Electrostatic precipitators in the era of smart technology: Electrical efficiency, vibration mitigation, and noise reduction

  • Junfeng Li orcid

    CHN Energy Shenhua Jiujiang Company, Jiujiang 332500, China
  • Yu Lu orcid

    CHN Energy Shenhua Jiujiang Company, Jiujiang 332500, China
  • Xinjiang Xu orcid

    CHN Energy Shenhua Jiujiang Company, Jiujiang 332500, China
  • Chunchun Sun orcid

    Zhejiang DOWAY Advanced Technology Co., Ltd., Hangzhou 310000, China
  • Qiliang Zhu orcid

    Zhejiang DOWAY Advanced Technology Co., Ltd., Hangzhou 310000, China
  • Dengke Zhao orcid

    Zhejiang DOWAY Advanced Technology Co., Ltd., Hangzhou 310000, China
Article ID: 4277
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59400/sv4277
Keywords: electrostatic precipitators; smart technology; electrical efficiency; vibration mitigation; noise reduction

Abstract

Electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) are significant devices for particulate control in power generation, cement production, steel manufacturing, and other high-emission sectors. Future ESP performance should be evaluated not only on particle collection efficiency but also on electrical energy consumption, vibration stability, noise levels, reliability, and adaptive functionality. We proposed a three-layered framework for perception, analysis, and execution in intelligent ESPs. The perception layer combines electrical, emission, process, vibration, acoustic, and maintenance data; the analysis layer applies signal processing, artificial intelligence, digital twins, and multi-objective optimization; and the execution layer provides adaptive voltage control, rapping optimization, fan-speed control, vibration mitigation, active noise control, and predictive maintenance. The quantitative data show that intelligent electrical optimization can reduce ESP energy consumption by 35.50% and improve emission compliance from 95% to 100%. Approximately 43% energy saving was achieved by deep-learning-assisted voltage optimization in a 330 MW coal-fired power plant ESP. FFT, wavelet transform, RMS tracking, CNNs, LSTM models, and autoencoders can be used as diagnostic methods to detect imbalance, resonance, bearing faults, and fan irregularities, thereby reducing vibrations. Hybrid passive-active control for noise reduction can attenuate low-frequency duct noise by more than 10 dB and high-frequency components by more than 20 dB. This review highlights the absence of field-validated collaborative optimization as a significant knowledge gap and suggests digital twins, edge computing, 5G/6G communication, and multi-objective control as promising avenues for future research.

Published
2026-08-13
How to Cite
Li, J., Lu, Y., Xu, X., Sun, C., Zhu, Q., & Zhao, D. (2026). Electrostatic precipitators in the era of smart technology: Electrical efficiency, vibration mitigation, and noise reduction. Sound & Vibration, 60(5). https://doi.org/10.59400/sv4277
Issue
Vol. 60 No. 5 (2026): In Progress
Section
Article

Copyright (c) 2026 Junfeng Li, Yu Lu, Xinjiang Xu, Chunchun Sun, Qiliang Zhu, Dengke Zhao

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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