Mechanism of dielectric fluid transport by air-wave type electrohydrodynamic pumps

An experimental investigation has been conducted to study the mechanism of dielectric fluid transport by air-wave (AW) type electrohydrodynamic (EHD) pumps, where AW type EHD pumps were developed for the transport of hazardous oils. An AW type EHD pump consists of a corona wire in gas phase and a grounded plate electrode inclined to gas-liquid interface, where mineral oil was used as the working fluid. The local current flux density in the grounded plate was measured at 9 locations and the corona wire discharge waveform was measured by a current transformer. Two-dimensional velocity profiles in the gas phase and liquid phase were measured separately by PIV methods. The results show that the transport of oil was initiated by the corona wind (gas phase EHD flow) in the gas-liquid interfaces. The effect of applied voltage, corona wire locations, liquid initial level, were to be discussed in terms of the dimensionless parameters in detail.