Christoph
Cyclone separators are very simple and common devices in process engineering. In such a separator, centrifugal force is utilized to separate particles from the raw air, which is passed into the device tangentially. The cleaned air exits through a straight pipe in the top lid:
The first thing to note here is that the barrel I used doesn't change in diameter, but it works anyway.
This device is very simple to build, it's robust, and it will make cleaning a fun thing. Depending on the barrel, it's also
- easy to carry around
- easy to open
- easy to empty
- and easy to close.
Here are some images of the dirt barrel in use. After cutting some wood parts, the floor in our workshop looked like this:
Vacuum cleaner and barrel are ready to go:
(skipping the cleaned floor image, I don't have one)
The dirt is not in the bag...
...but in the barrel:
I think I won't have to empty that dungeon until 2016.
Robin
bryan.lowder
seraphia scarlett
anthony.a.douglas
Have you considered adding a Thien baffle? Here's a characterization of cyclone performance with one, and here's a conversation with the inventor on the advantages and disadvantages of the baffle.