CFD analysis of an outdoor air purifier with experimental validation

Air pollution is now a global problem due to its increased devastating effect on the normal lifestyle of every human being as well as animal. With the growing population, urbanization and industrialization have affected the environment severely by adding very fine particles, unwanted gases, and elements to the air. The major sources of outdoor air pollution are open-air waste burning, emission of unwanted gases, and aerosols from vehicles and industries. Inhalation of these toxic gases and particles is the prime source of lung-related fatal diseases. The increase in the percentage of death due to air pollution is an alarming circumstance for the entire world. The countries like India, which are at the developing stage, are suffering more from the consequences of air pollution. These countries have failed to make adjustments between the full filling of the livelihood need of the growing population and the healthy environment to live in. Therefore, it leads to the high necessity of developing low-cost and effective air cleaning technology to offer people healthy living. The present work describes the design optimization process of an outdoor air purifier based on Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis. Initially the internal aerodynamics of air purifier installed at CSIR-CMERI Colony, Durgapur, India is simulated and results ware verified with experimental data. Hereafter, external aerodynamics simulations are performed in order to optimize the gap between inlet and exit. Based on this study, few design modifications are suggested and all these modifications can also be optimized based on the pressure losses and the dissipation losses inside the purifier.