Wang Yongmei, Huang Xiaopeng, Wu Jinfeng. Numerical simulation and verification of flow field in ring die pellet mill at different process parameters for alfalfa[J]. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering (Transactions of the CSAE), 2017, 33(21): 267-274. DOI: 10.11975/j.issn.1002-6819.2017.21.033
    Citation: Wang Yongmei, Huang Xiaopeng, Wu Jinfeng. Numerical simulation and verification of flow field in ring die pellet mill at different process parameters for alfalfa[J]. Transactions of the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering (Transactions of the CSAE), 2017, 33(21): 267-274. DOI: 10.11975/j.issn.1002-6819.2017.21.033

    Numerical simulation and verification of flow field in ring die pellet mill at different process parameters for alfalfa

    • Abstract: Rotary roll extrusion pelleting technology has been widely used in the bioenergy industry, feed industry, chemical industry, pharmacy industry, and so on, because of the advantages such as high productivity, high forming rate, high adaptability and low pollution. By working principle analysis, numerical simulation, and experimental research, this paper revealed the distribution laws of internal flow field at different process parameters of ring die pellet mill in order to provide reference for the effective control of actual production process. First, the numerical simulation of two-dimensional isothermal flow field in the extruding domain of the ring die pellet mill MUZL420 with granulated alfalfa as the pelletizing material was performed by the POLYFLOW based on the reasonable simplification. The structural parameters of the pellet mill MUZL420 were as follows: The ring die diameter was 420 mm, the ring die width was 180 mm, the number of rollers was 2, the roller diameter was 203 mm, the percentage of the die opening area was 44.2%, the die hole diameter was 8 mm, and the die hole length was 54 mm. Effects of the changes in the feeding rate, ringdie speed and material moisture content on the distribution laws of pressure, velocity, shear rate and viscosity in the fluid field were analyzed on basis of the contour plots and cloud charts generated by CFD-POST. Then the extruding force in the exit of each die hole was captured by the Probe function in the CFD-POST. Next, according to the different process parameters set by the above numerical simulation, the experiments were carried out to measure the density of forming alfalfa pellet using the ring die pellet mill MUZL420. Finally, it was concluded by comparison that the forming density of alfalfa pellet increased with the increase of extruding force, which verified the validity of numerical simulation to some extent. The results showed that: 1) In the case of the same structural parameters and other conditions, increasing the feeding rate made the pressure in flow field gradually increase from higher negative pressure to positive pressure along the material flow direction, and the extruding area enlarged and the material here approximated to laminar flow, which improved the granulation yield and the product compactness. At the same time the shear rate was smaller and the viscosity and extruding force and forming density were larger. 2) Decreasing the ringdie speed led to the positive increase in fluid pressure along the material flow direction and the decrease in flow velocity and shear rate, in addition to obtaining larger extruding area and viscosity. However, the extruding pressure and forming density were reduced with the decrease in ringdie speed. 3) Decreasing material moisture content made the increase in pressure and viscosity and extruding pressure and forming density. 4) Only considering the pelletizing density, the optimal parameters combination in various combinations of the factor levels in this paper was as follows: The feeding rate was 6 t/h, the ringdie speed was 6.5 m/s, and the material moisture content was 15%.
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