A Human-Contactable Plasma Brush Applied In Biomedical Field

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Atmospheric pressure low-temperature plasma jet technology is widely used in biomedical field, but the diameter of plasma jet is only millimeter level, which constricts its applications for large-scale treatment, as the efficiency is relatively low. Even though the plasma jet array can broaden the treatment area, the performance is not uniform due to the gap between plasma plumes. Therefore, a uniform large-scale plasma jet which can be contacted by human body has great research prospects in biomedical field. In this paper, a plasma brush of 15mm width is produced using single-barrier dielectric barrier discharge structure and argon as discharge gas under the excitation of high-frequency AC power supply. By means of voltage-current waveforms, luminescence images, emission spectra and temperature nephogram, the optimal discharge conditions, active particle generation and plasma plume temperature of the plasma brush are analyzed. The results show that the length of the plasma brush increases with the increase of the amplitude of the excitation power supply voltage and the volume flow rate of argon gas. When the amplitude of the excitation power supply voltage is 18.0kV, and the volume flow rate of argon gas is 8.0L/min, the shape of the plasma brush is the best, and the U- shaped brush plasma with a length of 15.0mm can be formed. The maximum peak discharge current is less than 10.0mA, and the average discharge power is 3.9W. The emission spectra and temperature nephogram show that there are a lot of active particles such as OH, nitrogen and argon particles in the plasma brush, and the temperature of the plasma brush discharge plume is close to room temperature, which has a good prospect for biomedical applications. The safety of human contact is analyzed with the human equivalent impedance model, and verified with experiments.