The aim of this study was to develop a new type of cyclone separator that can increase collection efficiency while maintaining a low pressure drop, and compare its collection efficiency and pressure drop with that of the general forms of tangential cyclone separators. The proposed separator attaches several small cyclones to one tangential cyclone and is named the multiple-subsidiaries-equipped central (MSEC) cyclone. Numerical analysis and test results showed that the MSEC cyclone could increase collection efficiency while simultaneously lowering the pressure drop. The results show that subsidiary cyclones significantly contribute to improving the performance of the MSEC cyclone. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.