Hydraulic Measurements of Sieve Plate

A measurement device for sieve plates have been designed and built at Helsinki University of Technology. The unit consists of a rectangular transparent container where one plate is installed. The flow path on the plate is of constant width. The plate is easy to change and sieve plates with two different diameters of holes have already been measured. The measurements have been done with two systems: air–water and air–heat transfer oil. The adjustable variables of the unit are air flow rate, liquid flow rate, downcomer clearance, exit weir height, plate configuration including thickness of plate, diameter of holes, number of holes, area of holes, spacing of holes and fractional perforated area. The measurements carried out are: weeping (visual detection through the transparent walls), entrainment (with a dry tray above the measured tray), pressure drop (manometers), vapor/liquid dispersion (using a camera), clear liquid height and froth height using camera and measurement scale fixed on the unit, and flow patterns (camera). The measured values have been verified against published correlations and have been found to agree quite well.