Predicting the pumping performance of electrohydrodynamic (EHD) gas pumps equipped with a porous medium on the grounded plate electrode using numerical simulations

An electrohydrodynamic (EHD) pump is a typical non-rotational pump that adds momentum to air by directly converting high-voltage electrical energy into kinetic energy. In polluted indoor environments, the accumulation of airborne contaminants within EHD pumps can cause corrosion of collecting electrodes and increase maintenance costs. Applying a replaceable porous medium layer to the collecting electrodes represents a promising solution, as it not only effectively mitigates electrode corrosion but also enhances the fluid transport performance of the EHD pump by inducing a back-corona effect within the porous medium. To systematically optimize an EHD pump equipped with porous medium, a multiphysics model based on EHD effects is developed. The numerical model consists of a corona discharge model, an EHD airflow model, and a back-corona discharge current model. This study employs multi-source experimental data (voltage-current characteristics, particle image velocimetry, hot-wire anemometry) to validate the multiphysics model and identify a suitable turbulence modeling strategy. Based on the validated numerical framework and identified turbulence model, the effects of porous medium properties and operating parameters on pump performance are further investigated. Numerical results demonstrate that the introduction of porous medium significantly enhances the pumping performance of EHD pumps with “wire-plate” and “wire-grid” configurations. Under the same voltage, the maximum total pressure increase and flow rate of the wire-plate configuration increase by 115% and 57%, respectively, while those of the wire-grid configuration increase by 80% and 56%, respectively. The EHD pumps equipped with porous medium are promising for industrial implementation, especially in scenarios involving high airborne particulate concentrations.