Separation Characteristics of Submicron Particles in an Electrostatic Precipitator with Alternating Electric Field Corona Charger

Experiments were carried out to investigate filtration characteristics of an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) with alternating and direct electric field corona charger. Potassium Sodium Tartrate Tetrahydrate as the material was used to generate polydisperse submicron aerosols by using Constant Output Atomizer. The results indicated that the aerosol penetration through the ESP decreased as applied voltage increased. The maximum collection efficiency of either alternating or direct electric field was more than 98%, though the applied voltage of alternating electric field was higher than that of direct electric field. However, from the viewpoint of power consumption, the direct electric field had higher power consumption rate than alternating electric field at similar collection efficiency. For example, when the 0.2 μm particle penetration was about 4%, the power consumptions of alternating and direct electric field were 16 watt and 18 watt, respectively. Hence the separation quality of alternating electric field was better than that of direct electric field. Moreover, considerably lower ozone concentration was found in alternating electric field ESP, compared to direct electric field.