Electrical discharge characteristics of a dielectric liquid under external flow in a microchannel with planar electrode configuration

The effect of fluid flow on discharge characteristics in a dielectric liquid was determined. Tests were performed for flow in a 100 micron high, 5 mm wide, 50 mm long microchannel at Reynolds numbers up to 13 and applied DC potentials up to 1.5 kV through 100 micro planar electrode pairs along the floor of the channel. The current within the conduction regime increased as the flow rate increased for the case where the flow was in the same direction as the applied electric field. In the injection regime, there was an optimum flow rate for maximum current.