Ionic wind and ozone generation in a single magnetic fluid dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator with different electrode configurations

Abstract

Plasma actuators are compact wind power generators without mechanical power mechanisms. Plasma actuators have been investigated and developed. In a previous study of the authors, a single dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator using magnetic fluid (MF), termed “MF-DBD plasma actuator,” was proposed for application to fanless air purification devices that can collect low-resistive particulate matter, such as diesel particulate, by electrostatic force without re-entrainment. The fundamental characteristics of the MF-DBD plasma actuator, such as ionic wind, temperature distribution, and ozone and ion concentrations, were investigated in the previous study. The advantage of an MF-DBD plasma actuator is that the position and shape of the MF electrode can be controlled using a magnetic field. In view of this advantage, in this study, ionic wind and ozone generation in a single MF-DBD plasma actuator with different electrode configurations is investigated for the future development of MF-DBD plasma actuators and their application in fanless air purification. In these experiments, the width of the insulated electrode and the distance between the exposed and insulated electrodes are varied. As a result, in the case of a constant applied voltage, the ionic wind velocity and ozone concentration depend only on the overlap between the magnetic fluid and the insulated electrode, and these values increase as the overlap increases. It is clarified that a large overlap between the MF and insulated electrodes can generate an efficient ionic wind in terms of wind velocity and energy consumption.