Optimization design of the coating furnace by 3-d simulation of spouted bed dynamics in the coater

The 3-d Euler–Euler CFD simulation was adopted to study the particle dynamics in the spouted bed under different operation conditions and different gas inlet structures (traditional single-nozzle inlet, modified single-nozzle inlet, multi-nozzle inlet and swirl flow design inlet). The maximum spouted height is mainly determined by the gas velocity. The simulation results were in good agreement with the experimental results in spouted bed with traditional single-nozzle inlet. The gas velocity increase will also reduce the volume of particle clusters in spouted bed with multi-nozzle inlet. By comparing simulation results, the multi-nozzle inlet and special swirl flow design inlet is better than single nozzle inlet for obtaining a more uniform fluidization state, which can disperse the gas to increase the gas–particle contact efficiency. The specially swirl flow design can reduce the accumulation of solid particles close to the wall further, especially at the bottom of the spouted bed. The experimental study should be given to validate the superiority of this newly swirl flow design inlet before the industrial application in the future.