Electrical charge transport and energy conversion with fluid flow during

electrohydrodynamic conduction pumping

Yinshan Feng and Jamal Seyed-Yagoobi

Citation: Physics of Fluids (1994-present) 19, 057102 (2007); doi: 10.1063/1.2720598

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 PHYSICS OF FLUIDS 19, 057102 共2007兲

Electrical charge transport and energy conversion with fluid flow

during electrohydrodynamic conduction pumping
Yinshan Feng
Component Group, Thermal Fluid Sciences, United Technologies Research Center, 411 Silver Lane,
MS 129-19, East Hartford, Connecticut 06108
Jamal Seyed-Yagoobi
Heat Transfer Enhancement and Two-Phase Flow Laboratory, Department of Mechanical, Materials
and Aerospace Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois 60616
共Received 27 July 2006; accepted 1 March 2007; published online 7 May 2007兲
The electrohydrodynamic 共EHD兲 conduction pumping takes advantage of the electrical Coulomb
force exerted on dielectric liquid by externally applied electric field共s兲. The conduction term here
represents a mechanism for electric current flow in which charged carriers are produced not by
injection from electrodes or induction from electric fields, but by dissociation of neutral electrolytic
species within the dielectric liquid. The EHD conduction pumping can be applied to drive both
isothermal liquid and two-phase fluids without the degradation of the working fluid electric
properties. Such nonmechanical and low-power-consumption pumping mechanism can be utilized
for active flow generation/control under both terrestrial and microgravity conditions. So far, the
majority of conducted studies has been focused mainly on the experimental realization of the EHD
conduction pumping phenomenon and the computational fluid dynamics simulation verification.
More fundamental studies, such as theoretical analysis with convection terms included, generalized
nondimensional modeling, and pumping efficiency prediction, are required for a complete
understanding of this new EHD pumping phenomenon. An asymptotic nondimensional theoretical
model for the EHD conduction pumping has been presented in this paper, with the fluid convection
taken into account. The theoretical analysis provided here reveals the effects of flow convection on
the EHD conduction pumping and the associated energy transport/conversion during the pumping
process. Based on the asymptotic model, the pumping efficiency of the EHD conduction pumping
is analytically derived and compared with the experimental data. Such results help clarify the
capabilities and limitations corresponding to the nature of the EHD conduction pumping. © 2007
American Institute of Physics. 关DOI: 10.1063/1.2720598兴

I. INTRODUCTION conducted experimental and theoretical studies on the inte-

When a dielectric liquid is exposed to electric fields, an
electric force will be exerted on the liquid bulk. Such an
electric force can be expressed as a function of dielectric
liquid properties, charge density, and electric fields:1
៝f = ␳ E៝ − 1 E2ⵜ
៝ ␧ + 1ⵜ៝ 关E2共⳵␧/⳵␳兲 ␳兴.
e e T
2 2
The associated interaction between dielectric liquid and
electric field can cause various electrohydrodynamic 共EHD兲
phenomena, such as ion-drag motion, EHD induction, EHD
extraction, dielectrophoresis, EHD instability, and so on. A
properly imposed electric field can even pump the dielectric
liquid without the assistance of any moving parts. Ion-drag
pumping and EHD induction pumping are two well-studied
EHD pumping mechanisms. Both of them take advantage of
the Coulomb force between charges and electric field, which
is represented by the first term of Eq. 共1兲. “Ion-drag” and
“induction” indicate the generation modes of electrical
charges. The ion-drag pumping requires charge injection
from sharp edges of the electrode, as shown in Fig. 1共a兲. The
associated pumping direction is always from the sharp elec-
trode to the smooth electrode. Bryan and Seyed-Yagoobi2
gration of ion-drag pumping with capillary pumped loop to
actively control and improve the thermal management per-
formance of spacecraft systems. However, unexpected
pumping direction was observed when an electrode design as
shown in Fig. 1共b兲 was utilized. Such an electrode design in
Fig. 1共b兲 is very similar to that in Fig. 1共a兲 except for the
共1兲 round needle tip. The observed pumping phenomenon can be
explained by neither the ion-drag pumping mechanism nor
the induction pumping mechanism.
Further studies on the above-mentioned extraordinary
pumping phenomenon have been carried out by Atten and
Seyed-Yagoobi,3 Seyed-Yagoobi et al.,4 Jeong and
Seyed-Yagoobi,5 Jeong,6 Feng and Seyed-Yagoobi,7,8 and
Yazdani.9 Both experimental and theoretical results confirm
that such a liquid pumping phenomenon relies directly on the
electrical conduction nature of dielectric liquid and its asso-
ciated free charge generation, which is completely different
from the existing ion-drag and induction pumping mecha-
nisms. Consequently, this EHD pumping phenomenon is re-
ferred as the EHD conduction pumping, to be distinguished
from the EHD ion-drag/induction pumping. The conduction
term here represents a mechanism for electric current flow in
which charged carriers are produced not by injection from

