Simulation and Measurement of Particle Trajectory in an Electrostatic Precipitator With Multiple Wire Electrodes

The purpose of this article is to show the validity of the simulation result for particle charge and trajectory in an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) with multiple wire electrodes, and the effect of the number of wire electrodes on the relationship between collection efficiency and discharge power. The ESP in this article has wires-and-plates configuration. The potential, the electric field intensity, the negative ion density, the ionic gas flow, the charge of the particles and the charged particle trajectory in the ESP were calculated. In the experiment, the charged particle trajectory was measured by a particle image velocimetry (PIV). In addition, the analysis and the experimental collection efficiencies as a function of input power in the ESPs with a single wire electrode and three wire electrodes were compared, and the effect of the number of wire electrodes on the power consumption was investigated. As a result, the x and y components of the particle velocity measured using the PIV almost agreed with the simulated result. The validity of the simulation result for charged particle trajectory, which was calculated by fitting the analyzed corona current to the experimental value, in an ESP with multiple wire electrodes was demonstrated. Also, both analysis and experimental collection efficiencies by the ESP with three wire electrodes were greater than those with the single wire electrode at the same input power. An analysis revealed that this was because the residence time of the particles in the ESP with three wire electrodes was longer than that with the single wire electrode.