Computer-aided simulation of efficiency of an electrostatic precipitator

A computer simulation algorithm has been developed to simulate the efficiency of an Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP), operated in positive corona mode. The electric field at various predefined grid points between the plates and electrodes, as well as the drift of charged flyash particles, have been obtained under steady-state conditions, using known input data. The data include: voltage and distance between plate and electrode, radius of electrode, ion mobility, corona current, radius of flyash particles, etc. The precipitator collection efficiency is then worked out from the trajectories of the charged flyash particles entering to and leaving from a defined section. It has been found that the computed efficiency of an ESP significantly depends upon the number of electrodes rather than the plate area.