How to select and maintain a cyclone for maximum efficiency
Cyclone dust collectors have long been used to remove large particles from process air as the precleaning stage in multistage filtration. But a high-efficiency cyclone can now be designed to remove smaller particles, which makes it suitable for use as the process collector or final filter in many product recovery or pollution control applications. This article describes how a high-efficiency cyclone works, then explains how to select and maintain the cyclone for maximum efficiency.
In any contest of bad cyclone design, you'll find entries like these: a cyclone with an elbow just before the inlet, a cyclone with a short 45-degree cone, or a cyclone with an undersized airlock, or no airlock, at the discharge. Any one of these could be the winning entry, because each represents a design problem that can drastically limit the cyclone's collection efficiency.