System and method for an electrostatic bypass

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9574586-B2
Application number	US-201514697570-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 27, 2015
Priority date	Apr 27, 2015
Publication date	Feb 21, 2017
Grant date	Feb 21, 2017

Abstract

An electrostatic bypass system and method as disclosed utilizes corona wires extending laterally across the flow path upstream of the section of the flow path of concern. The corona wires can be arranged to form a mesh across the flow path and can be powered by a power source to ionize the air surrounding the wires to thereby apply an electrostatic charge to the particulates as they pass through an ionized section of air proximate the wires.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A particulate bypass system comprising:
an electrically charged corona wire mesh electrically coupled to a power source and extending across a particulate flow path having a particulate flow direction, where the corona wire mesh is one of a positive corona wire mesh or a negative corona wire mesh, where the power source applies a voltage to the corona wire mesh sufficient to ionize a fluid proximate the corona wire mesh to apply an electrostatic charge to one or more particles flowing through the corona wire mesh with one of an electrostatic positive charge or an electrostatic negative charge; and
a fluid exchanger disposed in the particulate flow path downstream with respect to the corona wire mesh, said fluid exchanger having:
an array of fins extending across the particulate flow path having a fin charge that is one of a positive fin charge or a negative fin charge applied to one or more of the fins of the array, where a polarity of the fin charge and the polarity of the electrostatic charge are the same to repel the particles away from the array of fins as the particles flow through the fluid exchanger, the array of fins forming a core of the fluid exchanger and the fins are configured to form one or more flow channels through the fluid exchanger;
wherein a corona voltage having a corona wire voltage amplitude is applied to the corona wire mesh and the corona voltage amplitude is sufficient to cause an electric corona discharge thereby ionizing air in the particulate flow path sufficient to apply an electrostatic charge to the one or more particles sufficient to repel the one or more particles away from the one or more fins, where the corona voltage amplitude is based on an anticipated average particle mass; and
wherein a fin voltage is applied to the one or more fins of the array of fins having a fin voltage amplitude sufficient to repel the one or more particles away from the one or more fins, wherein the fin voltage amplitude is based on the anticipated average particle mass.

2. The particulate bypass system as recited in claim 1 , where the fluid exchanger is an air exchanger.

3. The particulate bypass system as recited in claim 2 , where the air exchanger is an air-to-air heat exchanger and the array of fins form a core of the air-to-air heat exchanger and said array of fins are configured to form one or more flow channels through the air-to-air heat exchanger.

4. The particulate bypass system as recited in claim 3 , where the one or more fins of the array of fins form the walls of the one or more flow channels and where the one or more fins of the array of fins repel the particles away from the one or more fins inward into the one or more flow channels.

5. The particulate bypass system as recited in claim 1 , where the fin voltage is adjustable to increase or decrease a number of elementary charges in the one or more fins.

6. The particulate bypass system as recited in claim 5 , where the corona voltage is adjustable to increase or decrease the ionization of air surrounding the corona wire mesh.

7. The particulate bypass system as recited in claim 6 , where the corona voltage and the fin voltage are applied with a battery.

8. A method for a particulate bypass system comprising:
applying a corona voltage having a corona voltage amplitude to a corona wire mesh extending across a fluid path using a power source electrically coupled with the corona wire mesh, where the corona voltage amplitude is based on an average anticipated particle mass;
electrostatically charging with one of an electrostatic positive charge or an electrostatic negative charge one or more particles flowing along a fluid path in a particulate flow direction upstream with respect to a fluid exchanger using the corona wire mesh, where:
said electrostatic charge is one of an electrostatic positive charge or an electrostatic negative charge;
the corona wire mesh is one of a positive corona wire mesh or a negative corona wire mesh; and
the corona voltage applied to the corona wire mesh is sufficient to ionize a fluid proximate the wire mesh, thereby applying an electrostatic charge to the one or more particles flowing through the corona wire mesh;

providing a fluid exchanger having an array of fins forming a core of the fluid exchanger and the fins are configured to form walls one or more flow channels across the particulate flow path;
applying a wall charge to an open ended channel wall extending substantially parallel with respect to the particulate flow direction, where the wall charge applied to the channel wall is one of a positive wall charge or a negative wall charge, and where a polarity of the wall charge and a polarity of the electrostatic charge are the same, thereby repelling particles away from the channel wall as the particles flow in the channel wall;
applying a fin charge that is one of a positive fin charge or a negative fin charge to one or more fins of the array of fins, where a polarity of the fin charge and the polarity of the electrostatic charge are the same; and
repelling the particles having the one of the electrostatic positive charge and the electrostatic negative charge away from the walls of the one or more flow channels as the particles flow through the fluid exchanger, where:
the corona voltage is sufficient to cause an electric corona discharge thereby ionizing air within the particulate flow path sufficient to apply an electrostatic charge to the one or more particles.

9. The method of particle bypass as recited in claim 8 , where the fluid exchanger is an air exchanger.

10. The method of particulate bypass as recited in claim 9 , where the air exchanger is an air-to-air heat exchanger and the array of fins form a core of the air-to-air heat exchanger and said array of fins are configured to form one or more flow channels through the air-to-air heat exchanger.

11. The method of particulate bypass as recited in claim 8 , further comprising:
applying a fin voltage having a fin voltage amplitude to the one or more fins of the array of fins, where the fin voltage amplitude is sufficient to repel the one or more particles away from the one or more fins, where the fin voltage amplitude is based on the anticipated average particle mass.

12. The method of particulate bypass as recited in claim 11 , further comprising:
adjusting the fin voltage to increase or decrease the number of elementary charges in the one or more fins.

13. The method of particulate bypass as recited in claim 12 , further comprising:
adjusting the corona voltage to increase or decrease the ionization of air surrounding the corona wire mesh.

14. A particulate bypass system comprising:
a corona wire mesh extending across a particulate flow path, the particulate flow path having a particulate flow direction, wherein the corona wire mesh is configured to have an electrostatic charge applied thereto, where the electrostatic charge comprises a first electrical polarity and a corona voltage having an amplitude;
an open ended channel wall providing at least part of a channel, the open ended channel wall extending parallel to the particulate flow direction; and
an array of fins extending across the particulate flow path and providing at least one flow channel through a core of a fluid exchanger, wherein:
the amplitude of the corona voltage is sufficient to ionize a fluid proximate the corona wire mesh and to electrostatically charge a plurality of particles within the particulate flow path to form a plurality of electrostatically charged particles;
the amplitude of the corona voltage is based on an anticipated average mass of the pluralit

Assignees

• Boeing Co

Inventors

• Hart Colin W
• Richardson Marcus K

Classifications

• B01D2259/4575

  in aeroplanes or space ships · CPC title

• F15D1/0075 Primary

  comprising electromagnetic or electrostatic means for influencing the state of the fluid, e.g. for ionising the fluid or for generating a plasma · CPC title

• B01D2259/818

  Employing electrical discharges or the generation of a plasma · CPC title

• B01D53/32 Primary

  by electrical effects other than those provided for in group B01D61/00 · CPC title

• B03C3/00

  Separating dispersed particles from gases or vapour, e.g. air, by electrostatic effect · CPC title