Transition from a filamentary mode to a diffuse one with varying distance from needle to stream of an argon plasma jet

Plasma jet has extensive application potentials in various fields, which normally operates in a diffuse mode when helium is used as the working gas. However, when less expensive argon is used, the plasma jet often operates in a filamentary mode. Compared to the filamentary mode, the diffuse mode is more desirable for applications. Hence, many efforts have been exerted to accomplish the diffuse mode of the argon plasma jet. In this paper, a novel single-needle argon plasma jet is developed to obtain the diffuse mode. It is found that the plasma jet operates in the filamentary mode when the distance from the needle tip to the central line of the argon stream(d) is short. It transits to the diffuse mode with increasing d. For the diffuse mode, there is always one discharge pulse per voltage cycle, which initiates at the rising edge of the positive voltage. For comparison, the number of discharge pulse increases with an increase in the peak voltage for the filamentary mode. Fast photography reveals that the plasma plume in the filamentary mode results from a guided positive streamer,which propagates in the argon stream. However, the plume in the diffuse mode originates from a branched streamer, which propagates in the interfacial layer between the argon stream and the surrounding air. By optical emission spectroscopy,plasma parameters are investigated for the two discharge modes, which show a similar trend with increasing d. The diffuse mode has lower electron temperature, electron density, vibrational temperature, and gas temperature compared to the filamentary mode.

Evolution of the Pulse Width in Dielectric Barrier Atmospheric Pressure Discharge

A study of the evolution of the pulse width in homogeneous dielectric barrier dis- charge at atmospheric pressure with helium as the working gas is reported by using a one- dimensional fluid model. In this paper, a new computational method is presented to estimate the pulse width through calculating the time interval between the breakdown voltage and the extinguishing voltage. The effects on the discharge characteristics of the applied voltage and exci- tation frequency are studied based on the computational data. The results of the simulation show that the pulse width is observed to be narrower and the time intervals between two consecutive current pulses decrease with increasing amplitude and excitation frequency, which indicates that the homogeneous discharge is susceptible to the filamentary mode. The simulation results support the conclusion that in order to restrain the transition from the glow mode to filamentary mode, the applied voltage and excitation frequency should be kept within an appropriate range.

Study on the Microsecond Pulse Homogeneous Dielectric Barrier Discharges in Atmospheric Air and Its Influencing Factors

The homogeneous dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） in atmospheric air between two symmetric-columnar copper electrodes with epoxy plates as the dielectric barriers is generated using a us pulse high voltage power supply. The discharge characteristics are studied by measurement of its electrical discharge parameters and observation of its light emission phenom- ena, and the main discharge parameters of the homogenous DBD, such as discharge current and average discharge power, are calculated. Results show that the discharge generated is a homogeneous one with one larger single current pulse of about 2 #s duration appearing in each voltage pulse, and its light emission is radially homogeneous and covers the entire surface of the two elec- trodes. The influences of applied voltage amplitude, air gap distance and barrier thickness on the transition of discharge modes are studied. With the increase of air gap distance, the discharge will transit from homogeneous mode to filamentary mode. The higher the thickness of dielectric barriers, the larger the air gap distance for generating the homogeneous discharge mode. The average discharge power increases non-linearly with increasing applied voltage amplitude, and decreases non-linearly with the increase of air gap distance and barrier thickness. In order to generate stable and homogeneous DBD with high discharge power, thin barriers distance should be used, and higher applied voltage amplitude should be applied to small air gap.