Liquid droplet dispersion in an insulating fluid by EHD techniques

The behavior of water droplets in an insulating liquid under the influence of electrohydrodynamic forces was experimentally investigated. Diameters and velocities of distilled water drops under both DC and pulse electric field have been measured in a rectangular cell arranged 3 degrees inclined from horizontal. For the system of distilled water dispersed in a viscous oil, uniformly spherical drops can be formed at a single stainless steel nozzle. It is shown that the droplet size could be reduced and the droplet initial velocity could be increased significantly under the influence of the EHD forces. The effect of applied pulsed electric field on the droplet formation and its subsequent motion is greater, for a given voltage, than that of DC electric field.<>