An electrostatic spraying device comprises a housing (10) incorporating a cartridge (16) containing liquid, such as a fragrance-producing oil, which is to be sprayed via a vertically disposed capillary structure (22), electrical potential being applied to the liquid so that the liquid is drawn across the end face of the capillary structure and is sprayed as a plurality of ligaments which break up into droplets.
An electrostatic spraying device for spraying liquids comprises a hollow capillary structure having a convoluted inner surface, one end of which contacts a reservoir of an electrostatically sprayable liquid preferably having a viscosity from 1 to 20.times.10.sup.-6 m.sup.2 /s and a volume resistivity from 2.5.times.10.sup.6 to 5.times.10.sup.8 ohm cm, the other end of which terminates in an atomization tip, and means for applying high voltage to the liquid in order to cause the liquid at the atomization tip to break up into a plurality of electrostatically charged droplets. Cartridges for use in the electrostatic spraying device are also described.
A carrier is used to carry a liquid, and a high voltage is applied between a discharge end of the carrier and an opposed electrode to emit ionized liquid particles. The carrier has a liquid collecting end opposite to the discharge end to feed the steam of the liquid from a steam generator, condensing the liquid therearound, and feeding the condensed liquid to the discharge end. Accordingly, even when the liquid contains cations such as those of Ca and Mg, the steam of the liquid can extremely reduce the content of these impurities, avoiding the precipitation of the impurities at the discharge end of the carrier to assure stable electrostatic atomization.
A liquid stored in the liquid storing means within a housing is supplied to a carrier. A high voltage applied to a discharge end of the carrier and an opposed electrode to emit tiny ionized liquid particles. At leas part of the liquid storing means is detachable to the housing for easy replenishment of the liquid.
A simple yet highly reliable technique for ejecting a droplet of heated solder, or other liquid conductive material, is described. Small droplets of an electrically-conductive liquid are ejected on-demand from a drop generator operating on a magnetohydrodynamic principle. The drop generator consists of two substantially parallel conductive paths separated by a thin electrically-insulating material. A channel for the conductive liquid contains a drop ejecting orifice, and the conductive liquid in the channel forms a first of these two parallel conductive paths. The other path is either a solid conductor or a second channel filled with the conductive liquid. A current on the order of 10-1000 amperes is pulsed through the two parallel conductive paths, and the interaction of the magnetic fields generated by the electric currents through the parallel paths with these currents forces a droplet of the conductive liquid through the orifice in the first channel. By adjusting the duration and/or magnitude of the pulsed current, the droplet size may be carefully controlled. In the preferred embodiment, the drop generator is in the form of a self-contained replaceable cartridge.
An electrostatically atomizing device includes an emitter electrode, an opposed electrode opposed to the emitter electrode, and a cooling means which condenses the water on the emitter electrode from within the surrounding air, and a high voltage source applying a high voltage across the emitter electrode and the opposed electrode to electrostatically charge the water for atomizing charged minute water particles from a discharge end of the emitter electrode. The device further includes a controller for discharging the charged minute water particles in a stable manner. The controller monitors a discharge current flowing between the two electrodes to control the cooling means for keeping the discharge current at a predetermined level, thereby regulating the atomizing amount of the charged minute particles from the emitter electrode.