1070-6631/2007/19共5兲/057102/11/$23.00 19, 057102-1 © 2007 American Institute of Physics

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 057102-2 Y. Feng and J. Seyed-Yagoobi Phys. Fluids 19, 057102 共2007兲

FIG. 1. Reversed pumping directions

with different needle shapes: 共a兲 sharp
needle and 共b兲 round needle.

electrodes or induction from electric fields, but by dissocia- trodes. The ion density distributions in the dielectric liquid
tion of neutral electrolytic species within the dielectric liq- bulk can be determined on the basis of the conservation law
uid. The EHD conduction pumping can be applied to drive of neutral species and ions. Under a steady-state condition,
both isothermal liquid and two-phase fluids without the deg- the governing equations of ion distribution have the follow-
radation of the working fluid electric properties. ing expressions:
At the current stage, experimental studies have shown
៝ · 共K E៝ p + u៝ p − Dⵜ
ⵜ ៝ p兲 = k c − k pn, 共3兲
that the EHD conduction pumping successfully generated + D R
pressure up to several kPa, drove dielectric liquid, and con-
trolled two-phase refrigerant flow distribution.5–9 The associ- ៝ · 共− K E៝ n + u៝ n − Dⵜ
ⵜ ៝ n兲 = k c − k pn, 共4兲
− D R
ated electrical current was on the order of microamperes.
and
Such a nonmechanical and low-power-consumption pumping
mechanism can be utilized for flow generation and active ៝ · E៝ = 共p − n兲/␧,
ⵜ 共5兲
control in either ground or microgravity environment. Nev-
ertheless, most studies conducted have focused on the real- where c, n, p, and D denote the concentration of neutral
ization of the pumping phenomenon. More fundamental/ species, the charge density of negative ions, the charge den-
analytical studies, such as unified nondimensional modeling, sity of positive ions, and the charge diffusion coefficient,
theoretical analysis with convection effects considered, and respectively. K, kR, and kD denote the ion mobility, the re-
pumping efficiency prediction, are required for a thorough combination rate, and the dissociation rate, respectively. At a
understanding of this new EHD pumping phenomenon. In thermodynamic equilibrium, the ion conservation allows
the following text, an asymptotic nondimensional EHD con- kDc = kR p0n0 = kR p20 = kRn20 , 共6兲
duction pumping model with the convection term incorpo-
rated will be developed and discussed in details. The theo- where p0 and n0, respectively, represent the positive and
retical analysis will reveal the effects of flow convection on negative ion densities at an equilibrium state and n0 = p0. As-
the EHD conduction pumping and the energy conversion suming the positive and negative ions have identical mobili-
during the pumping process. Based on the nondimensional ties, i.e., K+ = K− = K, the recombination rate constant
model, the pumping efficiency of the EHD conduction becomes10
pumping will also be analytically derived and compared with kR = 2K/␧. 共7兲
the experimental data.
The electrical current density in the dielectric liquid has the
following expression of
II. MODELING OF EHD CONDUCTION PUMPING
WITH FLUID MOTION ៝j = 共K+ p + K−n兲E៝ + 共p − n兲u៝ − Dⵜ
៝ 共p − n兲, 共8兲
The EHD conduction pumping phenomenon stems from where the three terms on the right side are named as the
the dynamic dissociation/recombination process of ions in a mobility term, the convection term, and the diffusion term,
dielectric liquid. At a thermodynamic equilibrium state, a respectively. Since the electrical conductivity of a static di-
neutral electrolyte, denoted as AB, dissociates into counter- electric liquid can be expressed as
ions, denoted as A+ and B−, while these ions can recombine
back into AB. The corresponding dynamic process can be ␴e = 2n0K = 2p0K, 共9兲
expressed in the following form: Eq. 共8兲 becomes
Dissociation
Recombination ៝j = 1 ␴e共p/p0 + n/n0兲E៝ + ␳eu៝ − Dⵜ
៝␳ ,
e 共10兲
AB ↔ + −
A +B . 共2兲 2
With an external electric field applied to a dielectric liquid, where ␳e = p − n denotes the local net charge density. The dot
existing ions due to the dissociation of neutral species expe- product of the electrical field intensity and the electrical cur-
rience the electrical Coulomb force, which concentrates the rent density represents the localized electrical power
positive and negative ions around counter-polarized elec- consumption
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 057102-3 Electrical charge transport and energy conversion Phys. Fluids 19, 057102 共2007兲

