Flexible air curtain optimization for isolating tobacco odor in large-scale space

Abstract

Controlling the isolation of different tobacco odors in the tobacco workshop is of great significance to the air quality regulation in the workshop. For the isolation of odor, the existing literature mainly adopts the method of controlling the diffusion source with mechanical device, but this method is not suitable for the tobacco workshop where the diffusion source is widely distributed and complex. This paper proposed the alternative idea of flexible isolation of two types of storage cabinets using air curtains. Numerical simulations were performed to study the effects of the airflow collection device width (H), the inlet and extraction air velocities (vs and Vc) on the air curtain airflow path and collection, and the odor isolation efficiency. At small airflow collection device width, the air curtain airflow path was split into three sections leading to the two types of storage cabinets and inside the airflow collection device, respectively. As inlet air velocities increased and the extraction air velocities decreased, the pressure difference at the entrance of the airflow collection device dropped, the airflow turbulence effect intensified, in contrast to the coupling effect between the air curtain airflow and the extraction airflow. This expanded the vortex area, deteriorating the air curtain airflow collection efficiency. At high the inlet and extraction air velocities the thickness and range of the air curtain increased, improving the odor isolation efficiency. The optimal parameters provided the air curtain airflow collection efficiency of 99.01%, the odor isolation efficiency of 94.6%. This economical and simple scheme allows for efficient odor isolation and partial odor capture.