Particle & Particle Systems Characterization, Vol.25, No.2, 176-182, 2008
Generation of monodisperse micron-sized droplets using free adjustable signals
This paper describes the generation of small water droplets in the size range down to a few microns. Commercially available inkjet printing devices are not suitable for producing such droplets since they produce satellite droplets. Furthermore, standard drop-on-demand devices are normally restricted to the generation of droplets with the same size as the orifice diameter. Using a new and more sophisticated computer-based signal generation system, smaller-sized droplets can be generated from the same orifice. A key feature of the design is the generation of freely definable pulses. This enables the generation of acoustic modes within the fluid of the droplet generator, which leads to the generation of droplets without satellites. Only very few pulse forms enable the generation of suitable acoustic modes. Therefore, it is necessary to look for the specific pulse corresponding to the chosen droplet generator. Flexible pulse form generation appears to be more suitable than simple pulse forms for the generation of such droplets.