Optimisation of one stage electrostatic precipitator for welding fume filtration

In addition to huge installations of electrostatic precipitators (ESP), as those employed for dust filtration in blast furnaces and cement factories, there are also small devices as the ones used for fume filtration in welding shops. The aim of this paper is to optimize the geometric characteristics and the electric operating conditions of a “one-stage” precipitator intended for the filtration of welding fumes. The experimental bench is composed of 2 units, each consisting in an horizontal wire (tungsten, diameter 0.1 mm), energized from a high-voltage supply (+15 kV, 5 mA), and equally distant from two vertical plate electrodes (aluminium, length 200 mm × variable width) connected to the ground. Two “one-factor-at-a-time” experiments paved the way for a composite experimental design that enabled the optimization of ESP geometry, i.e. the inter-electrode interval and width of the collecting electrodes.