Low-current Atmospheric-pressure Discharges in Gas Flow and Their Applications

The paper reviews the results of investigations of the low-current atmospheric-pressure discharges in gas flow.The attention is focused on the discharges in electrode systems of coaxial plasmatron and of so-called gliding arc.It is demonstrated that a considerable fraction of discharge current is carried by a plasma column operating in a regime of normal glow discharge with occasional transitions to spark.The nature of glow-to-spark transition is discussed.Beside the plasma column,a weakly ionized gas fills in the interelectrode gap and forms a plasma jet at the exit of electrode system.The jet contains the active chemical particles that play important role in different discharge applications.The applications in plasma assisted combustion systems,for surface treatment with a usage of plasma jet,and for biology and medicine are considered.

The paper reviews the results of investigations of the low-current atmospheric-pressure discharges in gas flow. The attention is focused on the discharges in electrode systems of coaxial plasmatron and of so-called gliding arc. It is demonstrated that a considerable fraction of discharge current is carded by a plasma colulim operating in a regime of normal glow discharge with occasional transitions to spark. The nature of glow-to-spark transition is discussed. Beside the plasma column, a weakly ionized gas fills in the interelectrode gap and forms a plasma jet at the exit of electrode system. The jet contains the active chemical particles that play important role in different dis- charge applications. The applications in plasma assisted combustion systems, for surface treatment with a usage of plasma jet, and for biology and medicine are considered.