A Practical Method for Controlling the Asymmetric Mode of Atmospheric Dielectric Barrier Discharges

Abstract

Atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) have been applied in a very broad range of industries due to their outstanding advantages. However, different discharge modes can influence the stability of atmospheric DBDs, such as the density and composition of active species in discharge plasmas, thereby impacting the effect of related applications. It is necessary and valuable to investigate the control of nonlinear modes both in theoretical and practical aspects. In this paper, we propose a practical, state-controlling method to switch the discharge mode from asymmetry to symmetry through changing frequencies of the applied voltage. The simulation results show that changing frequencies can effectively alter the seed electron level at the beginning of the breakdown and then influence the subsequent discharge mode. The higher controlling frequency is recommended since it can limit the dissipative process of residual electrons and is in favor of the formation of symmetric discharge in the after-controlling section. Under our simulation conditions, the discharges with an initial driving frequency of 14 kHz can always be converted to the symmetric period-one mode when the controlling frequency is beyond 30 kHz.

Characteristics of Radio Frequency Dielectric Barrier Discharge Using Argon Doped with Nitrogen at Atmospheric Pressure

“…In addition, it can be observed from the photos in Figure 4 and Figure 5 that, except for the filaments in Figure 5 a, which are in a state of random migration, the whole plasma slowly moves down with the flow of the discharge gas, and the positions of the filaments are relatively fixed. On the other hand, it can be seen from the waveforms shown in Figure 11 that the current waveform of RF-DBD is smooth, which is different from the current waveform of middle-frequency DBD [ 23 ]. Therefore, it can be concluded that the filaments are not extinguished during one period.…”

“…The previous studies show that, compared with bare electrodes, dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) allows plasma to retain its large volume without constriction [ 15 , 16 , 20 ]. Among the various power sources used in atmospheric DBD discharge [ 9 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], RF power shows unique advantages in low breakdown voltage, stability and power density improvement [ 9 , 20 , 25 , 26 ]. On the other hand, filamentous discharge as a common discharge mode of DBD has also been studied a lot [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ].…”

Plasma: From Materials to Emerging Technologies

“…Luo et al [2] developed a practical method for controlling the switch been the symmetric and asymmetric modes of a dielectric barrier discharge at atmospheric pressure by changing the frequency of the applied voltage. In this work, through a qualitatively validated 1D fluid model, the discharge evolution, manipulating process and underlying mechanism are also presented.…”

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of Radio Frequency Dielectric Barrier Glow Discharge at Atmospheric Pressure

“…On the other hand, radio frequency DBD is now a popular source used to achieve a stable and large-gap atmospheric pressure glow discharge with lower breakdown voltage and avoid emergence of arc discharge and filamentary discharge, compared with DC glow discharge and low and medium frequency DBD at atmospheric pressure [6][7][8][9][10][11]. Therefore, a lot of study has been done on the discharge mechanism, simulation, and speckle pattern of radio-frequency dielectric barrier discharge (rf-DBD) at atmospheric pressure [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”