An analytical model of electric field distribution for single nozzle/plane in electrohydrodynamic jet printing

Abstract

Printhead with multiple nozzles plays an important role in electrohydrodynamic jet (E-jet) printing, that decides printing efficiency and output quality. It is challenge and necessary to achieve the rated working voltage by calculating space electric field distribution when designing a E-jet printhead with multiple nozzles. In this paper, an analytical model of electric field distribution is proposed for single nozzle/plane configuration. To validate the feasibility and accuracy, computation results by the model are compared with the electric field distributions by numerical simulation. It shows that the proposed model agrees well with the numerical simulation and have smaller deviation than Coelho and Debeau’s model. Furthermore, it can be utilized to calculate the electric field distribution, onset voltage and interference degree under multiple nozzle/plane condition using superposition principle. The proposed model paves a way to design a E-jet printhead with multiple nozzles.