៝ · ៝j = 1 ␴ 共p/p + n/n 兲E2 + ␳ u៝ · E៝ − DE៝ · ⵜ

E ៝␳ , 共11兲
e 0 0 e e
2

where on the right-hand side of the above equation, the first

term denotes the electrical Joule heating and the second term
denotes the power to induce dielectric fluid motion. The third
term is related to the electrical energy change 共for local net
charges兲 caused by the ion diffusion. The external electrical
power input finally transforms into the pumping work output
and the heat generation due to the viscous dissipation 共gen-
erally negligible兲 and the Joule heating in the liquid
dielectric.
The third term on the right side of Eq. 共11兲 vanishes
when the charge diffusion coefficient D approaches zero or
the charge distribution becomes homogeneous. As discussed
by Feng and Seyed-Yagoobi,7 the electric current density due FIG. 2. Schematic of perforated disk-ring electrode pair described in Feng
to the charge diffusion becomes negligible, which is less than and Seyed-Yagoobi 共Ref. 7兲.
0.1% of the total electric current density according to the
Nernst-Einstein formula,11 when the applied voltage exceeds
12.5 V at the operating temperature around 295 K. Since the
voltages of interest in this paper always exceed 1000 V, Eqs.
共3兲 and 共4兲 are further simplified by neglecting the diffusion
term as

៝ · 共KE៝ p + u៝ p兲 = k c − k pn
ⵜ 共12兲
D R

and

៝ · 共KE៝ n − u៝ n兲 = − 共k c − k pn兲.
ⵜ 共13兲 共16兲
D R

Equations 共5兲, 共12兲, and 共13兲 constitute the theoretical
model for the EHD conduction pumping process in the ab-
sence of charge diffusion. Along with proper boundary con-
ditions and given velocity profile, these governing equations
are sufficient to determine the charge and electric field dis-
tributions. With the solved charge and electrical field distri-
butions, the total consumed electric current associated with
the EHD conduction pumping phenomenon can be obtained
by integrating Eq. 共10兲 along the cathode or anode boundary
共14兲
where the ion diffusion term is neglected. The EHD conduc-
tion pumping pressure generation can also be expressed as
共15兲
where A denotes the cross-sectional area of liquid flow path
and E⬜ denotes the electric field perpendicular to the cross-
sectional surface.
Hydrodynamic pumping efficiency is a key parameter to
evaluate the performance of an EHD conduction pump. Gen-
erally, the pumping efficiency is defined as the ratio of work
output to power input. For an EHD conduction pump, its
work output is the product of pressure generation and volu-
metric flow rate, while the corresponding electric power con-
sumption represents its power input. With the flow treated as
homogeneous, the EHD conduction pumping efficiency can
be simplified as
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where U is the average flow velocity. The above equation
implies that at a given external voltage potential, the result-
ant dielectric flow velocity affects the EHD conduction
pumping efficiency in both direct and indirect manners, as
the flow convection transports ions in the dielectric liquid
and influences the local net charge distribution. Solving Eqs.
共5兲, 共12兲, and 共13兲 with convection terms becomes the key
step to get the distribution profiles of ion and electrical field
for quantitative analyses of the EHD conduction pump
performance.
The theoretical analyses in this paper are presented in a
nondimensional form to unify the EHD conduction pumping
phenomenon under various conditions. Due to the complex-
ity of theoretical analysis, the theoretical analyses are carried
out mainly within a one-dimensional spatial domain. Similar
to the theoretical model in the absence of fluid flow previ-
ously applied by Feng and Seyed-Yagoobi,7 the perforated
disk-ring electrodes as shown in Fig. 2 are treated as the left
half of a parallel permeable 共or perforated兲 plate electrode
pair, in order to one-dimensionally formulate the electric
field and the flow field. Initially, the electrode gap distance is
utilized to normalize the one-dimensional theoretical model
with convection term included. Later, the heterocharge layer
thickness, instead of the electrode gap, will be utilized as the
length scale to obtain the asymptotic solutions. Such
asymptotic theoretical model will also be extended to two-
dimensional flow field with the electric field treated one-
dimensionally. MATLAB Version 7.0 has been utilized to nu-
merically calculate the ion and electrical field distribution
profiles, if the analytical solutions are unavailable.
 057102-4 Y. Feng and J. Seyed-Yagoobi
FIG. 3. Permeable electrodes immersed in dielectric liquid.
III. NONDIMENSIONAL ASYMPTOTIC ANALYSES
OF EHD CONDUCTION PUMPING
To obtain a fundamental understanding of EHD conduc-
tion pumping phenomenon, a one-dimensional permeable
electrode pair 共as illustrated in Fig. 3兲 allowing for uniform
flow motion will be first studied. Usually, the governing
equations are normalized with x* = x / d, E* = Ed / V, ⌽*
= ⌽ / V, p* = p / n0, n* = n / n0, u* = uxd / VK = Ud / VK, and Co
= n0d2 / ␧V. It is noteworthy that Co is based on the electrode
gap d. The normalization of governing Eqs. 共5兲, 共12兲, and
共13兲 leads to
d共p*E* + p*u*兲/dx* = 2Co共1 − p*n*兲,
d共n*E* − n*u*兲/dx* = − 2Co共1 − p*n*兲,
dE*/dx* = Co共p* − n*兲,
and
E* = − d⌽*/dx* ,
where the boundary conditions require
p* = 0 at x* = 0,
n* = 0 at x* = 1,
⌽* = 1 at x* = 0,
and
⌽* = 0 at x* = 1.
While x* = x / d is applied, the resultant parameter Co
= n0d2 / ␧V is a function of n0, ␧, V / d, and d. Thus, Co cor-
responds inversely to the intensity of applied electric field.
When the nominal applied electric field V / d becomes stron-
ger, the value of Co decreases. The variation of Co along with
the applied electric field makes it difficult to unify the non-
dimensional solutions of the EHD conduction pumping
model. Figure 4 shows the rather different nondimensional
ion and electric field profiles at various Co ranging from 1.0
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Phys. Fluids 19, 057102 共2007兲
FIG. 4. Profiles of p*E* at various Co and u* = 0.
to 12.0 when u* = 0. Meanwhile, these curves also indicate
that when Co Ⰷ 1.0, the centers of all curves reach 1.0 and the
middle parts of the curves become flat.
The effects of convection 共u* ⫽ 0兲 on ion and electric
field profiles are further investigated at Co = 8.0, which is
much greater than 1.0. Figures 5–7 show the curves at vari-
ous velocities. In the presence of flow motion, all profiles are
significantly affected by the convective ion transport. The
variations in the profiles depend on both the direction and the
magnitude of flow velocity. It is also observed that the flow
motion is inclined to suppress the forming of a heterocharge
layer on the downstream electrode and enhance the layer
formation on the upstream electrode. Nevertheless, the pro-
files at the center region remain unaffected with the normal-
ized values staying around 1.0 at Co = 8.0. With R-123 as the
共17兲 working fluid in the study of Feng and Seyed-Yagoobi,7 Co
= 8.0 corresponds to an applied voltage of 15 kV at d
共18兲 = 4.3 mm. Such observations are also valid at even greater
Co values and suggest the existence of unified asymptotic
共19兲 solutions 共which are independent of the applied electrical
field兲 at Co Ⰷ 1.0, if the governing equations are properly
normalized. Therefore, in the following section, the hetero-
共20兲 charge layer thickness ␭0 共instead of the electrode gap d兲, is
introduced as the length scale to conduct the asymptotic non-
dimensional analysis. When the length scale of ␭0 is utilized
共21兲
共22兲
共23兲
共24兲
FIG. 5. Profiles of n*E* at various u* and Co = 8.0.
 057102-5 Electrical charge transport and energy conversion Phys. Fluids 19, 057102 共2007兲

