The motion of small particles in electrostatic travelling waves for transport and separation

Abstract

Electrostatic travelling waves can be used to transport small particles across a surface. This technology has received particular attention for dust mitigation on solar panels and for manipulating small particles on the Moon as part of in-situ resource utilization processes. Electrostatic travelling wave systems have no moving parts and are particularly well suited to low humidity environments. Here, we analyse the motion of small particles with the aim of exploiting differences in motion and velocity to separate particles by size. We investigate the effects of voltage, frequency, particle size and charge, wavelength and initial conditions on the properties of particle motion, such as particle velocity, levitation height and motion mode. We calculate the electrostatic fields using accurate boundary conditions based on the Fourier expansion method, which shows more detail near the surface of electrodes. We solve the equations of motion using the implicit Runge-Kutta method, and measure the particle charge with a free fall system. We show that the numerical results have a good agreement with the analytical results of a particle moving in a certain mode. We have observed three modes of motion with a high-speed camera, and these results provide guidance for the development of electrostatic travelling wave systems for various applications.