PULSED SPRAY GENERATION FOR MICROFLUIDIC APPLICATIONS

摘要

Electrospray is the atomization of liquid caused by an applied electric field. Much research has been done based on dc electrical excitation of liquid transported to a nozzle under con-stant flow conditions. In contrast, very little research has been conducted in the area of pulsed electrospray, i.e. atomization based on time-varying electrostatic excitation. We report for the first time that this technique is capable of 1) spray-on-demand for a range of volume flow rates, pulse heights, pulse widths, pulse train frequencies and 2) continuous spray with higher energy ef-ficiency compared to dc excitation in terms of flow rate per watt of electrical power.