FIG. 8. Schematic of a heterocharge layer formed on a permeable anode in

a uniform external electrical field.
FIG. 6. Profiles of p*E* at various u* and Co = 8.0.

at Co Ⰷ 1.0, the nondimensional governing equations and its dE*/dx* = C␭共p* − n*兲. 共27兲
solutions become independent of the nominal applied electric If Co Ⰷ 1.0, the applied electric field generates a rather thin
field V / d. heterocharge layer compared to the electrode gap distance,
and ␭0 Ⰶ d. Consequently, the boundary conditions can be
A. Asymptotic theoretical model using heterocharge
further simplified as
layer thickness as length scale
p* = 0 at x* = 0, 共28兲
As presented above, at Co Ⰷ 1.0, the normalized curves
共such as p*E*, n*E*, and E*兲 between two parallel electrodes
p* = n* = 1 at x* → ⬁, 共29兲
become flat and reach 1.0 at the middle. For simplicity, the
following analyses are focused on the left half of the parallel
electrode pair with the constant boundary conditions set at E* = 1 at x* → ⬁. 共30兲
the middle, as shown in Fig. 8. The governing equations will 7
Feng and Seyed-Yagoobi obtained the following analytical
be normalized as those in the above section, except that x* solutions of Eqs. 共25兲–共30兲 in the absence of flow motion
= x / d will be replaced by x* = x / ␭0 and C␭ = n0d␭0 / ␧V will be 共u* = 0兲:
used instead of Co. ␭0 denotes the characteristic thickness of
the heterocharge layer in a static dielectric liquid 共u* = 0兲.
The corresponding nondimensional governing equations
冕 0
共p*E*兲 dz
2C␭共1 + g兵e 关z共z − 2.0兲兴其兲
−1 = x* , 共31兲
become
d共p*E* + p*u*兲/dx* = 2C␭共1 − p*n*兲, 共25兲 共n*E*兲 = − 共p*E*兲 + 2.0, 共32兲

