Journal of Computational Information Systems 9: 20 (2013) 82818288

Available at http://www.Jofcis.com

Research on Control Mechanism Model of Grate Cooler

Based on Seepage Heat Transfer Theory
Bin LIU 1 , Meiqi WANG 1,,
1 Institute

Yan WEN 2 , Xiaochen HAO 1 , Xinfeng FAN 1

of Information Technology and Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004,

China

2 Institute

of Mechanical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China

Abstract
A control mechanism model of grate cooler is established by seepage heat transfer theory of porous media.
This paper combines analytical method and implicit dierence method to solve the control mechanism
model. The calculation results obtained in the paper are consistent with the uctuation tendency of the
measured temperature and the error is small. The control mechanism model can reected heat transfer
characteristics between the cooling air and clinker in great cooler.
Keywords: Cement Clinker; Porous Media; Seepage Heat Transfer; Control Mechanism Model

Introduction

Cement grate cooler can make fast cooling of high temperature cement clinker which is discharged
by cement rotary kiln, while it recovers the heat energy from high temperature clinker. At present,
a backward control model and control strategy of grate cooler make energy waste and lower heat
recovery eciency. The main reason for this problem is the insucient research for heat transfer
control mechanism of grate cooler. Therefore, research on heat transfer control mechanism of
grate cooler has become a hot topic.
Taking the clinker in grate cooler as a continuum, Touil [1] divided nite element of grate cooler
and calculated clinker cooling process numerically. Mujumdar [2] applied the heat conduction
theory on heat transfer analysis of the grate cooler, he took the grate cooler as a whole and carried
on overall heat balance calculation of double-input and multiple-output. Locher [3] established a
control model based on the heat transfer equation of gas through the particle bed and the unsteady
heat transfer equation, he studied the inuence of grate speed and particle size distribution on
clinker cooling process, but he didnt give the specic law of the inuence of parameters on
heat transfer. But it has certain limitations to use theory of convective heat transfer to analyze

Project supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 51076135) and the Science and
Technology Support Program of Hebei Province (No. 12215616D).

Corresponding author.
Email address: mickeyysu@163.com (Meiqi WANG).

15539105 / Copyright 2013 Binary Information Press

DOI: 10.12733/jcis8323
October 15, 2013

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heat transfer process in cement clinker. Some scholars used seepage heat transfer theory of porous
media to study the control model of heat transfer equipment between gas and the accumulation of
particles. Hu [4] calculated the seepage heat transfer process of high temperature gas in moving
particulate bed and provided gas velocity, gas temperature and solid temperature in the bed.
Li [5] established a chemical reaction and heat-mass transfer coupling control model for calcining
process of limestone and the research results showed that inlet ow velocity, inlet gas temperature
and solid particle size were important parameters to the system characteristics. Zhang [6] used
Fluent software to simulate and optimize gas ow and heat transfer in sinter circular cooler,
and got the optimal control parameters combination for goal of improving waste heat utilization.
In recent years, aiming at high temperature cement clinker with porous media characteristics,
Zheng [7] introduced seepage heat transfer theory of porous media into the cement clinker cooling
research, basic control mechanism model was established, but he didnt solve the model. Using
seepage heat transfer theory and Darcy law, Wen [8] established seepage heat transfer control
mechanism model for cement clinker cooling process, and solved the model approximately with
ignoring multiple factors. Although introducing seepage heat transfer theory of porous media
into cement clinker cooling research has made a certain progress, eective seepage heat transfer
control mechanism model of grate cooler and corresponding heat transfer law of cement clinker
havent obtained because of the diculties for solving nonlinear partial dierential equations of
the complex model.
A control mechanism model of grate cooler is established by seepage heat transfer theory of
porous media in this paper. In the model, we take into account variable physical properties of gas
and clinker, thermal dispersion eect and thermal non-equilibrium in the gas-solid heat transfer
process. Seepage heat transfer control mechanism model is calculated by the combined analytical
and implicit dierence method. We obtain the cooling control law of cement clinker in grate cooler
and verify the correctness of the control model by comparing the eld measurement temperature
and the simulation calculation results.

