Calculation of Droplet Size and Formation Time in Electrohydrodynamic Based Pulsatile Drug Delivery System

TL;DR

This paper presents a theoretical and experimental study of an electrohydrodynamic system capable of generating tiny drug droplets rapidly and precisely, with potential applications in pulsed drug delivery.

Contribution

It introduces a novel EHD-based drug delivery device with derived formulas for droplet size and formation time, demonstrating stable, repeatable, and controllable droplet generation.

Findings

Generated droplets as small as 2.83 nL in 8.5 ms

Device size is 2x2x3 mm^3 with 1500 V voltage

Theoretical expressions match experimental results

Abstract

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) generation, a commonly used method in BioMEMS, plays a significant role in the pulsed-release drug delivery system for a decade. In this paper, an EHD based drug delivery system is well designed, which can be used to generate a single drug droplet as small as 2.83 nL in 8.5 ms with a total device of 2x2x3 mm^3, and an external supplied voltage of 1500 V. Theoretically, we derive the expressions for the size and the formation time of a droplet generated by EHD method, while taking into account the drug supply rate, properties of liquid, gap between electrodes, nozzle size, and charged droplet neutralization. This work proves a repeatable, stable and controllable droplet generation and delivery system based on EHD method.