• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.741-749
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• 2001

An inhomogeneous hyperbolic electric field is established among two-dimensional quadrupole electrodes to which an ac voltage is applied. Conditions under which charged particles are focused into a narrow axis region of the plug laminar flow are discussed. The aerodynamic forces influence the behavior of the charged particles in the quadrupole electric field. We derived the dimensionless equations of motion of a charged particle in the alternating quadrupole electric field, and discussed particle trajectories and focusing performance in terms of two dimensionless parameters, which are functions of particle size, operating pressure, and the amplitude and frequency of applied AC voltage, with the results of numerical simulations and experiments.