Plate electrode arrangement for an electrostatic precipitator

Claim 1

In an electrical precipitator having a housing including an upstream gas inlet and downstream gas outlet for removing particulate materials from a gas stream flowing through the housing, the improvement comprising: mounting frame means secured across the housing between the inlet and outlet, said frame means including a pair of spaced support beams spanning the interior of the housing between the inlet and outlet to form an opening for the gas stream flowing through the housing; first and second interchangeable essentially identical electrode plate assemblies; each of said plate assemblies including a discharge zone and a collector zone, a plurality of spaced discharge plates disposed in the collector zone, a set of collecting plates alternately arranged with said spaced plates in the collector zone and having portions extending into the discharge zone, spaced discharge electrode members alternately disposed in the discharge zone with those portions of the collecting plates extending into the discharge zone, and means supporting the discharge plates, collecting plates and electrode members in electrically insulated relationship with one another; said plate assemblies being supported in registry with said opening by said beams, said first plate assembly being supported on the one side of said beams and said second plate assembly being supported in an opposing fashion on the other side of said beams whereby the discharge zone of said first plate assembly is on the one side of the plate assemblies and the discharge zone of said second plate assembly is on the other side of the plate assemblies; and means for energizing said plate assemblies including a first DC source connected to the discharge electrode members of said first plate assembly, a second DC source connected to the discharge plates of both of said first and second plate assemblies, and an AC source connected to the discharge electrode members of said second plate assembly.