International Journal of Applied Engineering Research

  • Year: 2009
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue: 7

Flow and Turbulence Inside an Electrostatic Precipitator Using CFD

  • Author:
  • M.R. Swaminathan, N.V. Mahalakshmi, J. Subramani
  • Total Page Count: 15
  • DOI:
  • Page Number: 1207 to 1221

Internal Combustion Engineering Division, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, 600 025.

Abstract

An attempt has been made to predict the effects of various parameters like flow patterns, velocity, pressure loss and turbulence on the performance of electrostatic precipitator (ESP) using both experimental and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. The simulation of flow inside an ESP is done with the help of CFX software, using a standard k-∈ model. The experimental results indicate that, turbulence play a vital role for the inlet conditions of an ESP involving gas distribution (GD) screens. It play also indicate that, by maintaining an average uniform velocity of 0.78m/s inside the ESP, the collection efficiency can be increased and homogenous turbulence can be achieved by modifying the GD screens in an ESP. The cross over studies show that, average velocity inside the ESP is less than 2 m/s confirming to ICAC EP-7 standards even in case of failures. The results of the computational predictions are also in good agreement with experimentally observed results.

Keywords

Electrostatic precipitator, Gas Distribution screens, CFD