Ice concentration measurement and control for ice slurry flow

Ice concentration must be accurately known for most experimental researches about ice slurry and its selected value must be maintained steady during test time to assure the validity of the results obtained. The aim of this work is to present the practical solutions adopted in an experimental study to achieve the two above cited requirements in a wide range of operation conditions. The ice content determination method employed in the experimental analysis presented is based on the density measurement by means of a Coriolis mass flow meter. It will be presented the basis of this method and will be discussed all factors that could influence the accuracy of the ice concentration determination, as well as the solutions adopted to evaluate the influence for each of these factors. In the same way, it will be analyzed all the factors that could cause differences between the actual concentration for an ice slurry flowing in a pipe and the mean concentration of this ice slurry when it’s stored in a stirred tank. It will be expounded the results of these analysis and the measures adopted to prevent wrong data. In this way, experimental test to obtain ice slurry properties could be developed at an equilibrium situation for the ice slurry along its freeze curve, independently of ice content, flow velocity or any other influence factor, and simultaneously ice concentration could be fixed and exactly determined for all test time.This research has been partially financed by the project 2I05SU0029 grant of the “Dirección General de Ciencia, Tecnología y Sociedad de la Información, Consejería de Economía, Industria e Innovación de la C.A. de la Región de Murcia” in Spain and the HRS Spiratube Company from Murcia (Spain). The work described in this paper is a part of that project