IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 40, NO.

6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004 1513

Application of Different Types of High-Voltage

Supplies on Industrial Electrostatic Precipitators
Norbert Grass, Member, IEEE, Werner Hartmann, Associate Member, IEEE, and Michael Klöckner

Abstract—Investigations of the requirements for high-voltage

(HV) power supplies for zones within an electrostatic precip-
itator (ESP) were conducted with regard to the properties of
different technologies for HV generation. The zones of an ESP
show different electrical behavior and efficiency. This is a result
of: 1) the different dust loads of the zones; 2) the particle size and
properties; and 3) the possibility of charging the particles in the
entire zone using suitable technology.
An overview of common and new topologies of HV supplies and
their typical properties is given. It is shown how these properties
can be used to match the requirements of the different zones of an Fig. 1. Line-commutated thyristor.
ESP regarding the actual operating conditions. Large particles and
high dust loads can be addressed effectively using high-frequency
dc power supplies. Fine particles, however, can be separated even and pulsed power concepts) for economical reasons the ma-
more efficiently by pulsed power supplies. Additionally, the power jority of industrial precipitators worldwide are still supplied by
consumption of different HV sources has been investigated in rela- thyristor type power supplies. The main reason for using this
tion to the separation efficiency.
Experimental results were obtained on an industrial ESP con- type of power supply is certainly the simplicity of its concept,
taining 3 zones in a sinter plant and on a large scale precipitator in which results in considerably lower investment cost for the ESP
a fossil power plant, containing 30 zones. It was shown that a high power supply. Therefore, the term “standard power supply” is
frequency IGBT inverter combined with a microsecond-pulsed often used synonymously for the thyristor-based type of power
power supply significantly improved the overall performance of supply.
the precipitator.
Due to the mains voltage control of the thyristor switches,
Index Terms—Back corona, high-frequency power supply, the control delay is in the 10-ms range (8.6 ms at 60 Hz). In pre-
power supplies for electrostatic precipitators (ESPs), pulsed cipitators with low flashing rates and low back-corona action
power supply, short pulse.
acceptable precipitator efficiency can be achieved. However, in
many industrial plants, operating modes and/or fuel conditions
I. INTRODUCTION are changing much faster than in the past; reasons are the re-
quirement for increased plant productivity and/or cost savings
T HE efficiency of electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) can be
improved by either electrical or mechanical means. This
paper is restricted to the electrical part; i.e., the high-voltage
in the processes. Additionally, energy costs of precipitators have
come into focus and need to be minimized. However, energy
(HV) power supply. The ESP in most cases has fixed dimensions savings also have to be compared with the investment cost of
and operating parameters. Measurements of its properties can be new equipment. Today, for most processes, the economic return
taken only through existing electrical equipment and automa- of investment period should be less than two years.
tion devices. The internals of the precipitator under investiga-
tion here were not accessible during operation, but could be ac- II. CONVENTIONAL AND NEW POWER SUPPLY TECHNOLOGIES
cessed before and after some of the tests. Today, most industrial A. Line-Commutated Thyristor Power Supply
ESPs are fed by single-phase line-commutated thyristor-based
The most common HV power supply for ESPs is a
HV power supplies which are not able to provide optimal HV
single-phase line-commutated thyristor-based primary-side
waveforms. Despite the existence of new techniques to improve
voltage control. The HV in the range of 40–100 kV is generated
the power quality (i.e., resonant/nonresonant power converters
by a 50-Hz (60 Hz) transformer. The precipitation process re-
quires single polarity of the voltage; therefore, a bridge rectifier
Paper MSDAD-A-04-12, presented at the2002 Industry Applications Society is installed at the secondary of the transformer. Fig. 1 shows
Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, October 13–18 , and approved for publication the basic circuit.
in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by the Electrostatic The choke on the primary side of the transformer limits the
Processes Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society. Manuscript
submitted for review October 15, 2002 and released for publication July 10, current on flashovers inside the precipitator.
