Study on the Effects of Vane Parameters on Separation Performance in an Axial Flow Cyclone Separator

The oil-gas cyclone separator is a key component to an oil injection compressor system for its advantages of small volume, simple structure, high separation efficiency and low pressure loss. This paper presents the investigation on new type axial flow cyclone separator performance under different structural parameters, including the angle of vanes, the number of vanes, the rotation angle of single vane, by numerical simulation and verification experiments. A numerical model of two-phase flow in the cyclone separator was established and the separation efficiency and pressure loss of cyclone separators were simulated. A test rig was built and the diameter distributions of droplets at the inlet and outlet of separator were measured by a Malvern laser particle size analyzer to verify the simulation model. The results showed that the separation efficiency and pressure loss can be improved with the increase of the rotation angle of vanes. With the decrease of the outlet angle of the first stage vane and the increase of the number of vanes, the critical separated droplet diameter of separator can be lowered effectively. The results showed that the optimum outlet angle of vanes is 22°~25° considering the separation efficiency and the pressure loss of separators