Study of Electrohydrodynamic Micropumping through Conduction Phenomenon

Abstract

Steady-state electrohydrodynamic micropumping through bipolar conduction phenomenon has been investigated experimentally and numerically. A single-stage axisymmetric conduction micropump in the vertical configuration has been proposed in this paper. This micropump consists of four components: high voltage ring electrode, grounded disk-shaped electrode, insulator spacer, and inlet/outlet ports. The packaged micropump was positioned vertically in a bath of working fluid; the generated static pressure and electric current were measured in the absence of fluid flow at different applied voltages. Three different dielectric liquids, 10-GBN Nynas and Shell Diala AX transformer oils, and N-hexane were introduced as the working fluids. The micropump was operated at the range of applied voltages between 300 and 1500 VDC. Maximum pressure generations up to 100 Pa was achieved. In order to estimate the space charge density distribution and the spatial variation of the electric field in the micropump, and to further verify the experimental results, a numerical simulation was also performed. The pressure head generation was predicted numerically and compared with experimental results at different applied voltages. The comparison between the experimental and numerical pressure generations shows good agreement.