Use of electrostatic precipitation for excess ion trapping in an electrical aerosol detector

In this paper, the technique of electrostatic precipitation was used to remove excess ions from a mixture with charged particles before collection on a filter in a Faraday cup electrometer of an electrical aerosol detector. The ion precipitator part of the detector was designed, constructed, and evaluated. An analytical model was developed to investigate ion and particle transports due to diffusion and space charge effects inside the ion precipitator. Experimental investigations were carried out for positive ions, the positively applied voltage at the wire electrode ranged from 10 to 150 V, ion flow rates ranged from 5 to 15 L/min, and the radial distance of the inlet was 0.15 and 14 mm at a fixed separation between the wire and outer electrodes. The calculation results showed that all charged particles of 10 nm in diameter could pass through the ion precipitator smoothly without precipitation at the outer electrode. For all ion flow rates, an increase in ion trap voltage produced an increase in ion collection efficiency of the precipitator. Experiments confirmed that the efficiency of the ion precipitator could increase to 99% at an ion trap voltage larger than 100 V for all ion flow rates.     

Corona discharge in a cylindrical triode charger for unipolar diffusion aerosol charging

A cylindrical triode charger for unipolar diffusion charging of aerosol particles was designed, constructed, and evaluated. The corona discharge characteristics were studied in this cylindrical triode charger. For the process the current–voltage characteristics were determined, as were the ion number concentration, the n_it product, and the mean charge per particle as a function of particle diameter. The discharge and charging currents, and ion number concentration in the charging zone of the charger increased monotonically with corona voltage. The negative corona had a higher current than the positive corona. At the same corona voltage, the ion number concentration in the discharge zone was larger than the charging current for positive and negative coronas, with values of about 197 and 32 times and 645 and 99 times for the ion-driving voltages of 0 and 310 V, respectively. The average ion penetration for positive and negative coronas was 0.64 and 0.19% and 3.62 and 1.93% for the ion-driving voltages of 0 V and 310 V, respectively. The higher flow rate, shorter residence time, gave a lower N_it product. By calculation 14% of charged particles of 10 nm in diameter were lost to the outer cylinder because of the electrostatic field effect. The charger does not use a sheath of air flow along the walls or the perforated screen opening, it has low diffusion and space charge losses due to the short column charging zone, and is a low complexity and inexpensive system. It worked as well as more sophisticated and expensive commercially available chargers.     

A High Efficiency,High Throughput Unipolar Aerosol Charger for Nanoparticles

A novel aerosol charger has been developed, which has high efficiency and high throughput especially for nanometer particles in the size range of 3–50nm. Unipolar charging with high ion concentration and long charging time is used to obtain the high charging efficiency. High throughput is achieved by reducing particle loss within the charger. This is accomplished by directing ion flow and aerosol flow in the same direction and by the use of sheath air flow. The charger configuration is of a longitudinal design – the direction of aerosol stream and ion stream are flowing parallel along the longitudinal axis of the charger. The charger consists of four sections: the inlet zone, the ion production zone, the unipolar charging zone, and the exit zone. In the inlet and ion production zones, unipolar ions are generated using Po²¹⁰ radioactive sources with an electric field designed to separate the positive and negative ions, and to focus the selected unipolar ions into the core region of the charger. The ions with the selected polarity is then attracted to the charging zone by an uniform electric field created by a series of ring electrodes applied with a linear ramped voltage. Aerosol entering the charger is sheathed with clean gas flow in order to keep the aerosol in the core region. A novel exit design with a reversed electric field is incorporated in order to minimize the charged particles loss. The performance of the charger is first evaluated using computer simulation and then constructed for experimental validation. Experiment data have demonstrated that the charger achieves 90% and 95% charged-particles penetration efficiency and with 22% and 48% extrinsic charging efficiency at 3 and 5nm particle sizes, respectively. These performance data represent significant improvement, over a factor of 10, compared with the existing chargers.     

