Design and implementation of a laboratory scale prototype of an electrostatic precipitator to control particulate matter in areas of coal mining and coke production

The aim of the project was the construction of a prototype of an electrostatic precipitator in a laboratory scale, with the instrumentation required to perform data recording in real-time of operating variables, in order to monitor and reduce particulate matter generated in the coking process in a coal mining company in the town of Samacá. The geometric model of the structure was performed using software computer aided design, while analysis of the variables involved in the process was done and the materials to build the most appropriate structure according to selected with environmental conditions where it was to operate the prototype. The material of the outer structure was different from that one of the collector plates. The chosen sensors make it possible to record temperature, relative humidity, voltage applied to the precipitator plates, collected particulate mass and volumetric flow. A monitoring program was included in an open hardware programming card that collected the signals from sensors and processed them for a GUI program on a computer, visualize and keep the data obtained in the measurement. The electronic system has two main parts : sensors and their signal processing and wireless communication module to transfer the measurement data to a computer in a monitoring station at a different point in the area of exploitation.