Numerical study of influencing geometry of separator elements for cleaning dust of food production on its efficiency

At modern food enterprises, the task of providing high-quality air cleaning from dust is relevant. The paper proposes an original dust separator, the peculiarity of which is the presence of structural elements of different shapes, arranged in a chess order. This design solution ensures the formation of a wave-like structure of the gas-dust flow within the device. The separation of solids from air is due to inertial and centrifugal forces. The aim of the work is to evaluate the fractional efficiency of this separator with structural elements of different geometric shape during the dust capture process. The paper considers I-shaped, P-shaped, arc-shaped and V-shaped structural elements. The study is carried out by numerical simulation at a gas dust flow rate of 0.5 to 3 m/s and a particle size of 10 to 200 ?m. During the work it has been found that the shape of the structural elements largely determines the efficiency of separation of dust material from the gas stream. The V-shaped design elements have shown the highest average separation efficiency compared to other shapes under other equal conditions. This is due to the fact that in such a separator the particles are directed to their apex, where the velocity of the particles decreases contributing to their subsequent settling into the bunker. The maximum efficiency for V-shaped elements is on average 80.1 % at a gas dust inlet velocity of 0.5 m/s. The lowest efficiency is observed for I-shaped elements, as particles return to the air stream after rebounding from the walls.