Electrohydrodynamically-Assisted Electrostatic Precipitator for Collection of Low Resistive Dust

The collection of low resistive particles from diesel engine emission is difficult by the conventional electrostatic precipitators (ESPs). The low resistive diesel engine particles are detached from the collection plate, which causes the dust reentrainment, resulting in poor collection efficiency. The new electrohydrodynamically (EHD) assisted ESP (EHD ESP) was developed to minimize reentrainment. The EHD ESP utilizes the ionic wind, combined with electrostatic force to transport the charged particles into the pocket zone attached to the collection plate effectively. The pocket zones are designed as zero electrostatic field, i.e., no electrostatic repulsion force acting on particles, so that no reentrainment takes place. The electrode position was designed to achieve an optimum electrode location with respect to pocket position, which was determined by observing EHD streamlines and particle collection efficiency. The particle size dependent collection efficiency was obtained using scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS).