The gas, laden with solids, flows tangentially through the inlet into the cyclone, and creates a rotating and sinking flow in the separation chamber. The centrifugal force acts on the particles and an opposing resisting force acts between the gas and solids.

This resisting force means that small particles are carried along with the stream and move inwards to the outlet tube and clean-gas side.
Large particles are accelerated outwards against the casing due to the strong centrifugal force, where they are collected by the boundary layer flow and discharged towards the downpipe in a solid stream.

Application-specific concepts to protect against wear are available as options.