Aerosol separator „MiniMax“

This aerosol separator, which is scalable in size, is characterized by low manufacturing costs and a better degree of separation compared to high-performance cyclones. To achieve this, the innovative aerosol separator combines cyclone components with one or more micro-separators. The direct integration of swirl separation and the micro-impaction principle paired with a special guiding system represents an absolute novelty of this kind.

Your advantages:

• Outstanding separation performance: Approximately 40% smaller separation particle size compared to high-performance axial cyclones.
• Low manufacturing costs.
• Small construction volume (see Figure 2) and good scalability.

Advantages for your customer:

• Significantly lower operating costs due to 50% lower pressure loss compared to axial cyclones.
• Low maintenance/replacement costs due to long service life of around 20,000 operating hours.

The aerosol separator can be used in the following products due to its scalability and the possibility of parallel connection:

• Air compressors
• Vacuum pumps
• Air conditioning and room air systems
• Crankcase ventilation systems
• Turbines
• PEM fuel cells (for recirculation on both the anode and cathode side)

• 3) Health and well-being: The invention contributes to the goal of air pollution control.
• 9) Industry, innovation and infrastructure: The invention represents an innovation in the field of filter technology.
• 12) Sustainable production and consumption: The invention contributes to better resource efficiency.

In view of the continuous tightening of emission limits and the increasing industrial demands on exhaust gas quality in technical processes, the need for efficient gas purification equipment has increased immensely. The continuous improvement of known technologies is therefore an important step towards meeting these limits.

Aerosols are often undesirable in gases and can also cause damage through contact with parts and components in technical systems. Filtering out the aerosols should be as comprehensive as possible on the one hand and require as little energy as possible on the other. The invention provides a cost-effective solution for this.

The innovative aerosol separator developed at the Institute of Mechanical Process Engineering at the University of Stuttgart combines cyclone components with one or more micro-separators. The direct integration of swirl separation and the micro-impaction principle paired with a special guiding system represents an absolute novelty of this kind. Separation is achieved by special flow guidance of the aerosol, the integration of a force effect through a centrifugal field with impaction separation on microimpactors, as well as the use of surface properties for fluid removal. The aerosol separator can be manufactured in different configurations and different sizes to meet the requirements of the various applications. For larger volume flows, several aerosol separators can be connected in parallel.