Method and system for electrostatically charging stamping lubricant to control deposition

A method of lubricating a sheet of material, the method comprising:

• moving the sheet along a first direction;
• operating a print nozzle to deposit a lubricant on the sheet while the sheet is moving along the first direction, wherein the print nozzle ejects the lubricant in a second direction that is transverse to the first direction and toward a first side of the sheet;
• charging the lubricant with a first charging device so that the lubricant ejected from the print nozzle is in the form of charged droplets;
• operating a second charging device to apply an external electrical field between the print nozzle and the sheet to attract the charged droplets to the sheet;
• and
• adjusting a velocity of the charged droplets by adjusting a strength of the external electric field.

A system for lubricating sheet metal to be formed into a metal component, the system comprising:

• a print head, including a plurality of nozzles, each nozzle of the plurality of nozzles including an aperture plate, an actuator, and a body, the aperture plate and the body cooperating to define a reservoir configured to hold lubricant, the actuator configured to vibrate the lubricant in the reservoir to eject the lubricant as droplets through an aperture of the aperture plate;
• a first charging device configured to electrically charge the lubricant;
• a second charging device configured to produce an external electric field between the print head and the sheet metal;
• and
• a control module configured to control operation of the second charging device to selectively adjust a strength of the external electric field.