2
2.1

Model Building
Physical model

As shown in Fig. 1, high temperature clinker get into grate cooler from rotary kiln. Clinker layer
moves slowly on grate bed. Cooling air blows into the clinker layer vertically from the bottom of
the clinker, permeates and diuses in the clinker to cool the red-hot clinker. Cooling air becomes
hot air after exchanging heat energy with clinker.

Fig. 1: The schematic diagram of grate cooler

Fig. 2: Physical model of grate cooler

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According to cement clinker cooling condition in grate cooler, we establish the heat transfer
physical model as shown in Fig. 2. On grate bed clinker particles that temperature is T0 get into
the three-dimensional area from the left side and get out the area from the right side, cooling air
that temperature is Tgin ows into this area and exchanges heat energy with clinker, and then
outows from the top. In Fig. 2, x is the length direction of the bed, y is the thickness direction
of the bed and z is the width direction of the bed.

2.2

Seepage heat transfer control mechanism model of grate cooler

During normal operation of the grate cooler, its internal state is stable. Clinker particles and gas
vertically cross ow, clinker layer moving speed is relatively slow, the gas ow and the gas-solid
heat transfer in the thickness direction are the main factors.
According to the law of conservation of mass, gas continuity equation can be described as:
(g Vy )
=0
y

(1)

where g is gas density, is porosity of clinker layer, V is gas seepage speed.

Because gas ow rate is quite high , motion equation uses Darcy-Forchheimer equation to
describ gas motion equation:
P
g
= Vy + g Vy 2
(2)
y
K
where P is gas pressure, K is permeability of clinker layer, g is gas dynamic viscosity, is
non-Darcy coecient.
Because of the forced cooling to the clinker layer of grate cooler and fast gas ow rate, the
porous clinker layer and cooling gas can not reach thermal equilibrium state, so we use the local
thermal non-equilibrium theory [9] to establish seepage heat transfer energy equation of grate
cooler.
Gas energy control equation can be described as:
[
]
Tg
(g + d )
y
Tg (g Cg vg Tg )
g Cg
+
=
+ S (Ts Tg )
t
y
y
Clinker energy control equation can be described as:
[
]
T
s
(1 ) s
Ts
y
(1 ) s Cs
=
S (Ts Tg )
t
y

(3)

(4)

where Tg is gas temperature, Ts is cement clinker temperature, Cg is gas specic heat capacity, Cs
is cement clinker specic heat capacity, vg is actual gas velocity, g is gas thermal conductivity,
s is cement clinker thermal conductivity, d is thermal dispersion conductivity, S is eective
heating area per unit volume of the bed particles, is integrated heat transfer coecient.
For compressible ow, we add gas state equation to reect the relationship between state
variables in order to make control equations closed:
g =

PM
zRTg

(5)

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B. Liu et al. /Journal of Computational Information Systems 9: 20 (2013) 82818288

In the above formulas: Cg = 955 + 0.143 Tg + 3.85 105 Tg2 + 2.10 1010 Tg3 + 1.20
1013 Tg4 , Cs = 699 + 0.318 Ts 6.23 105 Ts2 1.37 1010 Ts3 5.13 1014 Ts4 ,
/
K = 0.233 d2 1.5712 [10], vg = V /, g = 1.72 105 [(273 + 114)/(Tg + 114)] (Tg /273)1.5 ,
g = 0.0244(Tg /273)0.759 , s = 0.244 [1 + 0.00063 (Ts 273)] [11, 12], S = 6 (1 )/d, d is the
clinker particle diameter.
= 1/(1/h + d/2s ) [13], where h is the convective heat transfer coecient, h can be described
as: h = g N u/d. Because particles in the clinker layer are bulky relatively, Nusselt number can
1
1
be described as follow: N u = 2 + 1.8P r 3 Re 2 [13], where Prandtl number is P r = g Cg /g ,
Reynolds number is Re = vg d/g , kinetic viscosity is g = g /g .
When Reynolds number in the clinker layer of air is high, calculation formula of the thermal
dispersion conductivity is: d = 0.04g Cg dg (1 )/ [14].
The discharge temperature of rotary kiln is T0 , therefore the initial condition of the model is:
Ts = T0 , Tg = T0
When y = 0, the boundary condition is:
P = Pin , Tg = Tgin , s

Ts
= h (Ts Tgin )
y

When y = H (where H is the thickness of clinker layer), the boundary condition is:
P = Pout , g

Tg
Ts
= h (Tg Ts ) , s
= h (Ts Tg )
y
y

Seepage heat transfer control mechanism model of grate cooler is constituted by the formulas
(1)(5), the initial condition and the boundary condition, which are given above.