Influence of the corona-wire diameter and length on corona discharge characteristics of a cylindrical tri-axial charger

In this paper, the corona discharge characterization in terms of current–voltage relationships of a unipolar cylindrical tri-axial charger on the effects of the corona wire diameter and length have been experimentally studied and discussed. A commercial computational fluid dynamics software package, COMSOL Multiphysics™, was used to predict the electric field distribution in the ion generation and charging zones of the charger and the ion penetration through the perforated screen opening on the inner electrode of the charger. It was found from experimental results that both positive and negative charging currents in the charging zone of the charger increased with increasing corona and ion-driving voltages. At the same corona and ion-driving voltages, both positive and negative coronas were decreased with increasing diameter of the corona-wire. Compared with the corona-wire of 22 mm in length, the magnitude of both positive and negative charging currents were markedly higher for corona-wire of 11 mm in length at the same corona voltage. It was found that the charging currents for negative coronas were about 1.2 times higher than those positive coronas at the same corona and ion-driving voltages. Numerical results of the electric field distribution and the ion and charged particles migrations in the discharge and charging zones of the charger is correlated to have the same direction with the experimental results of the current–voltage relationships. Also, this can be used to guidance in describing the electric field distribution and the behavior of ion and charged particle trajectories that cannot be seen from experiments in order to improve the applicably design and refinement of a unipolar cylindrical tri-axial charger.     

Efficiency of ionizers in removing airborne particles in indoor environments

Air ionizers are increasingly being used to clean indoor environments of particle pollution. We tested the efficiency of a small negative ion generator (Aironic AH-202) in removing ultrafine particles from indoor environments. A high-flow air filter fitted with a HEPA filter was used to compare the removal efficiencies. We estimated the percentage of particles removed when the ionizer was operated within a closed chamber of volume 1 m³, in a closed unventilated room of volume 20 m³ and in three force-ventilated rooms of volume 32, 45 and 132 m³. The closed chamber studies were conducted with ambient particles and with smoke at particle number concentrations of 5 × 10³ and 7 × 10⁴ cm⁻³, respectively. In both cases, 70% of the particles were removed by the ionizer in 15 min. In general, the particle removal efficiency of both the ionizer and the air filter decreased as the room size increased. Both devices were also more effective in unventilated rooms than in ventilated rooms. The most important finding in this study was that, while the air filter was more effective than the ionizer in the two small rooms, the ionizer was clearly more effective than the air filter in the three largest rooms. We conclude that air ionizers are more suited than high-flow air filters in removing ultrafine particles from rooms larger than about 25 m³. The investigation also showed that small ions produced by the ionizer, placed in one room, were carried through the air conditioning system into other rooms, effectively removing particles from the air in these rooms in the process.     

An experimental study of relative humidity and air flow effects on positive and negative corona discharges in a corona-needle charger

In this paper, the effects of inlet air RH and air flow rate on positive and negative corona discharges in a corona-needle charger have been experimentally studied and discussed. Its corona discharge characterizations in terms of current-to-voltage relationships of the corona-needle charger on the effects of inlet air RH and air flow rate were evaluated at applied corona voltages between 0 and 3.1 kV, an air flow rates between 5 and 15 L/min, a relative humidity between 20 and 90%, and an operating pressure of about 101.3 kPa. Experimental results were shown that discharge current is strongly affected by the RH level of the inlet air. The positive discharge current was found to be decreased with increasing RH value at RH values below 60% and increased with increasing RH value at RH value above 60% in the same corona voltage. The negative discharge current was found to be stable with increasing RH value at RH values below 40% and increased with increasing RH value at RH value above 40% in the same corona voltage. For the air flow rate effects, the positive discharge current was found to slightly decrease when the air flow rate increased at RH value below 90% and to increase with the air flow rate at RH value of 90%. For the negative corona, the discharge current was also found to monotonically decrease when the air flow rate increased.     

Effect of needle cone angle and air flow rate on electrostatic discharge characteristics of a corona-needle ionizer

In this study, the corona-needle ionizer was designed, constructed, and characterized. Experimental characterizations of the electrostatic discharge in terms of current–voltage relationships of the corona ionizer, including the effects of discharge electrode cone angle and air flow rate were presented. It was found that the charging current and ion concentration in the charging zone increased monotonically with corona voltage. Conversely, discharge currents decreased with increasing angle of the needle cone. The negative corona was found to have higher current than the positive corona. At higher air flow rates, the ion current and concentration were found to be relatively high for the same corona voltage. The effect of air flow rate was more pronounced than the corona voltage. It was also shown that the ion penetration through the ionizer decreased with increasing corona voltage, and increased with increasing air flow rate. The highest ion penetration through the ionizer of the 10° needle cone angle was found to be about 93.7 and 7.7% for positive and negative coronas, respectively. The highest ion penetration for the needle cone angle of 20° was found to be 96.6 and 6.1% for positive and negative coronas, respectively.     