2004. The voltage ripple of the precip-
The authors are with Siemens AG, D-91052 Erlangen, Germany itator voltage depends on the electrical capacitance and corona
(e-mail: Norbert.Grass@siemens.com; Werner.Hartmann@siemens.com;
Michael.Kloeckner@siemens.com). current of the precipitator, which result from the process con-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2004.836298 ditions and from the mechanical dimensions. In addition, it is
0093-9994/04$20.00 © 2004 IEEE
1514 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 40, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004
Fig. 2. Precipitator voltage and current.
governed to a significant extent by the power supply frequency
which, unfortunately, is determined by the mains voltage and
cannot be optimized. Since flashovers in precipitators usually
occur close to the peak value of the precipitator voltage,
is limited by the flashover voltage . This means
that, as the ripple increases, the maximum permissible voltage
and, therefore, the average corona discharge power decreases as
does the efficiency of the precipitator.
Fig. 2 shows the voltage and current with a flashover.
Note that an overcurrent appears during the occurrence of the
flashover. Depending on the stray inductance of the transformer,
the current pulse amplitude and duration can increase by up to
a factor of two as compared to pulses under normal operation.
The thyristor cannot be turned off until the occurrence of the
next zero crossing of the current. The impedance of the trans-
former and precipitator circuit has significantly decreased due
to the short circuit of the load side of the HV circuit. This gen-
erates a high charge density around the location where the arc
occurred and is also associated with a high energy density in the
hot plasma region produced during the flashover. A flashover
therefore affects the required length of the de-ionization period,
increasing it considerably with increasing energy content of the
spark. Only after the space charge/hot plasma has disappeared
due to the gas flow and ionic recombination can the electrical
field be reapplied.
The data shown in Fig. 2 were obtained from a typical plate-
wire dry-type precipitator installation in a coal-fired power sta-
tion. The distance between spray and collection electrodes was
200 mm.
B. High-Frequency Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
Inverter Supply
The application of modern power electronics with IGBT
switching devices and fully digital microcontroller devices
significantly increases the efficiency of ESPs. Cost savings
for new projects can be achieved due to smaller dimensional
requirements of the precipitator. In the cases with severe back
corona, advantages can be attained with intermittent operation
because of shorter intervals in comparison with thyristor power
supplies [2], [3].
Fig. 3. IGBT inverter circuit diagram.
Fig. 4. Precipitator voltage and current.
Short switching cycles of the power semiconductors (IGBTs)
in the 50- s range in contrast to the 10-ms range of conventional
equipment prevents the precipitator from producing high local
heating during flashovers. Therefore, the time-averaged mean
field strength increases thanks to short de-ionization times and
fast recovery to the optimal voltage level. Details will be given
after a brief description of the electrical circuit shown in Fig. 3.
The IGBT inverter has a three-phase mains input rectifier with
a power factor close to unity and, therefore, no com-
pensation is required. A voltage link capacitor is used as a low
inductance current buffer for the H-bridge IGBT inverter. The
low inductance between capacitors and IGBTs is achieved by a
planar busbar design considering the current paths during oper-
ation of the inverter. The switching frequency is typically 10–20
kHz. The current inversion frequency has been selected at 500
Hz, therefore, standard materials for the HV transformer can
be used. Technically, it is possible to operate at even higher
frequencies, however, the cost savings of the transformer are
less pronounced because further size reduction is limited due to
the limited dielectric strength of the insulating medium (usually
transformer oil).
The electrical power of a typical single transformer–rectifier
(T/R) unit is up to 200 kVA, which can easily be extended by
using larger IGBT-devices.
The high-frequency IGBT switching pattern, a current con-
trol loop, and the use of the electrical capacitance of the precip-
itator as a filter capacitor result in a highly constant dc output
voltage with a negligible voltage ripple (see Fig. 4). More details
about the operation of the IGBT inverter are given in [4] and [5].
Actually, the average voltage (and the electrical field strength)
of the precipitator can be increased up to a level very close to
(e.g., only 3% less than) the flashover limit of the corresponding
precipitator zone. During operation the flashover limit can vary
GRASS et al.: APPLICATION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF HV SUPPLIES ON INDUSTRIAL ESPs
Fig. 5. V/I characteristic example.
widely, therefore, flashovers cannot always be avoided. Addi-
tionally, as the occurrence of flashovers is a stochastic process,
flashovers cannot be detected prior to their onset. The reaction of
the IGBT inverter on flashover events, however, is much faster
as compared to a line-commutated thyristor switch. Due to the
ability of the IGBT inverter to turn off the current within 100
s or even less the arc duration is significantly shorter and less
energy is dissipated in the arc as a result the required de-ioniza-
tion time is also shortened. The de-ionization time is needed to
distribute the space charge released during the flashover in order
to achieve the ability of the gas to hold the reapplication of the
voltage without breaking through again. The de-ionization time
is shown schematically for the standard thyristor power supply
(typically 40–100 ms) and the IGBT inverter power supply (typ-
ically a few milliseconds; the example shows 4 ms) in Fig. 4.
