SUMMARY
Our study, aimed at assessing the impact exerted by the inclusion to a low-efficiency cyclone of an additional "bypass" pipe connecting the cyclone's inlet branch pipe and the exhaust pipe, has been established the mechanisms to improve the energy efficiency and the process of purifying air from dust. It has been proven that the increase in the degree of purification is explained by a decrease in the radial flow rate under the exhaust pipe of the cyclone. The decrease in hydraulic resistance is due to a decrease in the flow rate along the inlet branch pipe when the air is fed separately to the body through the inlet branch pipe and the "bypass" pipe. Our experimental study has confirmed that when the cyclone design is supplemented with a "bypass" pipe in the most dangerous area of the cyclone in terms of dust release (under the exhaust pipe), the radial rate of the gas flow that negatively affects purification is reduced. This leads to an increase in the overall degree of purification from dust. The result of analytical calculations and computer simulation by the SolidWorks-2009 software were experimentally confirmed when investigating the effectiveness of dust capture from powdered skimmed milk in an industrial cyclone (a 630-mm diameter) with a "bypass" pipe. Such a cyclone is installed in the system of pneumatical transportation at the spray dryer "CT-500" at Ichnya Milk Powder and Butter Plant (Ukraine). Specifically, it has been established that the removal of dust is reduced almost twice, hydraulic resistance ? by 15 %, and the energy efficiency of the cyclone with a "bypass" pipe increases by 2.43 times.Thus, there is a reason to argue about the possibility of significant energy efficiency improvement of the cyclone with a "bypass" pipe.This makes it possible to assess the energy efficiency of the cyclone in the early stages of design