Electrostatic precipitator apparatus having an improved ion generating means

Claim 1

Apparatus for precipitating particles from a gaseous medium carrying the same, comprising: generally flat collecting plate means upon which particles are collected; conductive shell means spaced from said collecting plate means, the space between said shell means and said collecting plate means defining a channel through which said medium passes, said shell means having at least one generally flat side wall, said side wall having a plurality of rows of openings therein, said rows being spaced from one another and oriented generally transversely of the flow of medium through said channel; a plurality of corona discharge members located within said shell means aligned adjacent one another generally in a common plane and including interior corona discharge members and end discharge members; said discharge members being charged to a sufficient potential to produce corona discharge and provide a supply of ions for passing through said openings into the channel, one of said members being located adjacent each of the rows of openings so that ions produced by each member pass through the openings of the adjacent rows; said end discharge members being located on opposite ends of a plurality of said interior corona discharge members, said end discharge members being of increased cross-sectional size and free of sharp edges to reduce their proclivity to corona discharge relative to said interior corona discharge members to thereby compensate for the absence of mutual shielding produced by adjacent interior discharge members located on both sides thereof; and said shell means being charged to a potential sufficient to maintain a strong generally uniform electric field between said shell means and said collecting plate means and said openings being sufficiently large to pass enough ions therethrough to charge the particles while not so large so as to significantly disrupt the generally uniform electric field, said electric field influencing said charged particles toward said plate means where they are collected thereon.