ELECTROHYDRODYNAMI

C
CONVERTER
Cullados, Cesar Amiel A.
Gingo, Art Angel V.
Herrera, Francis Joshua B.
Naval, Gretchen
Oning, Matthew John M.
Vizcarra, Philip Christian M.
Electrohydrodynamics

• Electroydrodhynamics (EHD) is the study of the motions of ionized

particles or molecules and their interactions with electric fields and the
surrounding fluid.

• EHD is the phenomena that involves the direct conversion of electrical

energy into kinetic energy, and vice versa.
History

• The earliest observation and recording of EHD effects have been made
in 1629 by Niccolo Cabeo, who noticed that sawdust would be
attracted toward an electrified body, touch it, and then be repelled.

• The first official acknowledgement regarding the discovery of EHD

has been given to Francis Hauksbee in 1709, who recorded that he had
experienced a weak wind blowing when holding a charge tube close to
him.
History

• Faraday described the electric wind as a process of momentum

transfer, caused by friction or collision between charged and
uncharged gas particles, properly identifying the reason behind the
movement of the air.

• The Biefeld-Brown Effect (1929) is an electrical phenomenon that

produces an ionic wind that transfers its momentum to surrounding
neutral particles.
EHD Power Generation

• EHD Converters exploit the natural electrokinetic properties of a fluid

by pumping it through tiny micro-channels with a pressure difference.
The ions of the fluid is made "rub" against the solid, leaving the
surface slightly charged. Kinetic energy from the moving ions would
then be converted to electrical energy. Although the power generated
from a single channel is extremely small, millions of parallel micro-
channels can be used to increase the power output.
Current Designs

Onshore Wind Farm

Current Designs

Offshore Wind Farm

Design

EHD Wind
Energy
Emerging Design

EHD Wind Energy

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD)
Turbine-less Wind Energy
System
 Base Poles
Acts as the suction pipe for the
system, in order for the sea water
to go into the EHD panels
 EHD
PANELS
The panels, composed of mass-
produced tubes with tiny holes
(where water droplets are
released), can combine into several
arrays to scale kilowatts of
generated power or gigawatts.
 EHD Converter
This component harvest all
accumulated electrons as high
voltage Direct Current.
 Electric Poles
All the electricity will travel
along this poles into the power
station.
 Base
Acts as the main support for the
whole system. It has locking
mechanism and can be easily
installed on sea bed with
modularity in mind.
 Advantages
Security: 
Diversity of energy resources will help grid resiliency and reduce infrastructure
vulnerabilities.
Environment: 
The lower wind speed required for this system's operation will lead to much higher
capacity factors than traditional wind turbines, lessening fossil-fuel based electricity
generation, which will reduce CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.
Economy: 
This technology could reduce the cost of wind energy production and provide an
entirely new option for the offshore wind industry.
Applications

• Thrust
• Turbine-Less Wind Energy System
• Heat Transfer Improvement
• Drying
• Fluid Pumping
Thrust

• Military used this technology as Space Thrusters.

Hall Effect Thrusters: Used to stabilize satellites
Propellants: Usually Xenon
• Triangular Lift Apparatus
Turbine-Less Wind Energy System

• Converts stream of seawater vapor into electricity.

• Claims to have a higher efficiency than the traditional off-shore wind
turbines.
Heat Transfer Improvement

• Alteration of the boundary layer using corona discharges, thus

improving forced convection heat transfer or reducing drag
• Forced Convection inside tubes
Drying

•  The presence of ions in clean air increases the evaporation rate in

droplets
• Early studies displayed very promising results, significantly increasing
the evaporation rates of thin layers of liquids, saline water, and soil
samples. Soon afterward, it was also discovered that the ionic wind
could significantly enhance the dehydration rates of potato slabs,
which drew the attention of the agricultural and energy industries.
Fluid Pumping

• Is a type of non-mechanical pumps which induce dielectric fluid under

a high voltage electric field by injection or generation of ions in the
vicinity of electrodes. 
• The low electrical to mechanical energy conversion efficiency is one
of the largest problems of EHD pumps and a few steps have been
taken toward its improvement, yet there have been a few experimental
studies focused on improving the exit fluid velocity and efficiency of
EHD pumps.
Schematic view of the needle/ring to mesh experimental setup
EHD as COOLANT
• It consisted of an electronic element (diode Cree CSD02060 SiC in TO-
220 package) with integrated U-shaped heat exchanger, set of three
EHD pumps (parallel or serial connected) and reservoir of the liquid
coolant with traditional heat-sink.
• The EHD pumps force the coolant flow, in the closed-loop, from the
reservoir to the heat exchanger and back to the reservoir.