Improving operability of spouted beds using a simple optimizing control structure

In operations using spouted beds, it is of major importance, from an energy consumption point of view, to operate the process as close as possible to the minimum spout flow. At this point, the speed of the gas (for example, warm air in drying operations) is greater than the amount of heat and mass transfer involved, although it only transfers the minimum amount of momentum to maintain the spout. Therefore, by staying close to this minimum flow condition, it is possible to perform a stable operation and to obtain energy savings not only in the heating of the gas but also in its displacement by blowers. In order to improve the operation of such processes, a study is carried out by implementing a simple optimizing control structure on a spouted bed experimental set-up. The air flow is regulated by a frequency inverter, at the speed of blower rotation. A PI controller was used and the set-point for the air flow rate is calculated on-line by a simple and well-known minimization method called Golden Section Search. This set-point is constantly updated with values very close to the actual minimum spout flow rate. To accomplish the calculations and data acquisitions, a microcomputer with an interface and an analog signal conditioner is used