Neutralization of a spray of electrically charged droplets by a corona discharge

The neutralization of a dilute spray of electrically charged droplets by ions of the opposite polarity generated by a corona discharge at a wire ring is analysed numerically. A Lagrangian description of the spray and Eulerian descriptions of the gas and the ions are used to deal with this two-way coupled problem. A model of the corona consisting of a line of charge and a distribution of ion sources is proposed. In the configuration that is analysed, neutralization usually begins at the shroud of the spray and extends to inner regions when the corona current increases. The number density of droplets is large at the shroud due to neutralized droplets that are no longer pushed by the electric field. These droplets can be dragged towards a collector surface by a weak forced flow that overcomes the ionic wind due to the force of the ions on the gas. The fraction of the spray charge that is neutralized increases with the corona current, but the value of this current required for full neutralization is several times larger than the inlet electric current of the spray owing to loss of ions to the boundaries of the system. The electric field induced by the charge of the droplets opposes the field due to the voltage applied between the wire ring and the extractor through which the droplets are injected, and thus reduces the threshold voltage of the corona and significantly affects its current-voltage characteristic, which may become multivalued. In turn, the electric field due to the applied voltage and the space charge of the ions affects the shape of the spray and the velocity of the droplets.