Dynamic behaviors and self-cleaning property of droplet on superhydrophobic coating in uniform DC electric field.

The application of the superhydrophobic coating is expected to be an effective method to further improve the pollution flashover voltage of insulators. However, so far, the relationship between electric field strength, droplet volume, and sliding angle in strong electric fields is not clear. This is not conducive to the evaluation of the practical application effect of superhydrophobic insulators. In this paper, the self-cleaning property of superhydrophobic coating and the critical motion condition of droplets in the electric field were analyzed theoretically. Then an experimental platform was set up to observe the movement of the droplet driven by the electric field, and the critical electric field strength for droplet motion was measured. Experimental and theoretical analysis results show that the critical electric field strength for positive droplet motion is less than that for the negative droplet. The droplet driven by the electric field can also remove water-insoluble pollution particles. And the maximum pollution concentration that droplets can remove by means of self-cleaning performance is calculated theoretically. The theoretical calculation method of the sliding angle of superhydrophobic coating in uniform DC electric field is obtained, which is in good agreement with the experimental results. This paper provides theoretical support for evaluating the practical performance of the superhydrophobic insulator in strong electric fields. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]