Segmented Annular Flow Conditioner for Pipe
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flow conditioners for flow metering devices face limitations in effectively removing swirl and achieving a fully developed axial velocity profile while maintaining low pressure loss, with designs like tube bundles and thick-plate conditioners having manufacturing issues and variable performance.
Innovation Solution
A flow conditioner with segmented annular passages arranged symmetrically around a circular conduit, allowing for adjustable radial and tangential width and length of passages to optimize hydraulic diameter and porosity, reducing swirl and pressure loss while achieving a desired radial resistance and axial velocity profile.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If tube bundles are used to remove swirl, then swirl is reduced, but the axial velocity profile is not fully developed and pressure loss increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flow conditioner divides the flow cross-section into multiple annular segments using radial ligaments, allowing independent control of flow paths in different regions. This segmentation enables the creation of a fully developed axial velocity profile while effectively removing swirl through controlled flow distribution across segments.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the flow conditioner have different ligament thicknesses and passage configurations. The radial ligaments have varying thicknesses to create different resistance characteristics in different annular regions, enabling local optimization of velocity profile development and swirl removal throughout the flow cross-section.
2Manufacturing precision
If thick-plate conditioners are used to achieve a fully developed axial velocity profile, then the profile is improved, but pressure loss coefficient increases
Solution Approach 1:
The flow conditioner uses a thin-plate design with strategically positioned ligaments rather than a thick-plate structure. This dynamic configuration allows the plate to be thin (reducing pressure loss) while the ligament arrangement creates the necessary flow resistance distribution to develop a fully formed axial velocity profile downstream.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the key parameter from plate thickness to ligament thickness and passage geometry. By controlling the thickness and arrangement of radial and circumferential ligaments, the design achieves the desired velocity profile development without requiring a thick plate, thereby reducing pressure loss coefficient.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If tube bundles are used to remove swirl, then swirl is reduced, but manufacturing quality varies and tube alignment is difficult to control
Solution Approach 1:
The flow conditioner is segmented into a modular thin-plate structure with radial and circumferential ligaments that can be manufactured as integrated components. This segmentation eliminates the need for assembling multiple tubes, allowing precise control of ligament positions and thicknesses during manufacturing, thereby ensuring consistent alignment and quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention replaces the mechanical tube bundle assembly with a thin-plate structure featuring ligament-based flow control. This substitution eliminates alignment issues associated with tube assemblies, as the ligaments are integral to the plate structure and can be precisely positioned during plate manufacturing, ensuring consistent quality and performance.
4Loss of energy
If the number and size of tubes in a tube bundle are varied, then performance can be optimized, but design variability increases and performance prediction becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The invention uses a standardized thin-plate design where performance optimization is achieved by changing ligament parameters (thickness, length, arrangement) rather than varying the number and size of discrete tubes. This approach maintains design standardization while enabling performance optimization, as ligament configurations can be systematically adjusted within a unified structural framework.
Data Source
Figure 1A~2D
Figure 3~4B
Figure 5A~5C
AI summary
A flow conditioner for a circular pipe having an axis. The flow conditioner includes a plate having a face to be disposed in the circular pipe with the face of the plate perpendicular to the axis of the pipe. The plate has a central circular passage area through which fluid flows surrounded by two or more concentric arrays of segmented annular passages for fluid flow defined by separating and subdividing ligaments, with at least one subdividing ligament having a width different than a width of a second subdividing ligament. Alternatively, or in addition, there is at least one array of annular passages having a radial width different than a radial width of a second array of annular passages and at least one subdividing ligament having a width different than a width of a second subdividing ligament. A method of producing an optimized geometry of flow conditioner for a circular pipe having an axis.