UNIT IV

Ventilation and Filtration

Acenas
Cabalse
Jaramillo
Palattao
Timkang

Particle Behaviour
and Collection

Particle Sizes
Dusts

 (<100 ~tm) These are solid particles by natural or manmade processes of erosion, crushing, grinding or other
abrasive wear. Dusts do not agglomerate, except under
the influence of electrostatic forces, but settle on the
ground by the force of gravity.

 Fumes

 (<1 ~tm) These also are solid particles but formed in a

different way from dusts. Fumes are produced by the
sublimation, or by the condensation and subsequent
fusion, of gases which ar solids at normal temperature and
pressure. Metals can be made to produce fumes. The term
is often misused to indicate merely a gaseous substance
which has a pungent smell. Fumes agglomerate into large
clusters with ageing.

 Smokes

 (< 1 ktm) Smokes may be regarded as small solid particles

which are the product of incomplete combustion or, more
truly, as a mixture of solid, liquid and gaseous particles
resulting from partial combustion. Excluding the gaseous
particles, which are molecular in size, industrial and
domestic furnaces produce particles which vary in size from
0.1 ~tm to 1.0 ktm, but tobacco smokes are much smaller,
existing in the range 0.01 to 1.0 ktm. Hence the difficulty in
their effective removal from air streams.

 Mists and Fogs

 (<100 ~tm) The distinction between mists and fogs is

somewhat blurred. However, they are both airborne
droplets which are liquid at normal temperature and
pressure. Their normal range of size is 15 to 35 ~tm.

 Organic Particles

 The commonest of these are: bacteria (0.2-5.0 ~tm), pollen

(5.0-150 ~tm), the spores of fungi (1.0-30 l.tm) and viruses
(much less than 1.0 ~tm in size). Bacteria are generally
larger in size than 1.0 I-tm and rely on dust particles as a
mode of transport. Hence the importance of dust filtration
in controlling the spread of infection by bacteria. Viruses
are very small indeed (0.03 to 0.06 ~tm), and for this
reason many have never been identified. Some are
transported by airborne liquid droplets.

 Vapours and gases

 A distinction between the two has already been drawn in section 2.2.
From a filtration point of view, they are substances which are in the
gaseous phase at normal temperature and pressure, but whereas a
vapour may be removed by cooling to below the dew point, a gas
cannot. Both gases and vapours diffuse uniformly throughout an
enclosing space. Separation by inertia is not possible. The common
atmospheric gases have molecule sizes from 0.0003 ~tm to 0.000 45
~tm and mean free paths at atmospheric pressure of 0.06 to 0.2
~tm, implying that only a very small percentage of the volume of a
gas is occupied by the molecules themselves.

 Raindrops

 These vary in size from 500 to 5000 ~tm.

 Aerosols

 This is the name given to a semi-stable dispersion of small liquid droplets,

or solids, in a gas, with a range of sizes from less than 0.01 to 100 ~tm.
Although they follow a general pattern of movement in the parent gas
they may coagulate or be deposited on surfaces by normal gravitational,
inertial and other forces acting on them. Individual particles, other than
viruses, of size less than 0.1 ~tm are not thought to be of great
importance. They may, however, become permanent atmospheric
impurities, particularly as smells. Other very much larger particles, such
as insects and even birds, must be kept out of air-conditioning systems
but, except in the case of insects and electric filters, they do not usually
constitute a special filtration problem.

 Air resistance is a major factor in the settlement of particles

under gravitational forces, the one balancing the other at a
terminal velocity approximately proportional to the square
of the particle size (diameter) up to about 60 lam. Because
of this, gravitational separation is only of use for particles
exceeding roughly 1 ~tm in size, for which the terminal
velocity is approximately 0.3 10 -1 m s -1, and so the
filters of interest in air conditioning rely on other forces.

Basic ways in which dust particles

are collected:
DIFFUSION

The natural (Brownian) motion of the molecules of air is

sufficient to impart movement to very small particles of dust
by collision with them. The particles deviate from the
direction of flow of the mainstream to be collected at the
filter surfaces. This is the major mode of filtration in high
efficiency filters where air velocities are too low for the
effective inertial separation of particles less than about 0.5
~tm in size.

 Particles below 1 m in size dont

follow the airflow past the fibers. They
are influenced by the Brownian
motion: Molecules in the air make
these small particles obtain a zigzag
motion. When touching the fibers they
will adhere to it. The possibility that
these particles attach themselves to a
fiber increases with a decreasing
amount of speed and decreasing
particle and fiber size.

 In theventilationsystem
or HVAC system need
fan motorto extract or
blow fresh air or energy
air into theairduct. A
heat exchangeralways
needs
afan motorto
speed up air flowing and
reach the target of air
heat exchanging.

 STRAINING/SCREENING

 Particles larger than the space between the fibres of the

filter material are strained out of the airstream, largely at
the upstream face.

 Particles that are bigger

than the passage between
two fibers are blocked by
them.

 Interception

 Interception Effect:Also termed impingement and

impaction this is an aspect of inertia separation: larger,
heavier dusts are removed by collision with the filter
material, the background airstream of lighter and smaller
particles flowing around the collection surfaces.

 uses

Trion Air Boss Model M750 Media Air

Cleaner Works...

a principle called
Interception Filtration. Dirty,
polluted
air
is
drawn
through the pre filter to
remove larger dust particles.
The second stage, microglass deep pocket media
filter
strips
submicron
particles from the air stream
by interception.

 ELECTROSTATIC

 Apart from the high voltage fields deliberately engineered

in electrostatic filters similar effects may exist naturally
within filter materials, particles being collected at surfaces
of opposite sign. Dust can become charged by collision with
ionised molecules or by friction, and coagulate. Acoustic
coagulation at ultrasonic frequencies is also possible but
exceedingly large sound intensities, of the order of 1 kW m
-2 are needed according to Brandt et al. (1937).

The notion of electrostatic effects

The electrostatic effect is kept for a
very long time because the electret
fibers made of a dielectric synthetic
polymer
have
semipermanent
charges.
This phenomenon was discovered by
Japanese scientist Dr. Eguchi in
1924. The sample made by him at
that time has been preserved till now
and its charges have kept well.
Schematic diagram of collection mechanism by electrostatic effects

Air is drawn into the unit to capture

particles. The airborne particles pass
through an electrostatic field and
receive an ionized charge. The
charged particles move into a collector
section where each alternate plate is
charged with the same polarity as the
particles. This drives the particles to
the second set of plates of an opposite
charge to attract and collect the
particles. The cleaned air is then
returned to the plant or building.