Effects of Gas Flow Rate on the Discharge Characteristics of a DC Excited Plasma Jet**supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 10805013, 11375051), Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists of Hebei Province, China (No. A2012201045), Department of Education for Outstanding Youth Project of China (No. Y2011120), and Youth Project of Hebei University of China (No. 2011Q14)

Abstract

A direct current (DC) source excited plasma jet consisting of a hollow needle anode and a plate cathode has been developed to form a diffuse discharge plume in ambient air with flowing argon as the working gas. Using optical and electrical methods, the discharge characteristics are investigated for the diffuse plasma plume. Results indicate that the discharge has a pulse characteristic, under the excitation of a DC voltage. The discharge pulse corresponds to the propagation process of a plasma bullet travelling from the anode to the cathode. It is found that, with an increment of the gas flow rate, both the discharge plume length and the current peak value of the pulsed discharge decrease in the laminar flow mode, reach their minima at about 1.5 L/min, and then slightly increase in the turbulent mode. However, the frequency of the pulsed discharge increases in the laminar mode with increasing the argon flow rate until the argon flow rate equals to about 1.5 L/min, and then slightly decreases in the turbulent mode.