Column setup has been widely utilized in the petroleum and chemistry industries. However, with the fast progress of industries and the increasingly serious energy shortage, designing a new column setup with better performance and higher capacity becomes more urgent. In order to improve column's capacity and expand operating condition, a new type of column tray named novel vertical spray packing (NVSP) tray was designed and experimented. The performances of the novel tray, including pressure drop, weeping, entrainment and tray efficiency, were tested in a plexiglass column. In addition, performances of the novel tray were compared with that of the sieve tray and the Glitsch V1 valve tray. Based on the experiment data, the mathematical correlations of pressure drop, weeping and entrainment for the novel tray were established by regression analysis method. A fundamental model of dry pressure drop of the novel tray was promoted at the form of sum mode. The results indicate that the novel tray has wider operating condition and better performance. (C) 2018 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.