Farzad Mashayek University of Illinois at Chicago
This is a US-UK workshop that focuses on electrostatic atomization of electrically-insulating liquids. This involves a diverse group of liquids including hydrocarbon fuels which are the main source of power generation, particularly in mobile systems such as cars, trucks and planes. The co-organizers of the workshop are Farzad Mashayek from the University of Illinois, Chicago and John Shrimpton at Imperial College London.
The workshop will bring together a team of experts with international and industry participants. Various aspects of the research in this area have been conducted by several groups in Europe and the US with no particular commercial application to date. This workshop will facilitate the exchange of electrostatic atomization knowledge between Europe and the US and its migration to industry. The results of the workshop promise far-reaching impacts on several areas of intense interest to our national economy and security. For example, current technology for the direct injection of liquid fuels for combustion in gasoline, diesel, and jet turbine engines relies primarily on pressure forces to achieve atomization of the fuel into tiny drops, which in turn facilitates fuel evaporation, fuel-air mixing and combustion. These mechanical pressure forces can be assisted by electrostatic forces for better fuel atomization and mixture preparation that promises to increase combustion efficiency and lower harmful emissions of the incomplete combustion products CO, HC, NOx, and PM (particulate matter).
