Electrostatic fog collection mechanism and design of an electrostatic fog collector with nearly perfect fog collection efficiency

Abstract

The corona discharge process in a wire-plate device under foggy condition is experimentally and numerically investigated. It is found that the corona discharge process in foggy air is obviously influenced by the charged microscale fog droplets in air and the macroscale droplets hanging on the electrodes. A numerical model is established and the simulation results indicate that charged fog droplets in air restrain the corona discharge and large droplets hanging on electrodes increase the discharge current. A two-stage electrostatic fog collector consisting of discharge, repelling and collection electrodes is designed. A collection efficiency of more than 90% is achieved. Collection efficiencies of several electrostatic fog collectors with different structures are experimentally and numerically evaluated. The results show that placing the collection planes along the wind direction and setting the discharge and repelling electrodes between the collection electrodes in the electrostatic fog collector are conducive to improving the collection efficiency.