Electrostatic feeder for contactless transport of miniature and microparts

Electrostatic forces are omnipresent in everyday life, sometimes a nuissance, such as hairs sticking to the comb, but also a valuable asset in a few technical processes, e.g. the Xerox copy process. Usage of electrostatic forces was so far confined to handling of nanoparticles or biological cells. This paper outlines the development of a device for feeding of Millimeter sized polymer parts by means of electrostatic forces. Starting from a brief assessment of the phenomena that generate electrostatic forces, rules for the design of an electrostatic conveyor are derived. A description of a first prototype is followed by a presentation of the results of experiments. The paper terminates with a conclusion, that gives perspectives of future work.