Yu Yue, Luo Yao, Cilliers Jan, Hadler Kathryn, Starr Stanley, Wang Yanghua
Resource Geophysics Academy, Imperial College London, London SW7 2BP, UK.
Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
Micromachines (Basel). 2023 Jun 30;14(7):1347. doi: 10.3390/mi14071347.
Electrostatic traveling wave (ETW) methods have shown promising performance in dust mitigation of solar panels, particle transport and separation in in situ space resource utilization, cell manipulation, and separation in biology. The ETW field distribution is required to analyze the forces applied to particles and to evaluate ETW design parameters. This study presents the numerical results of the ETW field distribution generated by a parallel electrode array using both the charge simulation method (CSM) and the boundary element method (BEM). A low accumulated error of the CSM is achieved by properly arranging the positions and numbers of contour points and fictitious charges. The BEM can avoid the inconvenience of the charge position required in the CSM. The numerical results show extremely close agreement between the CSM and BEM. For simplification, the method of images is introduced in the implementation of the CSM and BEM. Moreover, analytical formulas are obtained for the integral of Green's function along boundary elements. For further validation, the results are cross-checked using the finite element method (FEM). It is found that discrepancies occur at the ends of the electrode array. Finally, analyses are provided of the electric field and dielectrophoretic (DEP) components. Emphasis is given to the regions close to the electrode surfaces. These results provide guidance for the fabrication of ETW systems for various applications.
静电行波（ETW）方法在太阳能电池板的除尘、原位空间资源利用中的粒子传输与分离、细胞操控以及生物分离等方面展现出了良好的性能。需要ETW场分布来分析作用于粒子的力并评估ETW设计参数。本研究给出了使用电荷模拟法（CSM）和边界元法（BEM）由平行电极阵列产生的ETW场分布的数值结果。通过合理安排等值点和虚拟电荷的位置与数量，实现了CSM的低累积误差。BEM可以避免CSM中所需电荷位置的不便之处。数值结果表明CSM和BEM之间极为吻合。为简化起见，在CSM和BEM的实现中引入了镜像法。此外，还得到了格林函数沿边界元积分的解析公式。为进一步验证，使用有限元法（FEM）对结果进行了交叉核对。发现在电极阵列的端部存在差异。最后，对电场和介电泳（DEP）分量进行了分析。重点关注靠近电极表面的区域。这些结果为制造用于各种应用的ETW系统提供了指导。
