electrostatic Precipitators By Connor Stafford Ryan Francis Damon Mullen Logan gilbert

What is it? An electrostatic precipitator is a device used for filtering fine particles such as dust, lint or smoke from flowing gas traveling through the machine in which the electrostatic precipitator is activated in. This filter device however needs power to function from a force of an induced electrostatic charge from a power source. I’s like your water filter in your water jug but for gases in machines, using electric static charges in simpler terms.

More information about this device The first electrostatic precipitator was created in 1907 by Frederick Gardner Cottrell at the University of California. He applied a patent on his new invention so no one else could copy it for their own personal gain. He created a device that charging particles and then collected them through electrostatic attraction. An electrostatic precipitator is very sensitive when it comes to two things. I) Electrical Resistivity(Resistance), and II) Particle Size Distribution. This small device must be harnessed with care because it is very fragile.

Other variations of this device There are other types of electrostatic precipitators. For example, there are wet electrostatic precipitators that function using water vapor from saturated air streams, which are roughly 100% relative humidity. These types of ESP’s are used to remove liquid droplets such as sulphuric acid mist or other liquid or mist contaminations from industrial gas streams. Another one is a consumer-oriented electrostatic. These types are ESP’s where they’re plates inside can consume more particles at once than normally. They are used in big machines for gas streams with a lot of contamination.

Collection efficiency It’s basic equation of its efficiency of collection starts with E = P+J. In this equation, E equals the Electric Field Strength of the precipitator. The P stands for the precipitators optimum resistivity. The J stands for its current density meter in the gas stream. These 3 components are all the crucial elements for this precipitator’s capability to function and do it’s job in heavy machinery. It needs good electric field range to sense contamination in the gas stream from further away. It needs Optimum Resistivity for larger possible thick liquids that could damage this fragile device. Lastly, it needs to be able to measure its density so it can tell how much area it has to cover around it since you can use density to figure out how much room It takes up vertically and horizontally. That concludes collection efficiency.

How does it use static electricity? This device gets it’s main source of power from static electricity. But in what way? Well let’s find out. In mass factories and research facilities, they use power sources such as possibly Van De Graaff’s or Electroscope’s. They could also be modern generators of today if we were talking about today’s models. So how does it use static electricity? Well in these generators, it takes the charged particles and attracts them over to it using oppositely charged particles and then combines them to form strong atoms to power it to operate in machinery. That concludes static electricity usage and consummation by this device.

Anticipation This device also has a brain that can anticipate. When the device receives it’s jolts of power from the power source, it activates the brain in the device that tells it to remove the particles, but it can also anticipate. For instance, when it receives the jolt of power, it can anticipate the locations of deadly particles and where they’ll appear in the gas streams. This device can anticipate the location thusly and then get an advantage on grabbing them and setting them free from the gas streams. They can also anticipate their trajectory so if a gas particle quickly moves around say up or down, it can anticipate it’s trajectory, and snatch it. It’s quite fascinating how such a powerful device relies on another source for it’s power. They make a good pair.

Photos Time that you came face to face know that you know our little friend so well, you should see it in action!