Solving Method for Control Mechanism Model

Using the method combined analytical method and implicit dierence method, we solve the
seepage heat transfer control mechanism model. Formulas (1, 2) and (5) are seepage eld control
equations of ow gas in clinker layer and formulas (3, 4) are temperature eld control equations
of heat transfer relationship between cooling air and clinker particle in clinker layer. In each
discrete micro time segment we use analytical method to calculate seepage eld control equations
and adopt implicit dierence method to calculate temperature eld equations. The two elds
iterate mutually to solve the control model. The specic solving method is as follow.
We divide the cooling time of cement clinker into micro time segments and calculate the temperature eld during each micro time segment. Due to partial derivative of variable physical
parameters in temperature eld control formulas, we decompose and reorganize the formulas
before dispersion. From formula (3) and formula (4), we have:
Tg
Tg (g Cg vgy )
+
Tg + g Cg vgy
t
y
y
2
(g + d ) Tg
Tg
=
+ (g + d )
+ S (Ts Tg )
y
y
y 2

g Cg

(6)

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(1 ) s Cs

s Ts
2 Ts
Ts
= (1 )
+ (1 ) s 2 S (Ts Tg )
t
y y
y

8285

(7)

We use the implicit backward dierence method to disperse energy equations and the adopted
dierence scheme is unconditional stability. We divide the solved region into grids and assume
the time step as t while the spatial step as y. Thus node equations in moment n t can be
expressed as follow:
Tg n+1 Tg n+1
Tg n+1
Tg ni
(g Cg vgy ) n+1
i1
i
+
Tg i + g Cg vgy i+1
t
y
2y
(8)
n+1
n+1
n+1
( n+1
)
Tg n+1
+ Tg n+1
(g + d ) Tg i+1 Tg i1
i+1 2Tg i
i1
=
+ (g + d )
+ S Ts i Tg n+1
i
y
2y
y 2

g Cg

Ts n+1
Ts ni
i
t
n+1
n+1
( n+1
)
T
Ts n+1
+ Ts n+1
s s i+1 Ts n+1
i1
i+1 2Ts i
i1
n+1
= (1 )
+ (1 ) s

S
T

T
s
g
i
i
y
2y
y 2

(1 ) s Cs

(9)

Reorganize formulas (8, 9) and get the recurrence formulas as follow:

n
n+1
n
n+1
A1 ni Tg n+1
+ C1 ni Tg n+1
= E1 ni Tg ni
i1 + B1 i Tg i
i+1 + D1 i Tg i

(10)

n n+1
n n+1
A2 ni Ts n+1
+ C2 ni Ts n+1
= E2 ni Ts ni
i1 + B2 i Ts i
i+1 + D2 i Ts i

(11)

where A1 -E1 and A2 -E2 are coecients of formulas (10, 11) after reorganizing formulas (8, 9).
We calculate formulas (10, 11) using bivariate tridiagonal-matrix algorithm (COTDMA) and
then get temperature of the whole clinker layer thickness in moment n t. Then we compute
seepage eld during this micro time segment.
For seepage control equations, we reorganize formula (2) and get formula (12) as follow:
(
)
g
g
g KVy
P
2
= Vy + g Vy = Vy 1
(12)
y
K
K
g
Let = 1 g KVy /g , then formula (12) turns to:
Vy =

K P
g y

(13)

In every micro time segment, each variable is the only function of y, so we will turn formula
(1) and formula (13) into corresponding ordinary dierential equations. Then we make formula
(5) and formula (13) substituted in formula (1) and get formula (14) as follow:
) (
[(
)]/
k dP
MP

d
dy = 0
(14)
zRTg
g dy

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From formula (14), we have:

