fluctua-
cold model * cold model
tions, C.V., indicates the extent of the pressure fluctuations
Air-supply Roots blower Compressor and is defined as
equipment (1) 15-hp, Qmax = (1) 10-hp v
10 Nm3/min * u N
uX
(2) 15-hp, Qmax = u DPi  DP2
t
15 Nm3/min i1
Measuring position rp N1 ;
(centrally) C:V: 2
DP DP
Distance above the 0.05 None
distributor (m) where rp is the standard deviation of the pressure fluctua-
Distance below the 0.065 0.035
tions, i.e. mean of the amplitude of the pressure fluctuations.
distributor (m)
Bed material
Material Glass bead None 2.3.2. Frequency spectral analysis
Density (kg/m3) 2540 The Fourier transform used in this study is as follows
Diameter (Am) 545 [12]:
Minimum fluidization 0.205
velocity, Umf (m/s) X
l

Air distributor gt a0 cn cosnx0 t dn ; 3

Type Multi-horizontal Porous plate n1
nozzle distributor
Orifice diameter 6.8 Z aT
1
(mm) a0 gtdt; 4
Superficial air 0.205 1.23 0.615 T a
velocity, U (m/s) (0.615*)
Static bed height, 0.15, 0.20*, 0.25, None where g(t) is a periodic function with period T, cn is
Hs (m) 0.30, 0.35 harmonic amplitudes,
Windbox volume, 0.02, 0.04*, 0.001
Vw (m3) 0.06, 0.08 q
The asterisk symbol * denotes the normal operating conditions in this cn a2n b2n ; 5
work.
and
Z aT
2
2.2. Data acquisition an gtcosnx0 tdt; 6
T a

Pressure taps were located along the column wall so that Z aT

the pressure probe, made of a 2.5-mm I.D. stainless steel 2
bn gtsinnx0 tdt; 7
tube, could be inserted into the bed horizontally and moved T a
in radial direction. Pressure fluctuation data were acquired
dn is phase angles,
using a high performance data-acquisition card (AdvanTech,
PCL-818H) coupled with a pressure transmitter (Rose- 
mount, Model 1151DP), and further analyzed using PC- 1 bn
dn tan  ; 8
based software (DASYTEC, DASYLab v. 5.0). In this an
work, the sampling rate was set at 100 Hz and the sampling
points for each run were 8192. The comprehensive operat- x0 2p=T 9
ing conditions are tabulated in Table 1.
Amplitude spectrum, the plot of c0 at 0 with c0 = Aa0A (in
2.3. Data analysis
this work, the DC component was suppressed so c0 = 0) and,
for n z 1, cn/2 vs. frequency, was used.
2.3.1. Statistical analysis
Mean of pressure fluctuations, DP, represents the mean
pressure drop at a certain position during a certain period of
3. Results and discussion
time, and is given by

X
N 3.1. Measuring location of pressure fluctuations
DPi
i1 Usually, the pressure signals were measured along the
DP 1
N central line within the bed (e.g., Refs. [8,9,13,14]). Hong
22 C.-S. Chyang, Y.-C. Lin / Powder Technology 127 (2002) 1931

et al. [13] suggested that a higher level in the bed is more
appropriate for measurement. However, Wilkinson [8]
determined the minimum fluidization velocity using the
pressure fluctuation standard deviation and his results
showed that the values obtained from the bottom of the
bed (height = 0 cm) or the windbox were extremely good.
Svoboda et al. [15,16] reported that the frequency spec-
trum was affected considerably less than the pressure
amplitude when the pressure probe was located along the
axial positions. Baskakov et al. [17] also stated that
pressure fluctuations along the bed height occur synchroni-
cally.
For the 0.29-m I.D. cold model, pressure taps were
installed along the column 0.05, 0.07, 0.10, 0.15 m above
and 0.065 m below the distributor, respectively. The
pressure probe was inserted into the center of the bed
horizontally to measure the central pressure signals. Exper-
imental results indicated that the frequency spectra
obtained from various positions within the bed were very
similar, while the amplitudes decreased with the height of
the tap location. Hence, the locations, 0.05 m above and
0.065 m below the distributor, were chosen as the measure-
ment positions in the bed and windbox, respectively. For
the 0.10-m I.D. cold model, pressure signals were meas-
ured only in the windbox, at a position 0.035 m below the
distributor.
3.2. The pressure pulsation frequency, fp
The frequency spectra, detected in the bed and windbox
at different operating conditions, are shown in Fig. 3. No
pressure fluctuation signals could be measured in the bed

