Large quantities of PM (particulate matter) produced in the construction process poses hazard for both the workers' health and the whole environment. Despite the wide application of cartridge filters to PM collection, incomplete cleaning often occurs during pulse-jet cleaning of common nozzles. In this study, a built-in rotator used in a larger-diameter pleated filter cartridge was developed to improve the effect of pulsejet cleaning. Then, the pulse-jet cleaning performances between the built-in rotator and the common nozzle were compared. The results show that the pressure drop of the built-in rotator is similar to that of the non-built-in one under the same superficial filtration velocity. The number of rotations grows with the increase of high-pressure air, while it first increases and then remains stable with the sustained pulse time. For the common nozzle, the cleaning effect is influenced by the nozzle diameter and the jet distance. The optimum jet distance declines with the increase of nozzle diameter. Compared with the common nozzle, the pulse-jet cleaning frequency of the built-in rotator reduced from 11 to 9, the average pulsejet cleaning interval extended from 4667 s to 5402 s, the average residual pressure drop decreased from 118.39 Pa to 86.04 Pa and the average pressure drop reduced from 243.01 Pa to 232.52 Pa. Despite the average peak dust emission concentration increased from 13.52 mg/m(3) to 14.34 mg/m(3), the average dust emission concentration decreased from 2.56 mg/m(3) to 2.51 mg/m(3). Therefore, it is proved that the built-in rotator can improve the performance of pleated cartridge filter. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.