Development of a Coaxial-Stacked Trielectrode Plasma Curtain

Abstract

The development of a plasma curtain discharge with a cylindrical geometry is presented. The discharge is generated at atmospheric pressure, by combining a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) with a dc corona discharge (CD). The DBD is established between two aluminum ring-shape electrodes separated by a circular dielectric plate, and the CD discharge is generated with a third electrode consisting of a cylindrical mesh positioned coaxially with respect to the DBD electrodes. Between the DBD electrodes and the CD electrode, there is a 23-mm large air gap. The discharge is composed of a train of streamers crossing the air gap, with a repetition frequency of about 100 kHz, and carrying an average current of 0.3-0.4 mA that can be sustained for large time periods. Also, a stacked arrangement was studied by placing a second set of DBD electrodes parallel to the first one, along the CD electrode axis. It was found that, in this parallel configuration, the discharge is well established, showing that an extended stacked configuration can be achieved without difficulty. This result is useful for gas-processing applications in which the gas to be treated flows through the discharge.