Effect of electrode thickness for reducing ozone generation in electrostatic precipitator

Abstract

Abstract The influence of electrode thickness on ozone generation in an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) was experimentally investigated. The experimental ESP was a two‐stage‐type consisting of a precharger followed by the collecting section. The precharger consisted of high‐voltage electrodes and grounded electrodes. The thickness of the high‐voltage electrodes was selected as 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8 mm and that of the grounded electrodes was 1.0 mm. The collecting electrode section had a parallel‐plate configuration. The gases emitted from the diesel engine were diluted with air and introduced into the ESP in order to measure the particle counts. In the present study, the electric field distribution was calculated using the “Ansys” software. The relationship between ozone generation and collection efficiency was investigated. The ozone concentration was found to decrease with decreasing electrode thickness, while the same collection efficiency was maintained. This result was attributed to a decrease in the dissociation area of O 2 in the vicinity of the electrodes. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 93(7): 24–31, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/ecj.10291