A versatile plasma generation power supply featuring a multilevel converter for arbitrary waveforms generation

Abstract

Purpose Plasma technology has become of great interest in a wide variety of industrial and domestic applications. Moreover, the application of plasma in the domestic field has increased in recent years due to its applications to surface treatment and disinfection. In this context, there is a significant need for versatile power generators able to generate a wide range of output voltage/current ranging from direct current (DC) to tens of kHz in the range of kVs. The purpose of this paper is to develop a highly versatile power converter for plasma generation based on a multilevel topology. Design/methodology/approach This paper proposes a versatile multilevel topology able to generate versatile output waveforms. The followed methodology includes simulation of the proposed architecture, design of the power electronics, control and magnetic elements and test laboratory tests after building an eight-level prototype. Findings The proposed converter has been designed and tested using an experimental prototype. The designed generator is able to operate at 10 kVpp output voltage and 10 kHz, proving the feasibility of the proposed approach. Originality/value The proposed converter enables versatile waveform generation, enabling advanced studies in plasma generation. Unlike previous proposals, the proposed converter features bidirectional operation, allowing to test complex reactive loads. Besides, complex waveforms can be generated, allowing testing complex patterns for optimized cold-plasma generation methods. Besides, unlike transformer- or resonant-network-based approaches, the proposed generator features very low output impedance regardless the operating point, exhibiting improved and reliable performance for different operating conditions.