Electro Static Precipitator (ESP)

An Electro Static Precipitator (ESP) is a particle control device that uses electrical forces to move the particles out of the flowing gas stream and onto collector plates. The particles are given an electrical charge by forcing them to pass through a corona, a region in which gaseous ions flow.

AIM OF THE ANALYSIS OBJECTIVE

The main objective of analysis of ESP inlet ducts is to design guide vanes/ guide plates in order to reduce the pressure drop, reduce turbulence, to achieve uniform distributions among the streams and minimize erosion of duct walls caused due to high velocity. Reducing erosion of the duct walls results in the reduction of leakages in the ducts. Reduction of pressure drop across the duct saves the power consumption.

METHODOLOGY
Creation of three dimensional model of fluid domain using the software Gambit-2.4. Meshing- Dividing fluid domain into small discrete control volumes using Gambit-2.4. Assigning physical properties, inlet and outlet parameters of fluid using Fluent-6.3. CFD run to solve the case using Fluent-6.3. post processing of CFD run.

GEOMETRIC MODEL

The flow of flue gases through the ducting system is examined to investigate means for the ducts flow distribution and reducing the pressure drop through the system. To achieve this, a model is developed which is simulated for the flow of flue gases through the duct. The focus is to improve the flow characteristics and to make the flow as uniform as possible. CFD analysis of the duct is carried out to get an idea about flow distribution and turbulence caused by flow of flue gases through the duct.

MESH
The structured hexahedral mesh was used for this simulation. The cell and node size for the ESP inlet duct with guide vane is 408060 and 448589.

BOUNDARY CONDITION
Velocity at inlet = 6 m/s Pressure at inlet = 0 pa (default)

SOLVER
The incompressible steady state form of governing equation for mass conservation, momentum balance and energy conservation with turbulence are solved using implicit first order upwind scheme. The pressure correction

approach using SIMPLE algorithm is adopted. Standard industrial approach with k-epsilon turbulence model and wall functions was solved using FLUENT (v 6.3). a normal velocity specified condition was given at the air inlet to the manifold while the outlet was treated as a pressure boundary. Convergence of the iterative solution was monitored through the residuals and

strong convergence behaviour with local momentum and mass residuals less than were achieved.

ANALYSIS OF ESP INLET DUCT CASE 1

ESP INLET DUCT GEOMETRY, LAYOUT Layout of ESP inlet duct without guide vane.

PATHLINES OF ESP INLET DUCT

VELOCITY CONTOUR OF ESP INLET DUCT

PRESSURE CONTOUR OF ESP INLET DUCT

Pressure drop at ESP inlet duct = 692.47pa

RESULT 01

Mass Flow Rate (kg/s)

% Flow Variation among the ESP passes

INLET 2 OUTLET 1 OUTLET 2 AVERAGE

2.63 1.41 1.01 1.21 16.52 -16.52