Effective method to prevent heaping caused by particle convection in vertically vibrated beds

A simpler approach is required to prevent heaping caused by particle convection in a vertically vibrated bed from the viewpoint of reaction efficiency. Particle convection under vibration is investigated experimentally and can be successfully explained by simulations using Discrete Element Method (DEM). It is observed that the downward flow occurs near the walls, and the upward flow occurs away from them. Thus, the walls significantly affect particle convection. Effective control methods that use internal structures with walls have been proposed and investigated. In order to prevent heaping, it is effective to place the internal structure with walls at the location where the particles would inherently be heaping up. The standard deviations of particle bed surface height become small when internals are placed, which means the heaping is suppressed.