d共n*E* − n*u*兲/dx* = − 2C␭共1 − p*n*兲,
and
FIG. 7. Profiles of n*E* at various u* and Co = 8.0.
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共26兲 共E*2兲 = p*E*共p*E* − 2.0兲/g兵e−1关p*E*共p*E* − 2.0兲兴其, 共33兲
where the function g兵 其, is defined as g兵yey其 = y. At x* = 1.0,
Eq. 共31兲 gives that the parameter C␭ has a constant value of
1.8 when u* = 0. Since the definition of C␭ excludes the in-
fluence of the flow motion, the value of C␭ remains the same
even when u* ⫽ 0. With x* = x / ␭0 and C␭ = n0d␭0 / ␧V = 1.8 in-
troduced, the asymptotic theoretical model becomes solely
dependent on the flow velocity of the dielectric liquid as long
as Co Ⰷ 1.0.
In the presence of flow motion 共u* ⫽ 0兲, the convection
tends to alter the heterocharge layer thickness. Figures 9 and
10 show the normalized profiles 共i.e., p*E*, n*E*, E*兲, around
a fully permeable anode at u* = −0.4 −0.2, 0, 0.2, and 0.4. For
the electrode configuration of Fig. 8, the heterocharge layer
becomes thinner around the anode electrode when the dielec-
tric fluid flow is opposite to the x direction and vice versa.
This is due to the fact that the convective flow in the positive
x direction carries the charges away from the anode elec-
trode, resulting in a thicker heterocharge layer. Such a
change in the heterocharge layer further affects the pressure
 057102-6 Y. Feng and J. Seyed-Yagoobi Phys. Fluids 19, 057102 共2007兲

FIG. 9. Profiles of n*E* and p*E* around a permeable electrode at various FIG. 11. Prediction of EHD conduction pumping pressure generation versus
u *. velocity for a permeable electrode.

generation of EHD conduction pumping. The influence of B. Ideal flow estimation

convection on pressure generation can be evaluated by a nor-
In Sec. III A, the velocity of dielectric fluid between
malized pressure head:

冏冕 冏
electrodes was assumed to be uniform, since the electrodes
+⬁
were considered as porous and permeable. However, this as-
共n*E* − p*E*兲dx* sumption does not properly correspond to the imposed ve-
⌬P 0

冏冕 冏
u*⫽0
⌬P =*
= . 共34兲 locity distribution between the perforated disk-ring electrode
⌬P0 +⬁
pair studied here. As illustrated in Fig. 2, the velocity profile
共n E − p E 兲dx
* * * * *
0
varies along x direction and consequently affects the ion den-
u*=0
sity and electric field distributions accordingly.
The predicted curve of normalized velocity u* versus To predict the velocity variation of dielectric liquid
normalized pressure head ⌬P* has been provided in Fig. 11 along the x direction, the solid portions of the perforated disk
for fully permeable electrodes. The results show that when electrode will be treated as flat plates with a length of 2c
the pumping velocity reaches its mobility limit 共i.e., = 0.8 mm. The flow motion in the dielectric liquid is consid-
u* = −1.0兲, the EHD conduction pumping pressure generation ered as ideal flow with viscosity effects neglected. According
decreases to zero as the convective flow blows off the het- to Milne-Thomson,12 the complex potential flow around a
erocharge layer from the permeable electrode. However, the vertical plate with a width of 2c is given as follows:
blow-off phenomenon of the heterocharge layer at high ve-
locities is not true for the perforated electrode design, since w = U共z2 + c2兲1/2 , 共35兲
the liquid flow stagnates on the solid electrode surface. In the
next section, a nonviscous two-dimensional flow assumption where w = ␾ + i␺ and z = x + iy. The streamline equation has
will be used to predict the convective flow around the perfo- the following form:
rated electrode.
关共x/c兲2 + 1 + 共␺/Uc兲2兴/关1 + 共xUc/␺兲2兴 = 共y/c兲2 . 共36兲

The streamlines around the flat plate are depicted in Fig. 12.
The local velocity at y = 0 can be expressed as

兩ux兩y=0 = Ux/共c2 + x2兲1/2 . 共37兲

For simplicity, the electric field is treated one-dimensionally

as E = Ex. Within a control volume 共width= 2c兲 illustrated in
Fig. 12, the corresponding integral governing equations 共con-
servation of charges兲 for the EHD conduction pumping
becomes

d 冋冕−c
c
共KEp + ux p兲dy 册 = 冕 c
共kDc − kR pn兲dy, 共38兲
FIG. 10. Profiles of E* around a permeable electrode at various u*. dx + 2uy p −c
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 057102-7 Electrical charge transport and energy conversion Phys. Fluids 19, 057102 共2007兲

FIG. 13. Profiles of n*E* and p*E* for ideal flow at various u* and c*
= 0.43.
FIG. 12. Streamlines of flow around a vertical plate.