After de-ionization time, the current rises within 100 s up to the
pre-calculated value when using an IGBT inverter power supply,
much faster than a line-commutated thyristor power supply can
be operated. As a result of the above-mentioned effects, pro-
cessing of a flashover with IGBT inverter technology needs an
interruption of between 2–10 ms in the precipitation process,
compared to 20–100 ms with a line-commutated thyristor power
supply. Therefore, even a higher flashover repetition rate can be
permitted with the IGBT inverter while still resulting in higher
average electrical power and lower dust emissions. Fig. 4. shows
the voltage and current signals of an IGBT inverter power supply
(PIC410F, Siemens) compared with the conventional line-com-
mutated thyristor supply, including flashover processing.
The average precipitator current can be increased signifi-
cantly due to the typically flat V/I characteristics of a precipi-
tator. An example, which was obtained from a precipitator in
a coal-fired power station, is given in Fig. 5. A small voltage
increase results in a stronger current increase. In practice, it was
possible to increase the electrical power by up to a factor 3 as
compared to the operation of a standard thyristor power supply.
The amount of energy consumed in a single flashover is rather
low due to the short turn-off time of fast IGBT devices.
Therefore, the stress on the electrodes in the precipitator is
decreased while the lifetime of the material is increased.
This effect is very important if polymer-coated collecting
electrodes are used. Polymer coating of electrodes is often
1515
used in aggressive atmospheres (e.g., mist precipitators, sulfur
acid plants) in order to reduce material consumption of the
collecting electrodes caused by electrochemical corrosion. For
more information, see [2] and [3]. The energy of a flashover
consists of two parts. The energy stored in the capacity
of the precipitator is a fixed amount depending on the
applied voltage and it can’t be influenced by the power supply.
The energy delivered by the power supply from the flashover
occurrence until the current is switched off is significantly
lower, however, with the IGBT inverter because there is no
extended short-circuit operation of the power supply and switch
off can be completed within 100 s. An example shows that the
energy consumed in a flashover could be reduced from 130 to
35 Ws. More details are given in [4].
C. Microsecond Pulsed Power Supply
Voltage pulses in the 10- s range can be generated by a
pulsed power supply and superimposed on the DC component.
The voltage and current on the ESP are shown in Fig. 7. De-
pending on the electrical capacitance of the precipitator and
the required pulse length, charging and discharging currents in
the 1–5 kA range are required to generate short voltage pulses
in the 10- s range. A pulsed voltage can improve particle
charging and discharge homogeneity. It avoids back corona
and improves the quality of the dust layer on the collecting
electrodes so that lower dust re-entrainment occurs.
If the pulse duration is shorter than the time a streamer needs
to bridge the gap between the discharge electrode and the col-
lecting electrode flashing can be avoided and a higher peak
voltage can be applied [1].
In industrial ESPs the estimated streamer bridging time is less
than 10 s. Therefore, the pulse duration should be below 10
s. After a recovery time in the 10-ms range the gas is again
ready to support the next pulse. Based on this concept, a high-
power HV pulse generator with pulse durations below 10 s and
amplitudes in the 30–50 kV range has been developed which is
able to fulfill the demands of industrial applications.
An additional advantage of the short pulses is a higher pos-
sible repetition rate of the pulses in the range of 10–50 Hz. Prac-
tically, the voltage pulses are formed by means of a resonant
circuit whereby the electrical capacitance of the precipitator is
regarded as part of the circuit. The shape and amplitude of the
pulse are determined by the values of the capacitance and in-
ductance as shown in the circuit diagram.
The basic circuit topology is shown in Fig. 6. Actually, there
are two power supplies in parallel.
