Experimental study on repetitive unipolar nanosecond-pulse dielectric barrier discharge in air at atmospheric pressure

Abstract

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is a typical approach for producing non-thermal plasma at atmospheric pressure. In this experimental study, the DBD is excited by repetitive unipolar nanosecond pulses with a rise time of ∼15 ns and a full-width at half-maximum of ∼30 ns. With a unipolar pulse voltage of 35 kV, the measured discharge current across the DBD circuit has a positive and negative pulse, and the pulse peak value can be hundreds of amperes. The low-speed camera images of the discharge show that both diffuse ‘glow-like’ and filamentary discharges can be observed, and the air gap length, barrier variety and applied repetition rate are the important factors influencing the transition of the two discharge modes. According to a known equivalent circuit and measured data of a typical DBD, electrical parameters including voltage, current and instantaneous power across the air gap and dielectric layer are calculated. The calculated results indicate that there are two consecutive discharges in the air gap, and the secondary discharge fires immediately after the primary discharge extinguishes. The power consumption of the secondary discharge is provided by the dielectric layer and deposited during the primary discharge. With the increase in the repetition rate, the energy deposition in the air gap per second is greatly enhanced and can exceed one joule for a repetition rate up to 100 Hz, and the corresponding charge transfer is also increased. The electron temperature and density are estimated to be approximately 5.1 eV and 1.6 × 1012 cm−3, respectively.