Trajectory characteristics experiment of single micro water droplet controlled by dual synthetic jet actuator

To further advance the development of Dual Synthetic Jet (DSJ) based anti-icing/de-icing technology, we established an experimental setup to control the trajectory characteristics of droplets using DSJ. The effects of the actuator driving voltageand driving signal phase on the droplet trajectory were studied using high-speed photography under the conditions of the actuator being stationary relative to the dropletand existence of relative motion. The horizontal velocity of the droplet 375 μs after being affected by the jet was used as an index to assess the impact of the jet on the trajectory characteristics of the droplet. When no relative motion existed between the actuatorand the droplet (the turntable being stationary), the speed increased linearly from 0.65 m/s at a driving signal amplitude of 60 V to 2.29 m/s at 165 V. The phase of the jet at the time of droplet generation had a significant impact on the trajectory of the droplet. With a driving signal amplitude of 165 V, the speed varied from 1.11 m/s to 4.98 m/s at different initial phases of the jet. When the actuator approached the droplet at a linear speed of 4.4 m/s (achieved by rotating the turntable), the speed increased from 1.57 m/s at a driving signal amplitude of 60 V to 3.25 m/s at 165 V. Moreover, the rotation of the turntable itself had little effect on the speed. Additionally, when the turntable was rotating, the change in the speed with the initial phase of the jet had a time lag compared to when the turntable was stationary, but the overall trend was similar, and the corresponding the speed was larger when the turntable was rotating. The results indicate that the jet could rapidly increase the velocity of the droplet to a level close to that of the jet in the area where the droplet was generated. Even when the turntable rotated at higher speeds (with a maximum relative linear velocity of 22.0 m/s between the actuatorand the droplet in the experiment), the dual synthetic jet still significantly affected the trajectory of the droplet.