冋冉 u *x *
冊册
冋冕 册
d p* E* +
c 共c*2 + x*2兲1/2 u*c*2
+ p*
共− KEn + uxn兲dy
冕
d c dx* 共c*2 + x*2兲3/2
−c
= 共kDc − kR pn兲dy, 共39兲 = 2C␭共1 − p*n*兲, 共45兲
dx + 2uyn −c
and
and
冋冉
d n* E* −
u *x *
冊册
冉冕 冊 冕 共c + x*2兲1/2
*2
c c u*c*2
d Exdy 共p − n兲dy − n*
dx* 共c + x*2兲3/2
*2
−c −c
= 共40兲 = − 2C␭共1 − p*n*兲. 共46兲
dx ␧
With the effects of nonuniform flow field taken into account
with the same boundary conditions indicated by Eqs. and the boundary conditions remaining the same, the ion
共28兲–共30兲. Assuming n, p, E, and ux do not vary along the y density and electric field distributions become different from
direction and ux ⬅ 兩ux兩y=0, the mass conservation law requires those discussed in Sec. III A. The profiles with u* = −0.4,
that −0.2, 0, 0.2, and 0.4 for c* = 0.43 and c* = 0.645 are depicted
in Figs. 13 and 14. c* = 0.43 and c* = 0.645 correspond to the
uy = Uc3/共c2 + x2兲3/2, at y = ± c, 共41兲 applied voltages of 15 and 10 kV, respectively, with c
= 0.4 mm and R-123 as the working fluid. Figure 15 shows
and Eqs. 共38兲–共40兲 can be expressed as the pressure generation versus velocity at the applied volt-

冉 冊
ages of 15 kV and 10 kV with the fluid motion treated as
Ux ideal flow. On the basis of the ideal flow assumption, the
d KEp + p
共c + x2兲1/2
2
Uc2
+ 2 2 3/2 p = kDc − kR pn,
dx 共c + x 兲
共42兲

冉
d − KEn +
Ux
共c + x2兲1/2
2 n
Uc2
冊
+ 2 2 3/2 n = kDc − kR pn,
dx 共c + x 兲
共43兲

and

dE/dx = 共p − n兲/␧. 共44兲

Normalization of Eqs. 共42兲 and 共43兲 with x* = x / ␭0, c*

= c / ␭0, E* = Ed / V, p* = p / n0, n* = n / n0, u* = Ud / VK, and C␭ FIG. 14. Profiles of n*E* and p*E* for ideal flow at various u* and c*
= n0d␭0 / ␧V leads to the following expressions: = 0.645.
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 057102-8 Y. Feng and J. Seyed-Yagoobi Phys. Fluids 19, 057102 共2007兲

FIG. 15. Prediction of EHD conduction pumping pressure generation versus

velocity for ideal flow.

