Design and Simulation of a Hollow Cylindrical Ceramic Air Filter using Finite Volume Technique

Background/Objectives: The commercial hollow air filters mostly used in automobiles are made out of cotton gauge, paper, fibrous materials, foam, etc. These filter's initial cost is low but maintenance cost of these is much higher than their initial cost with lower life span. The aim of this research work is design and simulation of a hollow cylindrical air filter fabricated using a ceramic material such as Silicon Carbide. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Research on air filters have focused on four main criteria, viz. less pressure drop, high air flow, superior dirt protection and less overall cost. Hence the major parameters were designed based on these factors and also by using Ergun's equation by considering the air filter as a packed column/bed. The important design parameters considered are particle size and pore size of the ceramic powder in order to have control over porosity. The filter model is designed using CATIA V5R16 and simulated using ANSYS FLUENT software. Findings: Ceramic air-filters can replace the existing air-filters with even better pressure drop. The thickness of these filters are in the range of 5 mm to 10 mm which will result in huge savings compared to the existing very large filters in terms of space required. A stack of this hollow air filters can also be effectively used for superior dirt protection. However using these filters with thickness more than 20mm will have higher pressure drop and hence it is not recommended to go beyond this thickness. As the filters are made out of ceramics the life span of the filter will be very high. Damage of the filter due to either the harder and sharp particles or due to cleaning process is avoided. Application/Improvements: The proposed ceramic air filters can be used in automobiles particularly in heavy vehicles which work in harsh and dusty environment such as quarries, cement and process industries. The improvements achieved as compared to current air-filters are the increase in life of the filters and efficiency of the engine.