• Source 1 applies a constant dc voltage which provides the
electrical field for the transport of charged particles. The
electrical current is rather low because corona discharge
should be avoided. A standard thyristor-based line-com-
mutated power supply can be used.
• Source 2 (as shown in Fig. 6) superposes a short voltage
pulse onto source 1. Due to the HV amplitude, a corona
discharge is generated homogeneously along the dis-
charge electrodes with a considerable increase in particle
charging and precipitator efficiency. The auxiliary HV
power supply is charging the capacitor C1 through the
1516 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 40, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004
Fig. 6. Pulse generator basic circuit.
Fig. 7. Voltage and current waveforms.
charging choke L6. To start a pulse, the switch S1 closes
and a current is forced through the switch and the pre-
cipitator, discharging the pulse capacitor C1 into the
precipitator capacitance C3. Pulse duration can be prop-
erly adjusted by a suitable choice of the choke L3. The
output voltage is increased by a factor of almost 1.70
over the auxiliary supply voltage because of a mismatch
of the serial operation of C3 and C1. The energy of the
pulse is almost completely recovered into C1 during
the reverse current interval. Only the corona discharge
energy is consumed in the precipitator, which has to be
replenished by the auxiliary power supply. Additionally,
the switch and diode losses have to be supplied. Due
to recovery charge of the diode D1, however, part of
the charge is not recovered in C1 but rather remains
on the precipitator C3, which results in an even higher
precipitator voltage after the completion of the pulse as
shown in Fig. 7. Corona discharge will reduce the voltage
down to the value supplied by the base power supply until
the next pulse is generated. A conventional base power
supply (either thyristor or IGBT) provides the dc voltage
for precipitating the charged particles on the collecting
electrodes.
The switch S1 must be able to withstand the full charging
voltage of C1 after the reverse current through D1 ceases. The
Fig. 8. Migration velocity versus resistivity.
duration of this time interval is below 5 s with a voltage rise
rate of over 200 kV s at the end of the recovery period.
III. PRECIPITATOR ZONE CHARACTERISTICS
A. Inlet Zone
Usually, the particle concentration is very high and inhomo-
geneous in the first zone of a precipitator. It is desirable to charge
as many particles as highly as possible. This can be achieved by
high corona current densities. The influence upon the efficiency
of the following zones is very significant. The electrical resis-
tance of the dust layer is between low and moderate; back corona
rarely occurs in the first zones. The gas contains a high quantity
of large particles (i.e., 20 m), therefore, the inlet zones are
usually operated at continuous current with frequent flashovers.
Due to the high rate of dust precipitation, rapping of the collec-
tion electrode must be carried out frequently.
Fig. 8 shows the particle migration velocity versus electrical
resistance of the dust. Within the inlet zone, in most cases the
resistance is below cm, i.e., below the range shown in
Fig. 8.
The electrical field strength and the resulting precipitator
voltage are limited by the flashover behavior of the precipi-
tator. In field tests it was shown (Fig. 8) that a substantially
higher current density was achieved with a high-frequency
IGBT-inverter-based HV supply as compared to the standard
thyristor-based power supply, in particular at low and medium
dust resistance. The reason is twofold. Firstly, the voltage ripple
is considerably lower due to the high-frequency operation of
the IGBT inverter supply; therefore, the average HV level can
be increased close to the flashover level without sacrificing the
acceptable flashover rate. Secondly, due to the short turn-off
delay and short turn-off time of the IGBTs, the energy in the
flashover is reduced considerably (see above) thus reducing
the de-ionization time significantly which also increases the
average on time of the HV.
B. Middle Zones
Due to the high efficiency of ESPs, the particle concentra-
tion in the middle zones is only around 5% of and much more
homogenous than in the inlet zones. Increased amounts of fine
particles are collected and the dust resistance is usually higher
GRASS et al.: APPLICATION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF HV SUPPLIES ON INDUSTRIAL ESPs
than in the inlet zone. This results in an increased tendency of
back corona on the plates which can be reduced particularly
well by intermediate or pulsed operation of the power supplies.
During electrode rapping of the inlet zone the dust concentra-
tion is increased temporarily due to dust re-entrainment into
the gas flow. Usually, standard line-commutated thyristor-based
power supplies are sufficient to provide the required voltage and
current waveforms. In certain circumstances, in particular, for
high-resistivity ashes producing severe back corona, IGBT in-
verter power supplies can be used to further improve the zone
performance.
