Effect of atmospheric humidity on electrical conductivity of oil and implications in electrostatic atomization. (1st October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sankaran, A.; Staszel, C.; Belknap, D.; Yarin, A.L.; Mashayek, F.
• Is Part Of: Fuel. Volume 253(2019)
• Page Start: 283
• Page End: 292
• Publication Date: 2019-10-01
• Subjects: Electrostatic atomization -- Electrical conductivity -- Organic oils; Fuel -- Periodicals; Coal -- Periodicals; Coal; Fuel; Periodicals; 662.6
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2019.05.013
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0016-2361

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: The electrical current through oil dramatically increases with atmospheric humidity. Available model predicts magnitude of electrical conductivity except at high humidity. Change in electrostatic atomization (EA) with high humidity pretreatment is not much. Pretreated cases show detrimental effect on EA with random spikes in electric current. Abstract: In this work, the effect of the atmospheric humidity on the electrical conductivity of oil as well as its implications in the case of electrostatic atomizers are studied. It was observed that the electrical current through oil increased by at least two orders of magnitude when the relative humidity changed from ∼10% to ∼85%. A comparison of these results is made with the available model for the electrical conductivity of organic liquids. Additional experiments with oil previously subjected to elevated relative humidity were conducted to evaluate its performance in electrostatic atomizer. No improvement of electrostatic atomization was detected, rather a detrimental effect to the steady operation was introduced.