Flow characteristics of dc wire-non-parallel plate electrohydrodynamic gas pumps

Abstract An experimental investigation has been conducted to study the effect of grounded electrode location and polarity on time averaged discharge current, velocity profile, volumetric flow rate and pressure generation for a wire-non-parallel plate type EHD gas pump. The experiments were conducted with two different electrode configurations for the negative and positive applied voltages from 0 to 14 kV at atmospheric pressure and room temperature, where air was used as the working fluid. The experimental results showed that: (1) a maximum gas velocity of 1.9 m/s corresponding to a volumetric flow rate of 44 l/min was observed; (2) the volumetric flow rate, gas velocity and pressure generation increased with increasing applied dc voltage or EHD number; (3) a non-linear relationship between the pressure generation and the gas velocity was observed and the flow generated was always turbulent or limited re-circulating laminar flow. The mechanism of unidirectional EHD generation will be discussed in detail.

[1]  J. M. Crowley,et al.  Selecting a working fluid to increase the efficiency and flow rate of an EHD pump , 1990 .

[2]  Guillermo Artana,et al.  Electrical characteristics and mechanical behaviour of powders of the animal feeding industry , 1999 .

[3]  Jerzy Mizeraczyk,et al.  Electrohydrodynamic gas flow in a positive polarity wire-plate electrostatic precipitator and the related dust particle collection efficiency , 2006 .

[4]  Eric Moreau,et al.  Airflow control by non-thermal plasma actuators , 2007 .

[5]  H. Bondar,et al.  Effect of neutral fluid velocity on direct conversion from electrical to fluid kinetic energy in an electro-fluid-dynamics (EFD) device , 1986 .

[6]  Jerzy Mizeraczyk,et al.  Measurements of the velocity field of the flue gas flow in an electrostatic precipitator model using PIV method , 2001 .

[7]  Jerzy Mizeraczyk,et al.  On-set of EHD turbulence for cylinder in cross flow under corona discharges , 2006 .

[8]  Jen-Shih Chang,et al.  Electromagnetic hydrodynamics , 1994 .

[9]  A. P. Chattock.  XLIV. On the velocity and mass of the ions in the electric wind in air , 1899 .

[10]  Eric Moreau,et al.  Effect of a DC corona electrical discharge on the airflow along a flat plate , 2002 .

[11]  R. Tobazeon,et al.  Electrohydrodynamic instabilities and electroconvection in the transient and A.C. regime of unipolar injection in insulating liquids: A review , 1984 .

[12]  M. Rickard,et al.  Maximizing ion-driven gas flows , 2006 .

[13]  J. Mizeraczyk,et al.  Numerical modeling of near corona wire electrohydrodynamic flow in a wire-plate electrostatic precipitator , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.