Static charge elimination on pellets in a silo using a new nozzle-type eliminator

For the purpose of preventing incendiary electrostatic discharges in silos during pneumatic powder transport the improvement of the nozzle-type electrostatic eliminator was tried. The eliminator consists of a short PVC pipe to which nozzle-type ionizing needle electrodes are attached. It is attached to the end of the inlet pipe near the top of the silo to eliminate static charge. on the powder entering the silo. For improving the charge elimination performance a grid electrode was attached to the inner wall of the PVC pipe. The grid voltage could control the ion current used for electrostatic elimination. The grid voltage also controlled the charge elimination performance in the experiment using a full-sized pneumatic powder transport facility. Experimental details are described in this paper. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.