Experimental study of electrohydrodynamic pumping through conduction phenomenon using various fluids

An electrohydrodynamic (EHD) pump in a horizontal axisymmetric configuration in single-stage is built. The ground electrode and the high voltage emitter electrode are a ring and 200 μm screening wire plane, respectively. The electrodes are made from stainless steel. Different working fluids are used to study the role of the fluid characteristics in electrohydrodynamic pumping through conduction phenomenon. The pumping performance through the test is referred to generated static head. Experimental observations show that pumping performance depends on electrical conductivity, electrical permittivity, and primarily viscosity of working fluid. Four fluids, N-Hexane, Shell-Diala AX transformer oil, kerosene and Nynas transformer oil-Nytro 10-GBN were tested. In these fluids, the performance increase as increasing the charge relaxation time. For these fluids, the pumping performance increases as increasing the order of magnitude of electric conductivity. The maximum generated pressure head is 109 Pa with the Shell Diala-AX at 23 kV applied voltage, with 0.92 W power consumption.