Evaluation of an electrical aerosol detector (EAD) for the aerosol integral parameter measurement

The performance of an electrical aerosol detector (EAD; TSI Model 3070A) was experimentally evaluated for measuring the integral parameters of particles (i.e., total length concentration of particles, and the total surface area concentrations of particles deposited in a human lung). The EAD consists of a unipolar diffusion charger with an ion trap, and aerosol electrometer. We first evaluated the performance of the EAD charger. Both polydisperse and monodisperse particles of Ag, NaCl, and oleic acid (with the dielectric constants of infinite, 6.1 and 2.5) were then generated to evaluate the particle material effect on the EAD readout.     

Electrohydrodynamic flow patterns and collection efficiency in narrow wire-cylinder type electrostatic precipitator

Recently, narrow electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) have become a subject of interest because of their possible application for the cleaning of the exhaust gases emitted by diesel engines. Diesel engines emit fine particles, which are harmful to human and animal health. There are several methods for decrease particulate emission from a diesel engines, but up to now, these methods are not enough effective or very expensive. Therefore, an electrostatic precipitation was proposed as an alternative method for control of a diesel particulate emission.In this work, results of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) secondary flow and particle collection efficiency measurements in a narrow wire-cylinder type ESP are presented. The ESP was a glass cylinder (300 mm × 29 mm) equipped with a wire discharge electrode and two collecting cylinder-electrodes. A 0.23 mm in diameter and 100 mm long stainless-steel discharge wire electrode was mounted in the center of the cylinder, parallel to the main flow direction. The collecting electrodes were made of stainless steel cylinders, each with a length of 100 mm and inner diameter of 25.5 mm. An air flow seeded with a cigarette smoke was blown along the ESP duct with an average velocity of 0.9 m/s.The EHD secondary flow was measured using 2-dimensional particle image velocimetry (PIV) method. The PIV measurements were carried out in the wire electrode mid-plane, perpendicularly to the wire and the collecting electrodes. The results show similarities and differences of the particle flow in the wire-cylinder type ESP for a negative and a positive DC voltage polarity.The collection efficiency was calculated from the fractional particle concentration. The fractional particle concentration was measured using the optical aerosol spectrometer. The results of the fractional collection efficiency confirmed the common view that the collection efficiency of fine particles in the ESP increases with increasing voltage and it is higher for negative voltage polarity and decreases when decreasing particle diameter.     

A novel ion monitoring device

A new design for an ion monitoring device is proposed. This ion monitor is capable of simultaneous measurement of positive and negative ion currents resulting from the presence of airborne ions (as created by an air ionizer, for example). Information acquired in this way can be used in real-time monitoring of ionizer. Ion balance and production rate of ions of both polarities can be recorded by the new ion monitor, regardless of the type of the ionizer. Robustness and feasibility of the newly developed instrument were verified against the standard charged plate monitor unit (ANSI ESD STM 3.1-2000: EOS/ESD Association Standard for Protection of Electronic Discharge Susceptible Items—Ionization, ESD Association, 2000). The ion monitor significantly shortens the time necessary to evaluate an ionizer, and may additionally provide a feedback signal needed to keep an ionizer unit in balance.     