Fig. 3. The frequency spectra, detected in the bed and windbox at different operating conditions. A Roots blower with Qmax = 10 Nm3/min was employed.
U = 0.615 m/s. Hs = 0.20 m.
 C.-S. Chyang, Y.-C. Lin / Powder Technology 127 (2002) 1931 23

Fig. 4. Effect of superficial air velocity on frequency spectra detected in the bed and windbox. A Roots blower with Qmax = 10 Nm3/min was employed.
Hs = 0.20 m.
24 C.-S. Chyang, Y.-C. Lin / Powder Technology 127 (2002) 1931

while the distributor was absent (Fig. 3(a)), or present

without bed material (Fig. 3(c)). When the distributor was
present without bed material, pressure signals could be
detected in the windbox. One remarkable pressure fluctua-
tion frequency (about 4.5 Hz) was detected in the windbox
(Fig. 3(b)). Pressure fluctuation signals could be measured
both in the bed and windbox with bed material present (Fig.
3(d) and (e)).
Comparing Fig. 3(b) and (d), it can be seen that the
frequency exists whether the bed material is present or not.
Evidently, this characteristic frequency, denoted as fc, is
irrelevant to the fluidization of the bed material. Comparing
Fig. 3(d) and (e), it is observed that the pressure fluctua-
tions, caused by the hydrodynamic behavior of the bed, are
able to propagate downwards to the windbox. These pres-
sure fluctuations feature a broad frequency band in the
spectrum, with an intensity less than that in the bed due to
the impediment caused by the distributor. This is in agree-
ment with the results reported by Lirag and Littman [4].
Similarly, we can infer that the pressure fluctuations at the
Fig. 5. The characteristic frequency, fc, detected in the windbox as a
characteristic frequency can propagate upwards to the bed as
function of superficial air velocity, U. A Roots blower with Qmax = 10 Nm3/
well, but overlap with the pressure fluctuations caused by min was employed. Hs = 0.20 m.
the bed, as shown in Fig. 3(e).
It is interesting to discover the origin which causes the
fluctuations at the characteristic frequency, fc. Effects of
superficial air velocity, static bed height, and windbox windbox was employed (see Fig. 7(e) (h)). This was
volume on fc are taken into account in the following probably attributed to the buffer effect from the enlarged
sections. windbox volume.
According to the experimental results reported above,
3.2.1. Effect of superficial air velocity, U the characteristic frequency, fc, is only related to the
The frequency spectra, detected in the bed and windbox superficial air velocity and is independent of the static
with a superficial air velocity in the range of 2 6 Umf, are bed height and windbox volume. Although spontaneous
shown in Fig. 4. From Fig. 4(a) (e), fc was affected oscillations described by Baird and Kelein [5] can be
significantly and increased almost linearly with U (see neglected in this study, a pressure accumulation may have
Fig. 5). The increase in gas velocity accelerated the for- occurred within the windbox. Therefore, a comparison
mation of bubbles and promoted bubble coalescence. Large between the experimental results obtained in this study
bubbles resulted in strong bed height oscillations and and that reported by Baird and Kelein [5] should be
responded with a more intense and broader frequency band conducted. Baird and Kelein [5] measured the pressure
in the spectra (see Fig. 4(f) (j)). fluctuations in the windbox to investigate the spontaneous
oscillation phenomenon. They proposed that the pressure-
3.2.2. Effect of static bed height, Hs accumulated frequency of the fluidizing air within the
The frequency spectra, obtained from the bed and wind- windbox increased first and then leveled off with super-
box with static bed height from 0.15 to 0.35 m, are shown in ficial air velocity; and decreased with an increase in the
Fig. 6. From Fig. 6(a) (e), fc was almost unaffected by Hs. static bed height and windbox volume. Apparently, their
A deeper static bed height enabled the bubbles to fully results were different from our findings. Hence, the source
develop, accompanied with great bed height oscillations. A of the characteristic frequency, fc, is not due to the
more intense and broader frequency band in the spectrum accumulation of fluidizing air within the windbox.
was observed (see Fig. 6(f) (j)). It is known that the fluidizing air supplied by the Roots
blower possesses pulsation characteristics. From the Roots
3.2.3. Effect of windbox volume, Vw blowers principle discussed earlier in this work, it is
The frequency spectra, obtained with windbox volumes understandable that the pulsation frequency of the fluid-
varied from 0.08 to 0.318 m3 by changing the windbox izing air increases with an increase in the rotary speed of
height, but not affecting the superficial air velocity, are the blower impellers. Since the characteristic frequency, fc,
shown in Fig. 7. From Fig. 7(a) (d), it can be seen that fc is only related to the superficial air velocity, it is quite
was independent of Vw. The intensity of the pressure possible that fc is induced by the nature of the Roots
fluctuations in the bed abated a little bit when a larger-size blower, i.e. pressure pulsations produced by the blower
 C.-S. Chyang, Y.-C. Lin / Powder Technology 127 (2002) 1931 25

