Abstract
Particulate matter (PM) is one of the major indoor air pollutants in the subway-underground stations in Korea. Various kinds of PM removal methods such as a roll-filter, auto-washable air filter, demister, and electrostatic precipitator are applied in the air handling unit (AHU) of subway station. However, those systems are faced with operation and maintenance problems since the filter-regeneration achieved by air or water jet is often malfunctioned due to the high load of particulates. The filter material also needs periodic replacement. In this study, we designed a novel particle removal system with minimized maintenance requirement compared to above mentioned filter systems. The new system named as panel-type cyclone system was suggested and the key part of the system was developed based on the axial-flow cyclone where the air flow pattern lies on the same axis with air stream through passing the AHU. The shape of axial-flow cyclone was optimized to remove 50% of 2.5 μm-sized particulate matters with minimal pressure drop by using the tool of computational fluid dynamics. We believe that the novel axial-flow cyclone system is cost-effective and efficient way of removing particulate matters in the size range of 1–10 μm in the AHU of subway station or buildings.
Highlights
Since the first Korean subway was opened in 1974, the subway network system has been expanded to cover Seoul metropolitan area and to other cities of Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, and Gwangju and their traffic share among public transportation has been increased significantly
It should be noted that the target particle size range is 1–10 μm, with a higher than 50% removal efficiency at the particle size of 2.5 μm
We suggested the novel axial-flow cyclone system consists of two parallel cyclones for replacing the current air filter system in air handling unit (AHU) of subway station
Summary
Since the first Korean subway was opened in 1974, the subway network system has been expanded to cover Seoul metropolitan area and to other cities of Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, and Gwangju and their traffic share among public transportation has been increased significantly. According to statistics compiled from Korean ministry of land, transport and maritime affairs (MLTM), a number of daily nationwide subway system users are about 8.5 million in 2009, and it is still increasing. It means using subway system has become a part of our daily life nowadays. It is reported that Americans spend 87% of their daily time in indoor space, and 5% of their time in a transportation vehicles (Klepeis et al, 2001). With increasing time in indoor space, i.e., building, transportation, etc., the management of IAQ becomes key issue for healthy life of modern people
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