Bactericidal effects of negative and positive ions generated in nitrogen on Escherichia coli

The bactericidal effect of both negative and positive ions generated by a dc electrical corona in nitrogen were investigated. Tryptic soy broth agar plates inoculated with Escherichia coli (E. coli) (strain DH5-α) were placed into a custom-built multi-point-to-plane ion generator situated within a glass chamber. Under a nitrogen atmosphere the plates were exposed to either negative or positive ions for various time periods. The plates were then removed and incubated at 37°C for 15 h and the colonies counted. Exposure to either negative or positive ions produced significant reductions (p<0.05) in colony number. Bacterial plates exposed to a constant 200 μA negative current for 30 min demonstrated a 65% reduction in colony number compared to unexposed plates. Increasing the exposure current to 400 μA, further increased the level of disinfection at 30 min to 91%. Exposure to 200 μA current of positive ions produced a 72% reduction after 10 min and virtual sterilisation after 30 min with a 98% reduction in colony number. These results indicate that exposure to negative and particularly positive ions has a lethal effect on E. coli cells. Cell death could be due to a physiological change in the outer membrane as a result of ionic interactions.     

Corona ions from high-voltage power lines: Nature of emission and dispersion

Positive and negative small ions, aerosol ion and number concentration and dc electric fields were monitored at an overhead high-voltage power line site. We show that the emission of corona ions was not spatially uniform along the lines and occurred from discrete components such as a particular set of spacers. Maximum ion concentrations and atmospheric dc electric fields were observed at a point 20 m downwind of the lines. It was estimated that less than 7% of the total number of aerosol particles was charged. The electrical parameters decreased steadily with further downwind distance but remained significantly higher than background.     

Experimental investigation on charging characteristics and penetration efficiency of PM2.5 emitted from coal combustion enhanced by positive corona pulsed ESP

The electrostatic precipitator (ESP) has been extensively used for collecting aerosol particles emitted from coal combustion, but its collection efficiency of PM2.5 (Particulate matter whose aerodynamic diameter is less than 2.5 μm) is relatively low due to insufficient particle charging. The positive pulsed ESP is considered to enhance particle charging and improve collection efficiency. A laboratory-scale pulsed ESP with wire-plate electrode configuration was established to investigate the particle charging and penetration efficiency under controlled operating conditions of different applied impulse peak voltages, impulse frequencies, dust loadings and residence times. The results show that most particles larger than 0.2 μm are negatively charged, while most particles smaller than 0.2 μm are positively charged. For a given operating condition, the particle penetration efficiency curve has the highest penetration efficiency for particles with a diameter near 0.2 μm, and there is always a negative correlation between the particle penetration efficiency and the average number of charges per particle. Under the same operating conditions, the particle penetration efficiency decreases with increasing impulse peak voltage and impulse frequency, but increases as the dust loading increases. The results imply that residence time of 4 s is optimum for particle charging and collection. PM2.5 number reduction exceeding 90% was achieved in our pulsed ESP.     

Efficient charge neutralization with an ac corona ionizer

This paper discusses the problem of obtaining effective charge neutralization by an ac corona ionizer with airflow. The motion of ions and the neutralization of a charged object for different discharge frequencies and airflow velocities are investigated by a computer fluid model for positive and negative ions. The results of the investigation show that, in the region of ion transport, the quasi-neutralized charge distribution self-generated by positive and negative ions during charge neutralization can effectively transport the ions themselves from an ionizer to a charged object and significantly reduce both the unwanted fluctuation and dc offset in the potential of the object at a steady state, resulting in efficient and precise charge neutralization. Since the quasi-neutralization greatly depends on the relationship between the discharge frequency and airflow velocity, the control of the relationship may lead to better neutralization with an air-blowing ac ionizer.     

Aerosol Charge Neutralization by a Radioactive Alpha Source

The performance of a Po-210 radioactive ionizer for aerosol charge neutralization and bipolar charging has been evaluated. Monodisperse neutral and singly charged aerosols have been passed through the ionizer and their approach to the steady-state Boltzmann charge measured by measuring the fraction of particles that are electrically charged. The result shows that an Nt of approximately 2.5 × 10⁵ cm^?3 s is needed for the development of a steady-state charge fraction equal to that given by the Boltzmann' s law where N is the ion concentration and t is the residence time of the aerosol in the neutralizer. In addition, the performance of the ionizer for particle charge neutralization in a vibrating-orifice aerosol generator has been evaluated and the result shows that the source is less effective for this application and the residual charge on the particles is considerably higher than that given by the Boltzmann's law.     

