How Cyclones Work

Abstract

As mentioned in Chap. 1, cyclones work as a result of the centrifugal forces acting on the particles suspended in the swirling gas stream. This causes the particles, which are denser than the gas, to move outward to the cyclone wall, along which they are transported downward to the dust exit. The cleaned gas leaves near the centerline, in a reverse-flow cyclone through the roof. In a ‘once-through’ or ‘flow-through’ cyclone, the cleaned gas exits out the bottom¹.

In some configurations, cyclones may be oriented at an angle to true vertical and, in the limit, may be oriented horizontally. Such configurations do not violate the rules and equations governing vertical cyclones except in certain ‘highly loaded’ cyclones, wherein the force of gravity competes with the radially-directed centrifugal force, which the particles experience. In such latter configurations the designer must be especially careful in scaling-up. We shall return to this topic in a later chapter.