Parametric study of the Faraday cage effect of charged particles and its implications in the powder coating process

In order to find the conditions that would provide the best Faraday cage penetration, two powders (acrylic and epoxy) corona and tribo charged, were sprayed inside aluminum panels bent at varying angles (15, 30, 45, 60, and 90 degrees) in the direction of flow. The electrical field lines were simulated using Lorentz 2D software and the electrical field intensities generated by the powder clouds were calculated based on the net Q/M and the charge density of the powder cloud. A novel charger was developed that charges the two powders highly bipolarly with a net Q/M close to zero. A powder cloud with such characteristics was proved to have a much better Faraday cage penetration, compared with the classical corona or tribo charging processes.