Using Collecting Electrode Plates to Provide Positive Anode - An Overview

 

An electrostatic precipitator (ESP) is designed to eliminate particles residing in a gas stream with the help of electrical energy to either charge particles negatively or positively. These charged particles are subsequently are drawn towards collecting plates that inherently have the opposite charge. The particles collected by this process can be either removed from the collector plates in the form of dry ESPs or material, or they can be washed in water and removed from the plates as wet ESPs.

There are four parts of an ESP: collection pipes or plates, gas distribution plates, rappers, and discharge electrodes. The gas distribution plates are designed to have perforated plates that direct the flow of the gas stream. 

Collecting Electrodes refers to the collection surface comprising sheet metal on which particulate matter collects. This happens after the particulate matter is negatively charged inside the gas passage of the Electrostatic Precipitators (ESP).

There’s no single design of these plates—they vary from one manufacturer to another. On close examination, you will find that they are bound to the ESP shell at the basic level and work as the gas passage’s positive anode.

Features of the Collecting Plates:

Given below are the features you can expect to see in the collecting plates or electrodes:

▪         Raw Material

It’s common to find that carbon steel is the material used to make collecting electrodes. However, there are certain applications for which carbon steel plates are used. These are seen to corrode from time to time and are made with either alloy steel or stainless steel.

 

▪         Designs

There are several designs available in collection plates. Their strength can be increased, and their plates reinforced using structural stiffeners. Stiffeners play the role of baffles and help lower the enable reduction of drawing in the particle and transporting it into the stream. By this method, energy gets distributed evenly all across the plate. This contributes to a lowered energy level that dislodges the dust in the hoppers that lie below.

 

▪         Sheet Thickness

Collecting plates have a thickness that ranges from 0.5mm to 2.0mm.

 

▪         Spacing

Spacing between plates varies for the different ESP designs. For instance, for the ESPs whose emitting electrodes are of the wire type, plates have a spacing of 150mm to 300mm.

 

▪         Height

Normally, the height of collecting plates range between 6 M and 14M.

 

Conclusion

This technology continues to be sought-after technology as dust-collecting equipment in huge power, sugar, cement, and paper plants.