Effects of Electrical Driving Mode on Pressure and Flow Rate of Wire-Rod Electrohydrodynamic Pumps

Forced convection is the most common thermal management practice and is usually implemented by airflow-generating devices, such as rotary fans. Working based on electrohydrodynamics (EHDs), EHD pumps are emerging airflow-generating devices that have no moving parts, work quietly, and are geometry flexible. The curves showing static pressure versus flow rate (PQ curves) represent the characteristics of an airflow-generating device. This article, experimentally and statistically, presents how PQ curves of a wire-rod EHD pump respond to the electrical driving mode with respect to the numbers of the corona and the collector electrodes. The results show that when the EHD pump is driven by constant corona voltage, both the static pressure and the flow rate are sensitive to the number of corona electrodes. On the other hand, when the EHD pump is driven by constant corona current, both the static pressure and the flow rate are highly responsive to the level of the applied corona current.