Numerical study on the performance of swirl tube based on orthogonal design

Abstract

• Swirl tube has four circumferentially symmetric blades with 180° twist angle. • Axial distance between the diffuser and blade for performance was assessed. • Structure of the swirl tube was optimized with orthogonal table. Here, an axial flow cyclone separator is design is proposed. The effects of varying the structural parameters and operating conditions on pressure drops and separation efficiency were investigated via a numerical simulation approach. The results show that of the three structural parameters considered, the distance between the diffuser and blade is the most significant factor impacting separation performance compared to the blade pitch and blade shaft diameter. Increasing the distance between conical outlet and blade can decrease its pressure drops and increase separation efficiency; while increasing the shaft diameter can increase pressure drops, and the increasing blade pitch can decrease both the pressure drop and the separation efficiency. The pressure drop of the optimized swirl tube was 102.1 Pa, with a corresponding separation efficiency of 95.04% for 100 μm particles at an extraction ratio of 10%. Further, the cut-off particle size can reach 3 μm, demonstrating that the swirl tube offers good separation performance and has the potential to be widely applied in industrial gas–solid separation applications.