Venturi-type fluidic sampler for liquid-solid mixtures

Static-type samplers are required for sampling corrosive, toxic, high-temperature, or radioactive liquid-solid fluids. We have designed a compact reverse flow diverter pumping system for transferring liquid-solid mixtures. In accordance with the Venturi principle, an acceptable volume of liquid-solid fluid is automatically collected into a sampling bottle. The effects of sampling needle sizes, sectional area of the T-section, solid concentration, and liquid viscosity on the performance of fluidic samplers were experimentally investigated. The sample volume increased upon the reduction of the sampling needle length and the increase of the sectional area of the T-section, but decreased with the increase of solid concentration and liquid viscosity. Unbiased samples of acceptable volume were produced by the proposed fluidic sampler, even at 10.21 mPa s liquid viscosity, 35 wt% solid concentration, and 6.74 m sampling height. (C) 2011 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.