Characteristics of electrohydrodynamic pump of the dissociation type: Low- and high-voltage ranges

The paper presents the results of the computer simulation of a single section of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) conduction pump with and without taking into account the enhancement of the dissociation rate under the effect of the strong electric field (the Wien effect). The numerical computations were carried out on the basis of the complete set of EHD equations using commercial software package COMSOL Multiphysics. The behavior of EHD flow inside the pump was investigated for different ratios between positive and negative ion mobilities and the effect of the latter on the pumping efficiency was estimated. The features of the pump operation in the case of the Wien effect occurrence were investigated. It was shown that the enhancement of the dissociation rate can lead to the reversion of EHD flow direction with increasing voltage. Besides, the results obtained in the presented computer model was compared to those obtained in the simplified one (based on the hydrostatic approach) and considerable discrepancy between the calculated pressure drops was revealed.