Shape Design Improvement of the Rotary Cutting Machine to Improve the Dust Capturing Efficiency using CFD

회전톱 재단기의 미세먼지 집진효율 향상을 위한 형상 설계 개선

Dust released from the rotating timber cutting process causes various kinds of diseases as well as safety issues. Although there were lots of efforts to reduce the amount of dust by installing large-sized dust collectors or by using expensive high-quality cutters, they proved to be not so effective. In this study we want to modify and improve the design of the rotary cutter system to prevent dust from being released to the environment as possible by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. We have developed CFD models of the conventional cutter and several design modifications. Through the CFD analysis the characteristics of the air flow was predicted, and then the behavior of dust produced during the cutting process was analyzed for different designs. The most efficient design feature to capture dust inside the cutter as much as possible was chosen based on the CFD analysis results. Finally the prototype of the ratary saw machine was constructed and tested to check the dust capturing efficiency, which result is reasonably consistent with the predicted performance through the CFD analysis.