Electrohydrodynamic Enforcement of Evaporation and Gas Flow

The net drag result of the ionic current in a conductive fluid, such as electrohydrodynamic (EHD) effect and electrospray (Taylor cone effect), has been investigated as a space and energy saving technology for enforced heat and mass management. Electrostatically enforced evaporation, convection, and phase-change thermal transfer are briefly discussed and experimentally evaluated. The emphasis of the investigation was on the maximal efficiency of the consumed power. The significance of EHD phenomena for energy saving is demonstrated with examples of temperature stabilization for solid-state lighting and the dewatering of pulp in the paper industry.