Numerical Simulation of an Airlift Reactor for Silicone Oil Light and Heat Aging

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Abstract

An airlift external-loop photocatalytic reactor (AELPR) was developed for high temperature and UV-light aging test of dimethyl silicone oil, which was used as working liquid in liquid-immersed concentrating photovoltaic systems. 3-D numerical simulations of the reactor were carried out by Fluent software with RNG k-ε turbulent model and Euler-Eulerian two-phase model. Effect of reactor structure parameters, operation parameters and physical parameters of silicone oil on the gas-liquid two phase flow has been simulated and analyzed. The detailed distribution of internal circulation liquid velocity and gas holdup were obtained and the reactor structure was optimized as well by the simulation. The numerical simulation results and experimental results are in good agreement. The simulation results show that circulation liquid velocity increases and gas holdup decreases with liquid viscosity decreasing, the suitable superficial gas velocity is less than 0.02 m/s, and the optimum reactor height to diameter ratio and annular area ratio is 47.6 and 0.31-0.41, respectively.

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	Articles by authors
	Feng Jiahe
	Wang Yiping
	Huang Qunwu
	Zhang Boyang

Keywords： concentrating photovoltaic； liquid immersion cooling； silicone oil aging； airlift external-loop reactor； numerical simulation

Received 2014-03-31;

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Feng Jiahe, Wang Yiping, Huang Qunwu, Zhang Boyang.Numerical Simulation of an Airlift Reactor for Silicone Oil Light and Heat Aging[J] Chemcial Industry and Engineering, 2016,V33(3): 82-88

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