Numerical and experimental study on the pressure dorp of axial-flow cyclone in the air handling unit

공기조화기 장착용 축상유입식 싸이클론의 압력손실에 대한 수치해석 및 실험적 연구

Particulate matter (PM) is one of the major indoor air pollutants especially in the subway station in Korea. In order to remove PM in the subway station, several kinds of PM removal system such as roll-filter, auto-washable air filter, demister, and electrostatic precipitator are used in the air handling unit (AHU) of subway stations. However, those systems are prone to operation and maintenance problems since the filter-regeneration unit consisting of electrical or water jet parts might malfunction due to the high load of particulates unless the filter medium is periodically replaced. In this study, the use of axial-flow cyclone was proposed for particulate filter unit in the AHU for its low operation and maintenance cost. Novel shape of axial-flow cyclone was designed by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The shape of vortex vane was optimized in terms of pressure drop and tangential velocity. In addition, CFD analysis was validated experimentally through the pressure drop measurement of mock-up model. We found that pressure drop and tangential velocity of fluid through the axia-flow cyclone was significantly affected by the rotating degree of vortex vane and the numerical prediction of pressure drop agreed well with experimental measurement.