heterocharge layer stays on the electrode even at the critical

fluid velocity of u* = −1.0 and more reasonable nonzero pres-
sure generation has been predicted. The ideal flow analysis
omits the influence of fluid viscosity on the flow motion.
Especially near the perforation edges of electrode, the real
velocity profiles are rather different from the ideal flow pre-
diction. Such a discrepancy also affects the downstream fluid
motion. Nevertheless, since the predictions of pressure gen-
eration and electric current consumption are dependent
mainly on the solid electrode surface normal to the applied
electric field and the attached heterocharge layer, the influ-
ences of flow in the edge regions are neglected in this paper.
FIG. 16. Computational fluid dynamics simulation of frictional pressure
IV. COMPARISONS AND DISCUSSIONS drop in EHD conduction pump: 共a兲 grids of simulation domain and 共b兲
numerically calculated pressure drop.
As described in the above asymptotic nondimensional
analysis, the pressure generation, current-voltage behavior,
and hydrodynamic pumping efficiency depend closely on the
applied voltage, working fluid properties, electrode geom- measurable pressure generation. To reasonably compare the
etries, and the fluid motion. To verify the nondimensional theoretical predictions of pressure generation with experi-
model, comparisons are made between the theoretical predic- mental data, the internal frictional loss of EHD conduction
tions and the experimental data presented by Feng and pump needs to be compensated. Figures 16共a兲 and 16共b兲,
Seyed-Yagoobi7 for the perforated disk-ring electrode pair respectively, illustrate the meshed flow path 共containing
design. The corresponding physical properties of the working more than 100 000 nodes兲 of EHD conduction pump studied
fluid are listed in Table I. All experimental results have been by Feng and Seyed-Yagoobi7 and the corresponding pressure
normalized for comparison purposes. drop results for liquid laminar flow of R-123 at 295 K simu-
lated by the ANSYS® software. The actual pressure generation
A. Pressure generation will be estimated as the sum of the experimental pressure
data and the calculated frictional pressure drop in the pump-
The viscous shear stress occurring during the EHD con- ing section.
duction pumping always causes an internal pressure drop Figures 17 and 18, respectively, show the comparison of
within the pumping section, which lowers the reading of the the theoretical pressure generation predictions with the raw
experimental data and the adjusted pressure generation data
TABLE I. Properties of saturated liquid R-123 at 295 K. 共with internal frictional pressure drop included兲. The com-
pensation of the internal pressure drop improves the agree-
␧ ␴e K ␮ ␳ ment between the experimental data of pressure generation
Fluid 共pF / m兲 共S / m兲 共m2 / V s兲 共Pa s兲 共kg/ m3兲 and the theoretical predictions. The predicted pressure-
R-123 43.39a 2.6⫻ 10−8a 4.59⫻ 10−8b 435.7⫻ 10−6c 1470.6c velocity trends on the basis of ideal flow match well with the
a
adjusted experimental data.
Data from Bryan 共Ref. 13兲.
Regardless of the basis of the permeable electrode as-
b
Based on Walden’s Rule: K = 2 ⫻ 10−11 / ␮ m2 / V s 共Crowley et al., Ref. 14兲.
c
Data based on NIST Thermodynamic and Transport Properties of Refrig- sumption or the ideal flow assumption, the nondimensional
erants and Refrigerant Mixtures—REFPROP 6.01. asymptotic theoretical model gives the pressure generation
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 057102-9 Electrical charge transport and energy conversion Phys. Fluids 19, 057102 共2007兲

FIG. 17. Theoretical predictions versus experimental data 共pressure losses FIG. 19. Comparison of experimental current consumption data with theo-
within pumping section are not included兲. retical results for EHD conduction pumping.

prediction in a one-dimensional formulation as ⌬P

⬃ C␭␧共V2 / d2兲兰+⬁ 1 V
0 共n − p 兲E dx , where the nondimensional
* * * *
m共1 − r兲A␴e 兩共n*E* − n*u*兲兩x*=0
I 2 d

冏 冏
integral portion only varies with the flow motion. The model I* = =
reveals that the pressure generation during EHD conduction 兩I兩u*=0 1 V
pumping depends only on the applied electrical field, the m共1 − r兲A␴e 共n*E* − n*u*兲
2 d x*=0,u*=0
flow velocity, and the electrical permittivity of the working
fluid. The variation in the electrical conductivity of the work- 兩共n*E* − n*u*兲兩x*=0
= . 共48兲
ing fluid will not affect the pressure generation as long as 兩共n*E* − n*u*兲兩x*=0,u*=0
Co Ⰷ 1.0 and the other factors remain unchanged, though
higher electrical conductivity may make it difficult to estab- Figure 19 shows the comparison of theoretical and experi-
lish intense electric field in the dielectric fluid. mental normalized electric current levels.

B. Consumed electric current C. EHD conduction pumping efficiency

For the perforated electrode design in this paper, the con- When investigated one-dimensionally, the EHD conduc-
sumed electric current associated with the EHD conduction tion pumping efficiency can be simplified as
pumping phenomenon can be simplified from Eq. 共14兲 as Au⌬P

冏冋 冉 冊 册冏 ␩EHD pump =
1 p n ៝ VI
I = m共1 − r兲A ␴e + E + ␳eu៝

1 V
2 p0 n0 x*=0
Aum共1 − r兲 冕0
⬁
共n − p兲Edx
= m共1 − r兲A␴e 兩共n*E* − n*u*兲兩x*=0 , 共47兲 =
2 d 1 V
Vm共1 − r兲A ␴e 兩共n*E* − n*u*兲兩x*=0
where the ion diffusion term is neglected, and 兩p兩x*=0 = 0. 2 d
Normalization of the current level leads to VK V ␧V *
d
n0 C␭
d n 0d
u 冕 ⬁
共n* − p*兲E*dx*

冏 冏
0
=
1 V
␴eV 共n*E* − n*u*兲
2 d x*=0

␧ VK
u*
0
冕 ⬁
共n* − p*兲E*dx*
= 3.6 . 共49兲
␴e d d 兩共n*E* − n*u*兲兩x*=0
Since 兩u*兰⬁0 共n* − p*兲E*dx* / 共n*E* − n*u*兲兩x*=0 is only related
to u* in the asymptotic model when Co Ⰷ 1.0, it can be des-
ignated by f共u*兲. Equation 共49兲 will be further expressed as
␧ VK *
␩EHD pump = 3.6 f共u 兲. 共50兲
␴e d d

