The dehydration performance evaluation of a new supersonic swirling separator

A new supersonic swirling separator with an ellipsoidal central body has been designed, and an indoor experimental system and simulation method are utilised to evaluate the dehydration performance of the designed separator. The dew point depression and adaptability of the separator inlet and outlet working conditions are analysed to evaluate the dehydration performance. The experimental results show that the separator has a good dehydration performance, with the pressure recovery coefficient ranging from 20.6% to 69.8%. The maximum dew point depression is 34.9 degrees C, with the dew point depression decreasing as the pressure recovery coefficient increases, where the former is 18.3 degrees C degrees C at a high pressure recovery coefficient (69.8%). The inlet pressure and inlet temperature have a weak influence on the dehydration performance when the mass flow rate meets the separator working requirement. In addition, dehydration performance is not affected by the liquid outlet pressure. This means that the designed separator can operate normally across a large range of inlet and outlet working conditions. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.