C. Outlet Zones
Due to the decrease of precipitation efficiency for high dust
resistance (Fig. 8), most of the dust load in the outlet zone con-
sists of high-resistivity particles of small size which are the most
problematic for the precipitation process in ESPs. Back corona,
therefore, often happens due to the high electrical resistance of
the dust. Focusing on particle charging of fine dust, in general,
the maximum charge a particle can hold is given by the Pau-
thenier limit [9]
(1)
where is the saturation charge and is the particle diameter.
Equation (1) shows the quadratic dependency of the max-
imum charge a particle can obtain relative to the particle size.
Therefore, the charging of small particles becomes more diffi-
cult and higher electrical field strength is required. Also, par-
ticle charging requires a finite time which depends on several
parameters such as the electron and ion density. These parame-
ters can only be increased by increasing the current density via
the electric field strength. Unfortunately, industrial precipitators
have to be operated at a dc voltage very close to the flashover
limit in order to achieve the optimum precipitation efficiency.
Increasing the electrical field strength further would result in
more frequent flashing and, as a consequence, the precipitator
efficiency would actually decrease.
A pulsed voltage can, therefore, improve particle charging
by intermittently increasing the density of free charge carriers
which are necessary to charge the dust particles without in-
creasing the average electric field strength in the precipitator.
Fig. 8 compares the migration velocity for different kinds of
energization. For electrical resistance above 10 cm pulsed
energization shows significantly higher migration velocity than
using conventional energization. The dust resistance is much
higher in the outlet zones because here the average particle size
is small. The large (and higher conductive) particles were al-
ready collected effectively in the preceding zones. More details
are given in [6].
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A. Fossil Power Plant
Measurements of the precipitator efficiency have been made
on one precipitator duct which consisted of five consecutive
zones; in this configuration, zones 1, 2, and 5 are equipped
with IGBT inverter power supplies, whereas zones 3 and 4 are
1517
Fig. 9. Opacity and current—inlet zone.
TABLE I
equipped with new controllers and thyristor power supplies
only. The efficiency of each duct was measured separately using
an optical opacity monitoring system, therefore, variations in
opacity corresponding to changes of electrical values could be
observed reliably.
Starting conditions of the experiment were to set the electrical
power as low as possible in all zones with the opacity signal
not exceeding the permissible limit. The opacity meter then re-
sponded very reliably to changes of electrical power supplied to
individual zones. The goal was to determine the efficiency (i.e.,
opacity/electrical power) of each zone in the duct. To run the
entire zone under realistic conditions the electrical currents had
to be increased gradually and separately for all zones, starting
with the first zone in the flow and subsequently with the fol-
lowing zones in the gas flow.
Fig. 9 shows the total filter current of zone 1 and the opacity
signal during the experiment. In zone 1 it is seen that, with a
standard SCR power supply, about 350-mA total zone current
is possible due to the flashover limit of the precipitator (see
Fig. 9 and Table I). With the fast switching IGBT inverter power
supply the current could be increased to values around 700 mA.
Table I shows the relating opacity values.
During the cleaning of the dust-collecting electrodes (rap-
ping) the opacity increases significantly if the current is low.
During rapping a vibration of the plates causes the dust layer to
slide down the plates. Due to the soft packing of the dust layer
the gas flow causes a certain proportion of the particles to be
released into the gas flow (re-entrainment). In case of high elec-
trical current the dust layer is firmer because of the higher mi-
gration velocity and, hence, dust re-entrainment during rapping
is reduced.
Similar effects could be obtained when the current in zone 2
was increased. The results are given in Table II.
The effect of the currents on zones 3 and 4 is much smaller.
This is expected because of: 1) of the high efficiency of zones 1
1518 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 40, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004
TABLE II
Fig. 10. Opacity and current—outlet field.
and 2 and 2) the role of zones 3 and 4 is to also collect particles
already charged in zones 1 and 2.
Therefore, the flashover rate is much lower there and, due to
the smaller quantity of particles reaching zone 3, back-corona
effect is also low.
In zone 5 the increase of current did not result in a consid-
erable change in the average value of the opacity; however, the
opacity peaks during rapping were reduced substantially (see
Fig. 10).
