Effects of the inlet angle on the flow pattern and pressure drop of a cyclone with helical-roof inlet

Abstract

The effects of inlet angle on the flow pattern and pressure drop in cyclones have been numerically investigated using Large Eddy Simulations with the dynamic Smagorinsky-Lilly subgrid-scale. Five cyclones with helical-roof inlets of different inlet angles and five cyclones with tangential inlets of different inlet heights at the same other geometric dimensions are considered. The results show that, increasing the inlet angle as well as the inlet height (inlet area) decreases the absolute values of positive (close to the cyclone wall) and negative (in the central region) static pressure and tangential velocity in the cyclone body that will probably reduce the collection efficiency. Also, increasing the inlet angle reduces the gas flow rates along the cyclone axis in both downward (outer) and upward (inner) vortices and increases the maximum radial velocity under the vortex finder that can enhance the number of small particles entrained by the gas flow and transferred from that region into the vortex finder and negatively affect the overall collection efficiency. The cyclone pressure drop is mainly generated by the losses in the cyclone body (under the vortex finder) and in the vortex finder. There is a significant decrease in pressure drop with increase of inlet angle. Based on the simulations an expression for the dimensionless pressure drop normalized by the inlet velocity for the cyclone with helical-roof inlet of different inlet angles is derived. Cyclones with helical-roof inlets have a higher aerodynamic efficiency as compared to cyclones with tangential inlets, and the highest aerodynamic efficiency was reached with an inlet angle of 20°.