Mechanism of electrohydrodynamically induced flow in a wire-non-parallel plate electrode type gas pump

An experimental investigation and one-dimensional modeling have been conducted to study the mechanism of net flow direction induced by electrohydrodynamic (EHD) forces in a wire-non-parallel plate electrode type EHD gas pump. The experiments were conducted with various different locations of corona wire electrode for negative and positive applied voltage from 0 to 14 kV at atmospheric pressure and room temperature, where air was used as the working fluid. A one-dimensional cross-sectional averaged model based on mass and momentum conservation as well as Poisson electric field and ion transport equations was also developed. The results show that the net flow direction of electrohydrodynamically induced gas flow in a wire-non-parallel plate electrode system significantly depends on the location of the corona wire electrode relative to the grounded electrode position. The effect of conversion angle of non-parallel plate electrode on the net flow direction and pressure drop also was investigated and discussed in detail.