Universal fluid droplet ejector

Patent · Tue Aug 24 00:00:00 EDT 1999

OSTI ID:872473

Lee, Eric R ^[1]; Perl, Martin L ^[2]

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1. Redwood City, CA
2. Palo Alto, CA

A droplet generator comprises a fluid reservoir having a side wall made of glass or quartz, and an end cap made from a silicon plate. The end cap contains a micromachined aperture through which the fluid is ejected. The side wall is thermally fused to the end cap, and no adhesive is necessary. This means that the fluid only comes into contact with the side wall and the end cap, both of which are chemically inert. Amplitudes of drive pulses received by reservoir determine the horizontal displacements of droplets relative to the ejection aperture. The drive pulses are varied such that the dropper generates a two-dimensional array of vertically-falling droplets. Vertical and horizontal interdroplet spacings may be varied in real time. Applications include droplet analysis experiments such as Millikan fractional charge searches and aerosol characterization, as well as material deposition applications.

• Research Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00515
• Assignee: Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University (Stanford, CA)
• Patent Number(s): US 5943075
• Application Number: 08/958476
• OSTI ID: 872473
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

/347/239/
adhesive
aerosol
amplitudes
analysis
aperture
applications
array
cap
characterization
charge
chemically
chemically inert
comprises
contact
contains
deposition
determine
dimensional array
displacements
drive
drive pulses
droplet
droplet generator
droplets
droplets relative
dropper
ejected
ejection
ejection aperture
ejector
experiments
fluid
fluid droplet
fluid reservoir
fractional
fused
generates
generator
generator comprises
glass
horizontal
horizontal displacement
horizontal displacements
inert
interdroplet
material
means
micromachined
millikan
plate
pulses
pulses received
quartz
received
relative
reservoir
searches
silicon
silicon plate
spacings
thermally
time
two-dimensional
two-dimensional array
universal
varied
vertical
vertically-falling
wall