A High Electrical Field Effect to Ultrafine Particle Filter Performance on Motor Vehicle Exhaust

Abstract

In this study, a high electric field generated by direct current was applied to an electrode filter on the motor vehicle exhaust to reduce the ultrafine particle emission. A standard motor vehicle engine in an idle condition with the engine rotation of 1000 rpm was used as the particle source. The aluminum plates with a thickness of 0.15 mm were used as the positive and negative electrodes. They were placed onto an acrylic filter frame and installed on the exhaust. A signal generator producing a high stable voltage (direct current) was applied on the electrodes to produce an electric field. The influence of the applied electrical field on the filter to reduce ultrafine particles was investigated by the reduction of the concentration before and after passing through the filter. The particle concentration was measured using a TSI P-Trak 8525. The experiment result shows that applying a high electrical field on the filter affects to reduce the ultrafine particle concentration with an efficiency of 5% to 47%.