MID WAY REPORT: PROJECT SEMESTER

on
CHARGING OF LIQUID SPRAYS FOR DUST SUPPRESSION

Submitted by
JAPNIT KAUR SIDHU
101305050

Under the Guidance of

Host Mentor Faculty Supervisor

Manoj Kumar Patel Dr. Deepti Mittal
Scientist Assistant Professor
CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Thapar University
Organisation, Chandigarh 160030 Patiala 147004
 2017

Electrical and Instrumentation Engineering Department

Thapar University, Patiala
(Declared as Deemed-to-be-University u/s 3 of the UGC Act., 1956)
Post Bag No. 32, Patiala 147004
Punjab (India)

CHAPTER 1: Brief Description of the Project

1.1 INTRODUCTION

It is a very common practice to suppress the dust and sand particles in the working areas of
coal mines and cement enterprises by using conventional spraying systems such as mist
foggers, wet scrubbers etc.
The conventional spraying systems having the problem of less efficiency, off-target losses,
uneven distribution of droplets size and the droplet size is bigger than expected, creates a
gravitational losses.
Conventional Spray charging system may have an efficiency of 25%. By adding
electrostatics, it may increase significantly.
Electrostatic method of spraying reduces off-target drift, environmental pollution and human
health risks and increases the mass transfer efficiency onto the targets with uniform
deposition.
Advantage of charged particles generated from electrostatic spraying nozzle is that they
recombine with foreign particles present in the naturally occurring environment and settle
down very efficiently more particularly to novel and useful means and technology for
eradicating undesirable foreign material entrained in air.
This will be used for dust mitigation and environment protection and therefore yet another
advantage of saving the environment and reduces the health hazardous at the site of working
and demolition areas where the respiratory dusts are present.
 Electrostatic charging requires a high applied voltage, ranging from thousands to more than a
hundred thousand volts, depending on the geometry of the charging equipment. Induction
charging has been used in spraying process.
This nozzle provides a compact, inexpensively fabricated droplet charger and reduces design
requirements on size and output voltage (of the order of 1000 volts). It also reduces the
potential for mechanical damage, misalignment and personnel hazard.

1.2 LITERATURE REVIEW

1.2.1 BASIC PRINCIPLE

Our environment consists of charged ions (dust) in the atmosphere and these ions can be
neutralized by spraying oppositely charged particles which settle due to the mass of spray and
itself. This is the basic principle utilized in the project.

Existence of ions in the atmosphere is the fundamental reason for atmospheric electricity.
Ions could be distinguished by size as small, intermediate and large. Small ions have high
mobility which allows them to actively take part in charge transfer.

Sources of ions could be natural such as sunlight, UV rays etc. as well as artificial
(radioactivity). Molecules like NO, NO2, are believed to dominate negative small ions while
H3O+ and H2O make up for positive small ions.

It is observed normally that positive ions present are more in number than the negative ions.
Also positive ions in the atmosphere are the primary cause of many of the major health and
soil problems. Only after a thunderstorm or around water bodies, negative ions are in high
proportion.

It is estimated that there are normally 1,500 to 4,000 ions per cm 3. Negative ions are
exceedingly mobile and the Earth's surface has a negative charge; therefore, negative ions are
repelled from the Earth. This repulsion creates a normal ratio of positive to negative ions in
the range of twelve to ten. Normally, more positive than negative ions exist.

1.2.2 PROJECT DESIGN

Air-assisted electrostatic nozzle design parameters include hydrodynamics of liquid flow and
atomization of liquid, charging of liquid sprays, charging electrode material, electrodynamics,
transportation of charged liquid droplets, aerodynamics, and deposition of charged droplets
onto the target.

1.2.3 PROTOTYPE OF LIQUID CHARGING SYSTEM

Induction charging method has particularly been used for the charging of the liquid. In this
method, there is a ring electrode attached near the tip of the nozzle keeping a particular
distance as calculated for efficient working of the system. The electrode is provided with high
positive charge and it acts as anode while the liquid passing through the positively charged
ring electrode acts as cathode. At the outer surface of liquid sheet which is very near to the
charging ring electrode, a high electric field is developed between liquid sheet and charging
ring electrode. When the liquid droplets are being separated from the liquid sheet which is
having absolutely neutral charge and moving towards the positive electrode, by the effect of
induction or attraction between opposite charges, negative charge is pulled onto the droplets.
At the same time the positive charge of droplets is pushed back to the liquid sheet and hence
to ground. Finally it results the negatively charged spray.
 Figure: Electrostatic induction charging of droplets.

