Direct measurements of particle velocities in gas-solids suspension flow using a novel five-fiber optical probe

A new fiber-optic probe system was developed for the direct measurement of the local velocity of particles in gas-solids flow suspension. It consists of a five-fiber optical probe and a microcomputer data processor. This instrument is capable of measuring particle velocities in the range of 0.3 to 24 m/s and mean particle sizes in the range of 50 μm to 5 mm for solids hold-up between 0.1% and 25%. It is demonstrated that the use of the peak-to-peak detection technique in conjunction with the novel five-fiber optical probe is a promising system for measuring the movement of solid particles in the circulating fluidized bed and other gas-solids flow systems.