Fig. 6. Effect of static bed height on frequency spectra detected in the bed and windbox. A Roots blower with Qmax = 10 Nm3/min was employed. U = 0.82 m/s.
26 C.-S. Chyang, Y.-C. Lin / Powder Technology 127 (2002) 1931

Fig. 7. Effect of windbox volume on frequency spectra detected in the bed and windbox. A Roots blower with Qmax = 10 Nm3/min was employed. U = 0.615
m/s. Hs = 0.20 m.

rotating lobes. In order to prove this, a test was conducted
by bypassing the fluidizing air. In this way, the amount of
air entering the windbox could be altered by adjusting the
valve aperture percentage on the bypass, /v, without
having to adjust the speed of the impellers. The test results
revealed that fc became independent of the superficial air
velocity (see Fig. 8). In other words, fc is constant when the
speed of the impellers is fixed. Therefore, it is evident that
the fluctuations at the characteristic frequency, fc, result
from the nature of the blower. This pressure pulsation
frequency of the fluidizing air is denoted as fp in this work,
and its intensity is denoted as Ip. From Fig. 8, the pressure
pulsation intensity, Ip, decreased due to the decreasing
amount of fluidizing air into the windbox.
It is noted that the fp can be the dominant frequency in
the spectrum obtained from the windbox under the follow-
 C.-S. Chyang, Y.-C. Lin / Powder Technology 127 (2002) 1931
Fig. 8. Effect of the valve aperture percentage on the bypass on the
characteristic frequency detected in the windbox without bed material. A
Roots blower with Qmax = 10 Nm3/min was employed.
ing operating conditions: low superficial air velocity (Fig.
4(a)), low static bed height (Fig. 6(a)) and large windbox
volume (Fig. 7(d)). This is because low superficial air
velocity and small static bed height tend to result in a gentle
fluidization, leading to smaller pressure fluctuations. A large
windbox volume can buffer the pressure fluctuations propa-
gated from the bed. In some cases, fp may overlap with the
frequency band caused by the fluidization behavior within
the bed and it is difficult to distinguish, even in the wind-
box. Therefore, if one attempts to measure the pressure
fluctuations of the fluidized bed in the windbox, a prelimi-
nary experiment should be conducted to identify fp. The
procedure is to measure the pressure fluctuations within the
windbox with bed material absent under various superficial
air velocities and then the fp at the corresponding air velocity
can be clearly identified from the frequency spectrum.
27
3.3. Interaction between the pressure fluctuations from the
bed and windbox
It has been demonstrated that the pressure fluctuations in
a fluidized bed with a Roots blower employed result from
two major sources. The first is the hydrodynamic behavior
in the bed, such as the formation and motion of bubbles. It
results in a frequency band in the frequency spectrum of
pressure fluctuations, which is associated with the super-
ficial air velocity, static bed height, particle size and
distributor design, as demonstrated by Fan et al. [18]. The
second is the nature of the Roots blower. It features a
specific frequency in the spectrum. These two sources have
different influences on the pressure fluctuations in the bed
and windbox. Among all of the operating parameters,
superficial air velocity is the most important.
The frequency spectra, obtained from the bed and wind-
box with various superficial air velocities, are shown in Fig.
9. From Fig. 9(a) and (f), the pressure fluctuations in the bed
are in accord with those in the windbox. Meanwhile, the
pressure fluctuations in the bed are dominated by the
pressure fluctuation pattern in the windbox. Before the
hydrodynamic behavior in the bed (such as bubbling and
jetting) develops, the pressure fluctuations within the bed
are caused by the interstitial air through the bed at the
pulsation frequency, fp, which is corresponding to the so-
called pulsed fluidization region [11].
At a higher air velocity, it can be observed from Fig. 9(d)
and (i) that the frequency band is broadened which responds
to the developing bed hydrodynamic behavior. With a
further increase in air velocity, the pressure fluctuations
within the bed become more intense, and gradually domi-
nate the fluctuation pattern in the windbox. It should be
noted that the pressure fluctuation intensity would abate
while propagating across the distributor pressure drop from
windbox to bed, and vice versa. With increasing air velocity
or static bed height, the distributor pressure drop increases
accordingly, leading to an incremental difficulty of pressure
fluctuation propagation. Comparing Fig. 9(e) and (j), when
the superficial air velocity reached 3Umf, the pulsation
intensity in the bed fades out and is overlapped by the
pressure fluctuation intensity caused by the well-developed
bed hydrodynamic behavior, which is subjected to the so-
called free fluidization region [11]. At this point, the
pulsation frequency, fp, cannot be distinguished from the
frequency spectrum obtained from the bed. Moreover, from
Fig. 9, it is evident that the pressure fluctuations in the
fluidized bed propagate both upwards and downwards.
3.4. Effect of the air-supply equipment on the pressure
fluctuations
The frequency spectra, obtained from the windbox at
U = 0.615 m/s with the bed material absent and various types
of air-supply equipment employed, are shown in Fig. 10.
From Fig. 10(a) and (b), it is indicated that the pulsation
28 C.-S. Chyang, Y.-C. Lin / Powder Technology 127 (2002) 1931