For the charging of the liquid sprays a high voltage is required, which consists of a
rechargeable battery and a DC to DC converter, the voltage of rechargeable battery raised to
several kilovolts, connected to charging electrode. The charging of conductive liquid is based
on induction principle which is most reliable and field proven method for imparting the
charge efficiently.

1.2.4 CHARGING METHODOLOGY

For charging of the electrode, a dc-dc converter is utilized which is designed as follows:

Low DC to Low AC Conversion: Conversion of DC voltage to AC is done so as to use the

step-up transformer to get high voltage which could only be possible with an AC signal.
Hence for this purpose, 555 timer is used in the Astable mode to convert dc to ac signal. The
555 timer generates a square wave whose frequency depends on the resistors and capacitors.

Low AC to High AC Conversion: Output of 555 timer has low-level which cant be directly
fed to transformer. Hence Power MOSFET is used as switching device (to provide an
acceptable level of input voltage to step up transformer) to couple the square wave generated
from timer with primary windings of transformer. Power MOSFET has low output impedance
hence allow maximum current to pass through transformer. Secondary windings produce high
voltage by multiplying the input voltage with turns ratio.

High AC to Very High DC Conversion: Primary winding of transformer has 9V and

Secondary winding is approximately 550V. After this stage a Cockroft-Walten Multiplier
which consists of a full wave rectifier and multiplier is used. Voltage gets doubled in each
stage (2 stages) and thus results in four times the AC output obtained from secondary
winding.
 CHAPTER 2: Work done and Results Achieved till Date

For the Electrostatic Nozzle to work efficiently and solve the purpose for which it is being
made, the key feature is the High Voltage charging of the particular fluid to be used which is
provided by a DC-DC converter which converts an input of 9V dc voltage to an output of
1000V dc.

2.1 DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT

An Experiment is conducted for testing the efficiency of the process i.e. Electrostatic
Spraying.

2.1.1 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

The experimental setup consist of a stationary bench (Spray Patternator) of the dimensions
1000x1200 mm has been prepared with the equidistant 40 grooves of width 27.5 mm and
each row is divided by a 2.5mm width, a dividing wall. The spray is vertically directed and
landing onto the equidistant grooves and the liquid is collected into the test tubes connected
to the outlet of each grooves.

This experiment helps us to calculate a number of parameters to check the effective working
of the Electrostatic Spray Nozzle.

The parameters are as follows:

Charge to Mass Ratio (Main Performance parameter): It is the ratio of the spray cloud current
to the mass flow rate of the fluid. This parameter is the most important as it tells us about the
chargeability of droplets. CMR should be high for the effective working of an Electrostatic
Nozzle.
Flow Rate of the fluid used: It is measured to calculate the CMR.
Spray Swath Width: It is calculated mathematically to measure the target coverage,
uniformity etc. Swath width is the product of Number of grooves in which liquid is collected
and equidistant width.
Spray Cone Angle: It is the angle measured at the tip of the nozzle; point from where the
spray is coming out and forming a canopy.

2.1.2 EXPERIMENT
 An electrostatic spray nozzle is mounted vertically above the stationary bench at a given
height and at a particular pressure for about 10 minutes, fluid is collected in the test tubes
which is the outlet of the grooves.

Calculation of Swath Width: There are 40 equidistant grooves in the setup of width 27.5 mm
and each row is divided by a 2.5mm width, a dividing wall. The number of grooves which
collect the fluid is measured and correspondingly swath width comes out to be the product of
Number of grooves in which liquid is collected and equidistant width.
Spray Cone Angle Measurement: The angle is measured by using the above calculated Spray
Swath width. The spray cone angle to be measured is the inverse tangent of ratio of swath
width to the height of the nozzle from the grooves.
Measurement of the Current by varying Voltage: The high voltage electrostatic power supply
has been provided to charging electrode with a high voltage module and the output current
and voltage is observed on a multi-meter.
Mass Flow Rate: The volume of liquid used for conducting the experiment for particular time
is measured which is further converted into mass flow rate as the density of the liquid is
known to us.
Calculating CMR: Experimentally, the performance of the air-assisted electrostatic nozzle can
be evaluated in terms of charge to mass ratio, which signifies the chargeability of the finely
divided spray droplets by the charging electrode. Charge to mass ratio depends on electrical
and mechanical properties of the liquid as well as material of the charging electrode. A
specially designed Faraday Cage was connected to the earth potential via a digital multi-
meter. The dimensions of Faraday cage were 600x300x300mm and to support the meshes the
Perspex material was used to build the structure. The contact of the charge droplets onto the
wire meshes of Faraday cage and transfer of the charge to the earth caused an electrical
current which was detected by microampere meter. The charged liquid spray was collected at
a specific time and weighted. Then the spray current was divided by the mass flow rate to
determine the charge to mass ratio. To measure the charge to mass ratio equation has been
used.
 Figure: Experimental setup and Faraday Cage

