Innovative Instrumentation and Analysis of the Temperature Measurement for High Temperature Gasification. (Semi-Annual Report for October 1, 2004-March 31, 2005).
The systematic tests of the gasifier simulator on the ultrasonic vibration application for cleaning method were completed in this reporting period. Within the systematic tests on the ultrasonic vibration application, the ambient temperature and high temperature status condition were tested separately. The sticky dirt on the thermocouple tip was simulated by the cement-covered layer on the thermocouple tip. At the ambient temperature status, four (4) factors were considered as the input factors affecting the response variable of peeling off rate. The input factors include the shape of the cement-covered layer (thickness and length), the ultrasonic vibration output power, and application time. At the high temperature tests, four (4) different environments were considered as the experimental parameters including air flow supply, water and air supply environment, water/air/fine dust particle supply, and air/water/ammonia/fine dust particle supply environment. The factorial design method was used in the experiment design with twelve (12) data sets of readings. Analysis of Variances (ANOVA) was applied to the results from systematic tests. The ANOVA results show that the thickness and length of the cement-covered layer have the significant impact on the peeling off rate of ultrasonic vibration application at the ambient temperature environment. For the high temperature tests, the different environments do not seem to have significant impact on the temperature changes. These results may indicate that the ultrasonic vibration is one of best cleaning methods for the thermocouple tip.