Electrohydrodynamic motor for tiny vessels

Summary form only given. Pumps can use electric traveling waves as a conveyor of a dielectric liquid. It is also possible to use pumps as propulsion motors for tiny vessels. The paper concerns an electrohydrodynamic propulsion motor based on an electric tube device, due to Moesner and Higuchi (1995). The device is made by winding 6 parallel and insulated wires around a cylindrical tube. The employed wires have a diameter in the range of 56 /spl mu/m-236 /spl mu/m. Upon the application of 6 phase voltages to the electrodes, the resulting traveling electric field wave carries the charged liquid in the same direction. Various electrohydrodynamic motors have been fabricated and optimized through a series of experiments. Optimizing parameters involve electrode-dimensions, fabrication materials, applied voltages and frequencies. As evaluative parameters, the propulsion pressure and the rate of liquid flow is determined. Constant and precise liquid propulsion is achieved. It is further shown that this tube structure has a high potential for miniaturization.