All zones were also tested with intermediate energization, but
no improvements could be achieved because the dust resistance
was considerably low. Microsecond pulses could not be tested
because of the lack of pulse generator availability at that time.
B. Sinter Plant
Experimental results with superposition of short (6- s pulse
duration) pulses of up to 40-Hz pulse repetition frequency
were obtained on an industrial three-stage ESP in a sinter
plant. While operating the precipitator with conventional
thyristor-based power supplies the efficiency was not sufficient
due to the dust properties. Sinter dust is one of the most critical
dusts for electrostatic precipitation due to its extraordinarily
high resistivity.
Acquired data are shown in Fig. 11, starting at 1 pm (13:00),
ending at 9:45 pm (21:45). Microsecond pulsing was in opera-
tion until 17:20. Until 15:10 the pulse repetition frequency was
20 Hz, then it was increased to 40 Hz. For comparison the dust
emission average values were calculated:
AVG1 with microsecond pulse operation: 16:00–17:15,
59 mg m ;
AVG2 without microsecond pulse operation: 18:15–21:45,
76 mg m .
The calibration cycles of the dust monitoring system shown
in Fig. 12 were excluded from the averaging calculation. The
improvement in the dust emissions was 17 mg m (22%).
Additionally, measurements were taken with different com-
binations of power supplies. Table III shows the different
combinations of HV power supplies which were investigated
during the experiment. It was proven that the most effective gas
cleaning was achieved with an IGBT inverter power supply in
the first zone while the second zone was operated with either an
IGBT inverter or with a thyristor power supply. A further large
drop of dust emission was then achieved with a microsecond
pulse generator in the third zone.
It was shown that the pulsed power supply in the outlet zone
was operating optimally when the efficiency of the first zone
regarding large particles was rather high. Obviously, the gas in
the third zone then contains a high concentration of fine parti-
cles. The usual outcome of back corona was successfully sup-
pressed by applying the short pulses. Additionally, flashing was
avoided almost completely in the outlet zone due to the short
voltage pulses and the process control algorithm developed for
this method of operation.
Measurements were taken over a period of several days and
different plant operating conditions were investigated. All data
were recorded on a computer-based measurement system with
a signal sampling rate of 1 s. Average values were always calcu-
lated over a suitable measuring period depending on the avail-
ability of a stable production process. As shown in Fig. 11 AVG1
was calculated over an interval of 70 min s while AVG2 was cal-
culated over an interval of 3 h.
Dust samples were taken in all three zones while different
power supplies were in operation. The dust samples were taken
through the dust extraction locks after a constant ESP operation
of at least 5 h, prior to their mixing on the hopper with the
dust from other zones. Due to the long time constants of the
dust extraction (rapping was enforced only once an hour) it
has to be considered that, in the dust sample taken after pulsed
operation, there is still a considerable amount of dust from
the thyristor operation included. That means the actual fine
particle collection during pulsed operation must have been
higher than measured.
Fig. 12 shows the cumulative particle size distribution func-
tions of the dust precipitated in the third zone for thyristor oper-
ation and microsecond pulse operation, respectively. (The fine
particles with a diameter below 10 m are classified as PM
in environmental standards. They are able to settle in the lungs
where they are hazardous to health and they often cause severe
diseases.) Although only a minor proportion of the dust in the
sample is due to pulsed operation, while the majority stems from
the preceding conventional energization, an increased propor-
tion of smaller particles can clearly be found in the precipitated
dust.
Therefore, it can be concluded that pulse energization is par-
ticularly well suited for enhanced precipitation of fine particle
content in the outlet zone of a precipitator. This also means
that the overall improvement of ESP performance as shown
in Table III indicates a lower boundary. The real improvement
is even better than that indicated because of the fact that the
opacity measurement system in the smoke stack is less sensitive
to smaller particles and, therefore, the calibration curve needs to
be corrected for the smaller amount of fine particles in the stack
gas.
GRASS et al.: APPLICATION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF HV SUPPLIES ON INDUSTRIAL ESPs
Fig. 11. Conventional and pulsed-mode operation of third zone.
for their technical assistance during the field tests. Great value
was added by S. Atkin in Australia by improving the English
language in this publication.
Fig. 12. Particle size distribution function of third zone.
