Numerical investigation on the performance and flow pattern of two novel innovative designs of four-inlet cyclone separator

Abstract

In solid particle separation process, cyclone separators are commonly used due to their simplicity and low-cost manufacture. A reference design S1 and two novel designs C4, N4 of four-inlet cyclone separator have been investigated computationally using the Reynolds Stress Model for turbulent flow and the Discrete Phase Model for tracking the particles. The numerical model has been validated and confirmed to be a reasonable good candidate for the investigation. The results show that, the design S1 provides the lowest average Euler number (4.415) and the design C4 provides the smallest average cut-off diameter (1.399 mu m). As comparing the performances using weighted sum method, both two novel designs provide the better performance than the reference design S1. The innovative design N4 delivers the best performance which is 1 % and 0.1 % better in performance than S1 and C4, respectively.