CMR= SPRAY CURRENT/MASS FLOW RATE =Is/Qm

where Is is the measured spray current (A) and Qm is the mass flow rate of liquid (kg/s ).

The same experiment is conducted twice; once without charging the fluid and other time with
electrostatic charging.

2.1.3 OBSERVATION AND RESULTS

It has been observed that when the fluid is charged there is an initial rapid increase in the
charge to mass ratio to a critical (peak) applied voltage and then starts deceasing or almost
constant at a higher applied voltage to a corresponding liquid flow rate, electrical and
mechanical properties of liquid and the geometry of the charging electrode. This voltage is
called saturation voltage corresponding to that particular electrode material. This peak
appears corresponding to dimension and shape of the electrode and properties of liquid to be
sprayed, because the charging time constant changes with the conductivity of liquid.

After saturation point, the inductive charging tends towards conductive charging,
encountered by positive current and therefore, charge to mass ratio decreases.
On comparing the results with the Uncharged fluid, it is observed that the Spray cone angle
measured is approximately 22 degrees while the spray cone angle for the charged fluid comes
out to be approximately 31 degrees.

This implies the canopy of the spray increases with a considerable amount when the fluid is
charged as compared to when the fluid is uncharged.
 CHAPTER 3: Major Challenges and Innovations Identified

3.1 CHALLENGES

Performance parameter depends on a number of features:

Applied high voltage: Induction charging method has been used as it is considered to be most
efficient methods of all. It is desirable to charge the finely divided particulate matter as high
as possible but there is a limitation to the extent as could be seen while performing the
experiment. After a certain amount of voltage the CMR tends to decrease as the process of
Induction Charging tends to change to Conduction which has to be avoided.
To transport the smaller droplets to higher distance: Due to presence of charged particles in
the atmosphere, it becomes difficult for spraying the oppositely charged particles to a larger
distance as it gets neutralized before reaching the target area.
Electrode material: There are a number of metals which could be used as electrode such as
copper, nickel etc. After learning about the material properties and for the purpose it has to be
used, then only one can decide which material is more efficient.
Electrode geometry: A proper study has to be carried out to know the effects of electrode
geometry deposition target and spray cloud through computational modeling using respective
simulation software. Maximum electric field of different geometry electrodes such as Square
Electrode with circular cross-section, Circular electrode with circular cross-section, Circular
electrode with square cross-section and Square electrode with square cross-section.
Spray droplet size: This plays a very important role as far as suppressing the dust particles is
concerned. Sprays operating at a pressure less than 2MPa produce droplets that are much
larger than the dust particles.
Dust particles follow streamlines around larger liquid droplets and no contact is made
between the two. As water droplet size is reduced there is increased probability, that droplet
will collide with dust increasing the capture efficiency.
Presence of polarity charges in the dust particles: It has to be known beforehand about the
polarity of charges present in the dust particles so that the spray discharged is of opposite
charge to make sure dust particles are settled down.

3.2 INNOVATIONS
Electrostatic force field application for dust suppression in coal mines and other dust prone
areas which are harmful to health.

In agricultural spraying, Electrostatic Spraying has proven to be one of the most promising
methods to apply the protective liquid based sprays onto the biological surfaces of living
crops and orchards.

Electrostatic Spraying is significantly more efficient than the conventional spraying system
and reduces the consumption of various fluids utilized for the purpose of spraying.

CHAPTER 4: Remaining Tasks to Complete

 Design of experiments and experimental work: Testing of the methods which give the best
result by calculating the CMR for all the methods as well as other parameters like Electrode
positioning, Electrode Geometry, Spray Cloud etc.
Observations and Analysis of the experimental findings: Testing and analyzing the findings
after conducting various experiments and checking for the efficiency of the system.
Optimization of parameters: For the efficient working of the Electrostatic Spray Nozzle,
different parameters are measured and modified (such as CMR etc.) to get the best results.