Design and numerical analysis of an electrostatic filter for airborne particles and viruses

Abstract

Many airborne nanoparticles and viruses can induce significant health disorders through a respiratory system of human being. In order to prevent this, ‘air filter’ is normally used for the filtration of the airborne particles, but it has been observed that the larger the filtration efficiency, the more the pressure drop of the filter. In this study, a new type of electrostatic filter is designed which can keep the pressure drop in low value with capturing many airborne nanoparticles as possible using both inertial impaction and electrostatic mechanism. We conducted a numerical analysis of particle tracing with respect to three parameters, air flow rate, electric field intensity, and particle size.