Numerical Optimization of Mechanical Air-Oil Cyclone Separator for Air Compressor.

Air-oil separator is used to recover oil from the air leaving the compressor. The air-oil separator design is based on the minimum diameter of capturing oil droplet and the separation efficiency of the separator. The available air-oil separators are Cyclone, Labyrinth, wire and oil filter. In this work cyclone separator is proposed due to its higher separation efficiency for wide range of droplet size. The proposed model C1 to C6 is analysed using CFD tool and maximum separation efficiency is obtained for C4 model and minimum residence time & static pressure is obtained for C3 model. It is concluded that C3 model is finalized model due to least residence time and back pressure with acceptable separation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]