An Effective Dust Collection Tray and Its Performance Optimized for Compact Sweepers Based on CFD-RSM Method

With the rapid evolution of urbanization and artificial intelligence technology in China, small, intelligent road sweepers have emerged as a highly promising technical solution to address urban cleaning challenges. The development and breakthrough of high-performance dust collection trays (DCT) stand as the core prerequisite for the large-scale practical application of such sweepers. Although blowing–suction integration technology theoretically offers substantial potential for improving dust removal efficiency, it has not received adequate attention in the sweeper field, particularly in the research on its application in unmanned, small-sized models. In this study, a fresh concept of an efficient DCT was proposed, and its numerical method was verified by experiment. Then, the design work for this efficient DCT was efficiently carried out by combining computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation with response surface methodology (RSM). Finally, the influence mechanisms of three key operational parameters of nozzle airflow velocity, suction negative pressure, and vehicle travel speed on the dust removal effect were numerically investigated. The results indicated that the parameter combination of DCT with an 18° blowing angle, 20° shoulder angle, and 0.2 diameter-to-length ratio was recommended, and its dust removal efficiency could reach a peak level of 98.7% when the nozzle blowing velocity, negative pressure at suction port, and travel speed were respectively 14 m/s, −1800 Pa, and 1.4 m/s. This research provides important theoretical support and a feasible technical pathway for the design of high-performance DCTs.