FIG. 18. Theoretical predictions versus experimental data 共pressure losses The above equation indicates that the efficiency of EHD con-
within pumping section are included兲. duction pumping depends on flow motion, working fluid
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 057102-10 Y. Feng and J. Seyed-Yagoobi
FIG. 20. Theoretical prediction of EHD conduction pumping efficiency at
various applied voltages on the basis of a permeable electrode assumption.
properties, applied electric field, and the electrode gap. The
EHD conduction pumping efficiency can be enhanced by
intensifying the applied electric field, selecting proper work-
ing fluids with longer relaxation time, and decreasing the gap
between electrodes, which is favorable in microscale appli-
cations. Figure 20 illustrates the influence of applied voltage
on the efficiency profile of EHD conduction pump with per-
meable electrodes at d = 4.3 mm for liquid R-123. As the ap-
plied voltage increases from 5 to 15 kV, the maximum
pumping efficiency goes up from 0.30% to 0.89%. It is also
noteworthy that the most efficient EHD conduction pumping
always takes place around −u* = 0.4 on the basis of the per-
meable electrode assumption.
Figures 21 and 22, respectively, give the comparison of
adjusted experimental data 共with the internal pressure drop
included兲 and theoretical predictions at applied voltages of
10 kV and 15 kV. The predicted efficiency has the same or-
der and trend of the experimental results. Both figures show
that the experimental efficiency data are lower than the pre-
dictions based on the permeable-electrode and ideal flow as-
sumptions. Such overprediction partially stems from impu-
rity traces in the working fluid, which increases the electrical
conductivity of the working fluid and significantly promotes
the consumed current level. Feng and Seyed-Yagoobi7 ob-
FIG. 21. Comparison of theoretical predictions and experimental data of
EHD conduction pumping efficiency at 10 kV.
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Phys. Fluids 19, 057102 共2007兲
FIG. 22. Comparison of theoretical predictions and experimental data of
EHD conduction pumping efficiency at 15 kV.
served similar relatively high electric current levels even for
the EHD conduction pumping without net flow. While the
pressure generation does not depend on the electrical con-
ductivity, the rise in the electrical conductivity due to the
presence of impurity results in higher Joule heating. The the-
oretical calculation based on the pure properties of working
fluids did not take the impurity influence into account.
V. CONCLUSIONS
This work has provided asymptotic theoretical analyses
of the EHD pumping performance in the presence of flow
motion. The theoretical study showed that at specific applied
electric fields 共Co Ⰷ 1.0兲, the nondimensional governing
equations and boundary conditions can be generalized by
applying the heterocharge layer thickness, instead of the
electrode gap distance, as the length scale. This nondimen-
sional asymptotic theoretical model depends only on the flow
velocity, applied nominal electrical field, and the working
fluid properties. To simplify the theoretical derivations, the
theoretical analyses have been conducted mainly for one-
dimensional physical domain. The permeable electrode as-
sumption and the nonviscous flow around perforated elec-
trode assumption were adopted to estimate the flow field
within the pumping section.
The comparison between the theoretical predictions and
the experimental data showed good agreement. The
asymptotic theoretical analyses reveal the following:
共a兲 When normalized with the heterocharge layer thickness
at u* = 0 as the length scale, the asymptotic theoretical
model has unified nondimensional solutions, which
merely depend on the flow motion.
共b兲 The convection in the fluid significantly affects the
charge distribution and consequently the EHD conduc-
tion pumping pressure head.
共c兲 The pressure generation by EHD conduction pumping
depends on the applied nominal electrical field, the
flow velocity, and the permittivity of working fluid.
The electrical conductivity of working fluid does not
affect the pressure generation, as long as the required
electrical field can be established.
 057102-11 Electrical charge transport and energy conversion
共d兲 The pumping efficiency can be evaluated with
␩EHD pump = 3.6共␧ / ␴e兲共V / d兲共K / d兲f共u*兲, which indicates
that the efficiency of an EHD conduction pump can be
improved by applying more intense electric field, se-
lecting working fluids with longer relaxation time, and
decreasing the gap between electrodes.
Finally, it is noted that attention should be paid to the
amount of impurity traces in the dielectric liquid. In the
asymptotic model, as long as Co Ⰷ 1.0, the presence of extra
impurity will not affect the pressure generation, but will in-
crease the electrical current consumption and lower the EHD
conduction pumping efficiency. However, it has been experi-
mentally observed that the pressure generation and electric
current both decrease initially with time due to the capture of
impurities by the electrodes, where the assumption of Co
Ⰷ 1.0 was invalid.
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