Effects of DC bias on evolutions of repetitively pulsed streamer discharge in humid air

Abstract

Modulation efficiency and mechanisms of repetitively pulsed streamer discharge in humid air are ambiguous with dramatic variations in free electron availability, residual ion mobility, enhanced heat release, etc, caused by water molecules intentionally supplemented or existing in the surrounding environment. The inception and propagation patterns of repetitively pulsed streamer discharge modulated by superimposed DC bias are experimentally investigated in the needle-plane electrode configuration. The inception voltage decreases due to negative ion drift under positive DC bias. The secondary streamer with a bright glowing cloud prolongs towards the plane electrode and the diameter decreases under positive DC bias. The primary streamer tends to propagate along the off-axis direction under negative DC bias. The number of applied pulses before breakdown decreases with the increase in positive DC bias and illustrates an insignificant dependence on the negative DC bias. The effect of air humidity is more pronounced than the DC bias. The streamer inception, propagation, and morphological transition are explained by residual space charge distributions and drift velocity.