Fig. 9. The interaction between the pressure fluctuations from the bed and windbox. A Roots blower with Qmax = 10 Nm3/min was employed. Hs = 0.20 m.
 C.-S. Chyang, Y.-C. Lin / Powder Technology 127 (2002) 1931 29

pressure fluctuations. Hence, the pulsation frequency cannot

be found in the pressure fluctuation frequency spectrum
when a compressor is used (Fig. 10(c)).
Fig. 11 shows the pulsation frequency, fp, obtained from
the windbox as a function of the superficial air velocity, U,
with bed material present and a Roots blower with
Qmax = 10 and 15 Nm3/min employed, respectively. From
Fig. 11, a good linear relationship between fp and U is
observed. It is evident that the air output has less impact on
the impeller rotary speed of the larger-scale blower. There-
fore, the fp vs. U curve has a smaller slope. It is clear that the
Roots blower possesses its own fp vs. U characteristic curve,
depending on its scale.
Fig. 12(a) shows the ratio of the pressure drop detected
in the windbox with and without bed material, DPw/DPd, as
a function of the superficial air velocity, U. When air
velocity exceeds the minimum fluidization velocity, the
bed pressure drop is constant and the distributor pressure
drop increases. The ratio DPw/DPd approaches unity. It can
be found from Fig. 12(b) that the two values for Ip, detected
in the windbox with and without bed material, approach
each other. This result confirms that Ip is related to the back
resistance. A higher back resistance results in greater
pulsation intensity. It can be found as well that an Ip
produced by a larger-scale blower is more sensitive to the
air output. Fig. 12(c) shows the coefficient of variance for
the pressure fluctuations in the bed, C.V.b, as a function of
the superficial air velocity, U. Comparing Fig. 12(b) and (c),
it is indicated that a higher Ip results in greater pressure
fluctuations in the bed. However, at high air velocity, Ip is
abated due to the shortened pulsation period and Ip values

Fig. 10. Effect of the air-supply equipment on the pressure fluctuations

detected in the windbox without bed material. U = 0.615 m/s.

