Cyclones 101

J

John Sprung

New member
What I think this site really needs is a basic overview of cyclone systems. What are all the parts, how do they connect together, how does it work, what do all the terms mean? Also, how about an overview of the numbers and math of it, like how do vacuum in inches of water and flow in cubic feet per minute relate to horsepower?

Here's what I've figured out so far looking at the pictures, and especially the video: Dust and air enter the top of the cylinder and cone thing at an angle so as to start them spinning around and down sort of like the little ball in a roulette wheel. Somehow -- and this is a part that needs more explanation -- this does a very good job of separating the solids from the air, so the dust keeps going down the funnel part and drops out the bottom into a sealed can, while the air is sucked up and out through a big pipe in the middle of the cylinder above the cone. Usually the blower and motor are mounted right on top of the cylinder part, for efficiency. After the blower, the air goes through a big filter to catch any fine dust that didn't go where we wanted it to go. Air flows out the sides of the filter and back into the atmosphere. It would be nice to see that done up as a really simple diagram with explanatory text pointed at the various parts of it.

Of course that needs a lot of stuff on the diagram that I haven't figured out yet, like where do the blast gates go and what do they do? One of them seems to be involved with cleaning out the filter, but I'm not clear on exactly what the operation and maintenance tasks are.

Anyhow, I think there are probably a lot of people like me who need an overview and starting point in understanding this technology.

Thanks --



-- J.S.
 
John,
You are absolutely right. That's why I recommend on my first page, in the first paragraph that everyone visits Bill Pentz's site. He has the information that you are looking for. There is a link to his site on our Links page. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Ed
 
Originally posted by Ed Morgano@Apr 11 2005, 06:06 PM
John,
You are absolutely right. That's why I recommend on my first page, in the first paragraph that everyone visits Bill Pentz's site. He has the information that you are looking for. There is a link to his site on our Links page. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Ed
Click to expand...
Ed,

I looked at Bill's site. It's huge. There's lots of great information there, but there's so much that the basics aren't easy to find. It took most of the day to find a simple overview diagram of a cyclone system way down in one of those long columns. It also looks like in some places he's written nearly the same explanations over again.

I remembered seeing an industrial cyclone unit here at work, so on the lunch hour I walked around and found it again. From the word "Torit" on the side of it, I was able to google and find this pdf on their units. The second page starts with the kind of basic drawing and explanation I was looking for:

http://www.donaldson.com/en/industrialair/...rary/000984.pdf

It may take me a couple more days at Bills site to get up to speed on all this.



-- J.S.
 
I've been poking around the internet looking for some of the math involved in air movement, and found some useful formulas on a site called www.electronics-cooling.com:

K, with subscripts: Constants, for fans with similar geometry and dynamics
P: Pressure or Vacuum (Inches of water)
G: Volumetric flow rate (CFM)
N: Rotational speed (RPM)
H: Power (Horsepower)
m: Mass flow rate
D: Fan Diameter
R: Density of gas (air)

G = Kg*N*(D^3)
m = Km*R*N*(D^3)
P = Kp*R*(N^2)*(D^2)
H = Kh*R*(N^3)*)D^5)

From all that and some algebra, it looks like H = K*P*G, seems simple enough.

Also, from a vacuum cleaner site, I found out that those funny "Air Watts" they talk about are defined as:

(Air Watts) = (Inches of water)*(CFM)/8.5

And a last tidbit, one pound per square inch is equal to 27.703 inches of water.



-- J.S.
 
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