P =

g zR
2
C1
KM

Tg dy + 2C2

Let formula (15) be substituted in formula (5) and get formula (16) as follow:

M
g zR
g =
2
C1 Tg dy + 2C2
zRTg
KM
Let formula (15) be substituted in formula (11) and get formula (17) as follow:
(
/ )

K
g zR
Vy =
d 2
C1 Tg dy + 2C2 dy
g
KM

(15)

(16)

(17)

where C1 and C2 are corresponding integral constant. On the basis of temperature eld result
in this micro time segment and seepage eld result in last micro time segment, coecients in
equations are obtained. We can get P , Vy and g in this micro time segment via solving formulas
(15)-(17).
According to the data of temperature eld and seepage eld obtained in this micro time segment,
the equation coecients in next micro time segment are updated and and we proceed to solve the
equations in next micro time segment. We can complete the solving process of control mechanism
model and gain the law of clinker heat transfer in great cooler through the calculations of all
micro times segment.

Model Verification

We take the cement clinker as the object to validate seepage heat transfer control mechanism
model and make the corresponding model calculation conditions as follow: the length of grate
cooler is 20m, the cement clinker temperature of grate bed feed end is 1600K, the cooling air
from the bottom of clinker layer is 303K, the pressure on the top of the clinker layer is standard
atmospheric pressure, air supply pressure is Pin =6000Pa, the grate speed is vs =0.008m/s. For
solving the control model of great cooler, we use the calculation conditions mentioned above
and obtain the gas temperature distribution as shown in Fig. 3 and the clinker temperature
distribution as shown in Fig. 4.
It can be seen from the Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 that the temperature of gas and clinker increase
gradually from the bottom to the top and decrease gradually with the motion of clinker layer
from the inlet to the outlet. This is due to when the cooling gas gets into the clinker layer from
the bottom, it makes heat exchange continuously with clinker and then absorbs heat as the gas
moves up, which makes the gas temperature increase gradually and air cooling eect of clinker get
worse and worse. With the clinker layer moving to the discharge port, cooling gas continuously
ows through the clinker layer and takes the heat away, so the clinker temperature decreases.
Correspondingly, cooling gas takes less and less heat from clinker and the gas temperature is
lower and lower as well.

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1500
Ts/K

Tg/K

1500
1000
500
0

500

0.5
5

10

1000

0.5

0
15
x/m

20

y/m

Fig. 3: Air temperature distribution

10

15
x/m

20

y/m

Fig. 4: Clinker temperature distribution

Fig. 5 is the eld temperature data which is collected by temperature measurement and imaging
system installed inside the great cooler. Fig. 6 indicates the temperature contrast diagram
between the eld measurement of 1 to 6 and the simulated calculation value.
1600
simulation

1400

measurement

Ts/K

1200
1000
800
600
400
0

10
x/m

15

20

Fig. 5: Field data of clinker temperature in

Fig. 6: Comparison of clinker temperature be-

grate cooler

tween simulation and eld in the top of clinker

layer

As shown in Fig. 6, the distribution trend of temperature in the top of clinker layer through
simulation is consistent with measured data, and the absolute value of max error is 4.35%, less
than 10%. At the same time, practical production of cement clinker requires that the clinker
temperature in the outlet of great cooler must below 368K (65K+ambient temperature). We can
see from Fig. 4 that the highest clinker temperature away from grate bed is 380.40K and the
average temperature is 338.83K, which is t well with the actual situation. Therefore, the grate
cooler control model which is constructed by seepage and heat transfer theory can reect the heat
transfer rules of cement clinker particles in great cooler.

Conclusion

This paper establishes a control mechanism model of grate cooler which adopt the porous media
seepage and heat transfer theory, and then calculate the model by combining analytical method
and implicit dierence method. The simulation results tallies with the eld measurement data and
it is preferably to simulate the cooling process of cement clinker in grate cooler. Using the seepage
and heat transfer theory to establish the grate cooler control mechanism model provide a new

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way for the establishment of other moving particulate bed equipment control mechanism models.
It promotes the application of advanced control strategy of heat eld in moving particulate bed
and has the important theory signicance and the practical signicance.

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