frequency depends on the blower scale. A blower with

Qmax = 15 Nm3/min produced a lower pulsation frequency
and greater pulsation intensity than that produced by a
blower with Qmax = 10 Nm3/min, under the same super-
ficial air velocity. The reason is that a lower impeller
rotary speed is required for a larger-scale blower than for a
smaller-scale blower under the same air output. This leads
to a lower pressure pulsation frequency. A lower pulsation
frequency indicates a longer pulsation period, which results
in greater pressure amplitude, i.e. greater pressure pulsa-
tion intensity. Fig. 11. The pressure pulsation frequency, fp, detected in the windbox as a
The air pressure supplied by a compressor is always function of superficial air velocity, U. A Roots blower with Qmax = 10 and
constant due to a surge tank employed to damp out the 15 Nm3/min was employed respectively. Hs = 0.20 m.
30 C.-S. Chyang, Y.-C. Lin / Powder Technology 127 (2002) 1931

possibly becomes the dominant frequency. If one attempts

to investigate the hydrodynamic behavior of a fluidized
bed using spectral analysis in the windbox, a preliminary
experiment should be conducted to identify the fp in the
spectrum.
Although the nature of the Roots blower affects the
pressure fluctuations in the fluidized bed, a pulsed flow is
favorable from the view of the fluidized-bed reactor design.
The pulsed flow was deliberately introduced into the bed to
promote mixing (e.g., Refs. [19 21]). Therefore, it seems
unnecessary to damp out the pulsation intensity from the
blower. However, the knowledge of the pulsing air supply is
required to avoid data-analysis confusion.

List of symbols
a real number
a0 coefficient defined in Eq. (4)
an coefficient defined in Eq. (6)
bn coefficient defined in Eq. (7)
c0 = Aa0A ; in this work, the DC component was
suppressed so c0 = 0
cn harmonic amplitudes, defined in Eq. (5)
C.V. coefficient of variance for the pressure fluctuations,
defined in Eq. (2)
C.V.b coefficient of variance for the pressure fluctuations
in the bed, dimensionless
fc characteristic frequency, Hz
fp pressure pulsation frequency caused by Roots
blower, Hz
g(t) periodic function, defined in Eq. (3)
Hs static bed height, m
Ip pressure pulsation intensity caused by Roots
Fig. 12. (a) The ratio of the pressure drop detected in the windbox with and blower, kPa
without bed material, DPw/DPd; (b) the pressure pulsation intensity, Ip, N sampling points of pressure fluctuations for each
detected in the windbox; (c) the coefficient of variance for the pressure run
fluctuations in the bed, C.V.b, as a function of the superficial air velocity, U.
DP mean of pressure fluctuations, defined in Eq. (1)
Hs = 0.20 m.
DPd pressure drop across the distributor, kPa
DPi instantaneous value of the pressure drop
DPw pressure drop across the distributor and bed
produced by various blower scales are close, as seen in Fig. material, kPa
12(b). This means that the influence of the nature of the Qmax maximum air capacity rate of Roots blower under
blower on the pressure fluctuations in the bed tends to be the normal condition of 0 jC and 1 atm, Nm3/min
minimum at high air velocity. Therefore, the C.V.b values for t time
various blowers employed gradually approached each other T period
with the increasing air velocity, as shown in Fig. 12(c). U superficial air velocity, m/s
Umf minimum fluidization velocity, m/s
V = 0.159 m3, windbox volume in normal condition
4. Conclusions Vw windbox volume, m3

It has been demonstrated experimentally that the pres- Greek letters

sure fluctuations in a fluidized bed with a Roots blower dn phase angle, defined in Eq. (8)
result from two major sources. The first is the hydro- /v valve aperture percentage on the bypass, %
dynamic behavior within the bed and the second is the p = pi
nature of the Roots blower, which significantly influences rp standard deviation of pressure fluctuations, defined
the pressure fluctuations in the windbox. At low superficial in Eq. (2)
air velocity, the pressure pulsation frequency, fp, quite x0 = 2p/T
 C.-S. Chyang, Y.-C. Lin / Powder Technology 127 (2002) 1931
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[3] S.V. Dhodapkar, G.E. Klinzing, Pressure fluctuations in pneumatic
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[4] R.C. Lirag Jr., H. Littman, Statistical study of the pressure fluctuations
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