Evaluation of a soft X-ray unipolar charger for charging nanoparticles

Three types of unipolar chargers (parallel multi-electrodes, single electrode, and single electrode with compact size) using the soft X-ray were constructed and their charging performance was evaluated by measuring positive, negative, and neutral fractions of size-resolved ultrafine particles (20–100 nm) with the Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer (TDMA) technique. The unipolar charger with a single electrode and compact size showed the highest charge fraction with least particle loss probably due to lower electrostatic loss of ions among tested chargers. With positive voltage applied to electrode to remove negative ions, we found that the positively charged particles were 43, 52, 62, 69, and 75% for 20, 30, 50, 70, and 100-nm particles, respectively, and a few particles were negatively charged although their fraction increased with size (1, 2, 4, 5, and 6% for 20, 30, 50, 70, and 100-nm particles, respectively). The positive charge fractions were about three times higher than the values estimated theoretically from a bipolar charger. Also, based on comparison of current data with previously reported values using corona discharge unipolar charger, the soft X-ray charger showed better performance in terms of charging efficiency and penetration for particles (NaCl) currently tested in the particle size range of 20–100 nm.     

Corona discharge ion sources for fine particle charging

Charging of aerosol droplets and solid particles is applied in many industrial processes such as electrostatic painting, particle separation and electrostatic precipitation. In most of charging devices, electrical discharges are used as a source of ions, which are deposited onto the particles. In the present paper, the charging process by ionic current in alternating electric field was optimized experimentally. Alternating electric field charger was used as a charging device in these experiments. The current voltage characteristics of electrical discharge in this device, and the charge imparted to the particles were determined. The level of charge was measured at the outlet of the charger and was compared to the Pauthenier limit for different supply voltages, and frequencies. MgO powder was used as a source of particles in these experiments. It was noticed that higher supply voltage of the charger gives higher level of particle charge, but at the same time, the particle deposition on the charger elements was increased, decreasing the particle penetration. A compromise between these two tendencies is therefore necessary. As a result we have proposed a criterion maximizing the total charge born by the particles which is a product of relative particle charge and particle penetration.     

Precisely balanced ionizer using atmospheric pressure glow discharge in air

Ion balance of an ionizer previously developed has been improved, using an atmospheric pressure glow discharge in air as a bipolar ion source. Although the glow ionizer itself has had good performance in ion balance, further we have investigated the possibility of precise control of the ion balance by controlling the discharge itself or the ion flow from the discharge to the object to be neutralized. To control the discharge, we have adjusted the voltage waveform to produce the glow discharge: a dc bias voltage superimposed on a sinusoidal waveform or widths of positive and negative rectangular pulses. Also an adjustable potential of a grid electrode additionally arranged has been employed to control the ion flow. By controlling any of them, we have succeeded in precisely controlling the ion balance of the glow ionizer.     

Performance of a sonic jet-type charger in high dust load

Sonic jet chargers have originally been used in aerosol measurement devices for particle charging and neutralization. Here, our goal was to study if this charger type could be used in particle control devices in which particle concentrations and gas volumes are much higher. The study includes charging efficiency tests in a laboratory and with a commercial 20 kW wood pellet burner. Actual particle removal efficiency was tested with a laboratory scale parallel plate electrostatic collector. The results show that sonic jet-type chargers also have potential in filtering applications.     

MeV carbon ion irradiation-induced changes in the electrical conductivity of silver nanowire networks

MeV carbon ion irradiation-induced changes in the electrical conductivity of Silver nanowire (Ag-NW) networks is demonstrated systematically at different C⁺ ion fluences ranging from 1 × 10¹² to 1 × 10¹⁶ ions/cm² at room temperature. At low C⁺ ion fluences, the electrical conductivity of Ag-NWs decreases and subsequently increases with increase fluence. Finally, at high C⁺ ion fluences, conductivity again decreases. The variation in the electrical conductivity of Ag NW network is discussed after analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The observed increase in electrical conductivity is thought to be due to ion induced coalescence of Ag-NWs at contact position, which causes reduction of wire–wire contact resistance, while the decrease in electrical conductivity may be due to defect production by C⁺ ions into Ag-NWs. Ion beam technology is therefore a very promising technology that is capable of fabricating highly conductive Ag-NW networks for transparent electrodes. Moreover, a method for thinning, slicing and cutting of Ag-NWs using ion beam technology is also reported.