FLUID APPLICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS

摘要

The invention relates to a method for applying fluid in droplet form to a substrate, which method comprisies feeding the fluid to a nozzle so that the fluid issues from the nozzle as a single substantially coherent jet following a single jet flight path; causing the jet to break up into a series of substantially uniformly sized droplets; applying a sufficiently large electrical charge to the fluid by means of a charge electrode so as to form mutally repellant droplets having flight paths which diverge from one another, characterised in that the single jet flight path is directed into a catching means by which the fluid is caught and prevented from being applied to the substrate, in that the jet of fluid is broken up into a stream of substantially uniformly spaced droplets and in that the divergent stream of droplets is directed away from the catching means and allowed to reach the substrate so as to deposit fluid on the substrate. The invention also provides apparatus for use in the method of the invention.