TABLE III
INVESTIGATED COMBINATIONS OF POWER SUPPLIES
V. CONCLUSION
Combining different types of HV power supplies and using
their benefits can considerably improve the performance of
ESPs. Depending on the dust and gas properties of each in-
dividual zone of a precipitator, the type of the HV generation
system can now be optimized. Even for existing precipitators
the efficiency can be improved in many cases by choosing the
right combination of power supply, pulse width, and process
control. Additionally, the energy consumption of ESPs can be
optimized by use of additional microsecond pulse generators.
Further investigations will follow regarding the different pa-
rameters of pulsed-mode power supplies used in order to further
increase precipitator efficiency.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors are grateful to M. Römheld, G. Phillips, and
J. Portiek of Siemens and R. Lamotte of Lurgi-Bischoff GmbH
1519
REFERENCES
[1] E. Kuffel and W. S. Zaengl, High-Voltage-Engineering. Oxford, U.K.:
Pergamon.
[2] D. A. Lloyd, Electrostatic Precipitator Handbook. Bristol, U.K.:
Adam Hilger, 1988.
[3] H. J. White, Entstaubung Industrieller Gase mit Elektrofil-
tern. Leipzig, Germany: VEB Deutscher Verlag für Grundstoffind-
ustrie, 1969.
[4] N. Grass, “Fuzzy logic-optimising IGBT inverter for electrostatic pre-
cipitators,” in Conf. Proc. IEEE-IAS Annu. Meeting, vol. 4, Phoenix, AZ,
Oct. 4–7, 1999, pp. 2457–2462.
[5] , “Fuzzy-Logik-Gesteuerter Spannungs-Zwischenkreis-Umrichter
für Elektrofilter,” Ph.D. dissertation, Friedrich-Alexander Univ. Er-
langen, Erlangen, Germany, 1997.
[6] W. Hartmann, M. Römheld, and K.-D. Rohde, “High-efficiency high
voltage pulse generator based on a fast recovery pseudospark switch,”
IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., vol. 28, pp. 1481–1485, Oct. 2000.
[7] N. Klippel, S. Stutz, and U. Kogelschatz, “ESP efficiency measurement
with a flexible pulsed power supply,” in Proc. ICESP VII, Kyongju,
Korea, 1998, pp. 388–395.
[8] K. Porle, “Reduced emission and energy consumption with pulsed
energization of electrostatic precipitators,” J. Electrostat., vol. 16, pp.
299–314, 1985.
[9] M. M. Pauthenier and M. Moreau-Hanot, “La charge des particules
spheriques dans un champ ionis,” J. Phys. Radium, vol. 3, pp. 59–613,
1932.
[10] L. Dascalescu, M. Mihailescu, and A. Mizuno, “The behavior of con-
ductive particles in pulsed corona fields,” J. Phys. D, Appl. Phys., vol.
29, pp. 522–528, 1996.
Norbert Grass (M’00) received the Ph.D. degree
in power electronics for precipitators from the
Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen, Er-
langen, Germany.
He is a Research and Development Manager
in the electrostatic precipitation group at Siemens
AG, Erlangen, Germany. His technical areas of
interest include high-voltage power supply systems,
fuzzy-logic-based control and optimization, net-
working, automation, and e-service for precipitators.
1520 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 40, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2004

Werner Hartmann (A’89) received the M.S. Michael Klöckner is a Marketing and Product
and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the Friedrich- Manager in the electrostatic precipitation group
Alexander University of Erlangen, Erlangen, Ger- at Siemens AG, Erlangen, Germany. His technical
many, in 1981 and 1986, respectively. areas of interest include high-voltage power supply
From 1986 to 1991, he was a Research Associate systems and controls, new optimization tools, and
at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen, remote services for precipitators.
working on low-pressure gas discharge physics,
pseudospark switches, and fast compressional
Z-pinches for soft X-ray lasers. As a Post-Doctoral
Researcher, he worked on the fundamentals of
pseudospark switches at the University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, during 1987–1988. In 1991, he joined the Corporate
Technology Department of Siemens AG, Erlangen, Germany. Since 1992,
he has been Project Manager of switching and pulsed power applications,
including vacuum switching tubes, pseudospark switches, and high-voltage
power modulators.