SPRAYING OF LIQUIDS

摘要

An electrostatic device for spraying liquids comprises a nozzle (94) in the form of a wick which is contacted with a reservoir containing the liquid to be sprayed, high electrical potential bei ng applied to the liquid in the vicinity of the spraying tip of the nozzle whereby the liquid is drawn out preponderantly under the influenc e of electrical forces into ligaments which break up to form a spray of electrically charged liquid droplets. The wick is fabricated from sheet (10) of a resiliently deformable polymeric foam material of open celled structure and an edge of the sheet material is profiled to form a plurality of sites (12) at which liquid ligaments can be produced. Typically a toothed profile is employed in which a plurality of teeth (12) form the sites at which ligament formation occurs.