Response of High-Pressure Micro Water Jets to Static and Dynamic Nonuniform Electric Fields

The manipulation of the trajectory of high-pressure micro water jets has the potential to greatly improve the accuracy of water jet related manufacturing processes. An experimental study was conducted to understand the basic static and dynamic responses of high-pressure micro water jet systems in the presence of nonuniform electric fields. A single electrode was employed to create a nonuniform electric field to deflect a high-pressure micro water jet toward the electrode by the dielectrophoretic force generated. The water jet's motions were precisely recorded by a high-speed camera with a 20× magnification and the videos postprocessed by a LabVIEW image processing program to acquire the deflections. The experiments revealed the fundamental relationships between three experimental parameters, i.e., voltage, pressure, and the distance between the water jet and the electrode and the deflection of the water jet in both nonuniform static and dynamic electric fields. In the latter case, electric signals at different frequencies were employed to experimentally investigate the jet's dynamic response, such as response time, frequency, and the stability of the water jet's motion. A first-order system model was proposed to approximate the jet's response to dynamic input signals. The work can serve as the basis for the development of closed-loop control systems for manipulating the trajectory of high-pressure micro water jets.