In-line Swirl Particle Separator

Airborne particles sucked into turbine engines can erode internal parts, necessitating extensive maintenance and increasing the possibility of failure. This project’s objective is to separate particles from an airstream and reduce internal erosion. The design uses an in-line swirl particle separator that relies on centrifugal forces to remove particles from an airstream. A swirler, consisting of rotated blades extending at 90 degrees from a central cylinder, is placed at the front of the separator system. The swirler forces the airflow to spin as it hits the blades, generating centrifugal forces that throw particles to the outer edge of the separator as they travel down the migration chamber to be removed from the system at the diffuser gap. The cleaned air flows through the outlet of the separator and into the turbine engine inlets. To optimize the particle separation of the system, a design of experiments was performed with three factors: inlet diameter, swirler length, and migration chamber length. Each factor had two levels: high and low. All combinations of the three factors at each of the two levels were tested and an analysis completed to determine the optimal design choice for each factor.