Numerical simulation of particle concentration in dielectrophoretic flow for high voltage applications

• The dielectrophoretic flow with particle concentration was calculated.
• The flow along the boundary was caused by p-DEP toward electrodes.
• The particles should be moved and accumulated on the electrodes.
• The electrical breakdown of a dielectric liquid might be controlled.

A numerical simulation of magnetic nanoparticles in a liquid dielectric was developed to model dielectrophoretic flows for high voltage applications, e.g. transformers, capacitors, high voltage cables, and switchgears. From previous research, we found that the dielectric breakdown voltage of a transformer oil-based magnetic fluid was affected positively or negatively according to the amount of magnetic nanoparticles under the official testing condition of dielectric fluids. In order to understand these phenomena for enhancing the dielectric characteristics of the fluid, the magnetic particles were finally visualized experimentally and numerically in a fluidic chip consisting of a microchannel and electrodes. In this study, we calculated the dielectrophoretic flow and the particle concentration in the microfluidic system with different applied voltage and investigated the virtual images of magnetic nanoparticles for explaining the dielectric characteristics changes of a liquid dielectric with adding the particles.

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