Free vortex cyclones are used in various industrial fields because of their simple structure, low equipment investment, easy maintenance and low running cost. Recent studies have improved their performances. A broad range of applications of free vortex cyclones are expected for industrial and especially high temparature dust collections. However, there are still many phenomena that need to be made clearly.
In this study, the performances of free vortex cyclones as dust collectors have been experimentally studied under various operating conditions using several types of cyclones and with several kinds of wall surface roughness. It was found that the addition of a little friction resistance to a cyclone's cylindrical wall is desirable to reduce pressure loss without reducing collection efficiency. On the other hand, a special type of cyclone is capable of better performance than that of the normal type. Its pressure loss is lower, and its collection efficiency is slightly higher than the normal type. A cylindrical type has a performace similar to a normal one, but a conical type is inferior. A slightly eccentric exit pipe does not have much effect on the cyclone's performance.
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