Fluid application method and apparatus

摘要

Fluid is applied in droplet form to a substrate by 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, and applying a sufficiently large electrical charge to the fluid by means of a charge electrode so as to form mutually repellant droplets having flight paths which diverge from one another. The single jet path is directed into a catching device by which the fluid is caught and prevented from being applied to the substrate. The jet of fluid is broken up into a stream of substantially uniformly spaced droplets and the divergent stream of droplets is directed away from the catching device and allowed to reach the substrate so as to deposit fluid on the substrate.