The Characteristics of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Under the Effect of Parallel Magnetic Field

Abstract

The dielectric barrier discharge plasma (DBDP) has been produced by the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor that has been established to operate at atmospheric pressure. DBD reactor consists of two parallel metal electrodes, one is a high-voltage (HV) electrode with a circular iron plate shape and the other is a rectangular steel plate, and the ground electrode with a dielectric material covered one of them. The ac power supply has been used to provide the DBD circuit with ac voltage up to 15kV peak value, 50 Hz. The dielectric material used, which covered one reactor electrode, is a glass slab. The gap distance of the discharge is fixed at 3 mm. Argon (Ar) and air gases have been used in the experiment at 20SCFH (standard cubic foot per hour) flow rate, and a sinusoidal voltage is applied to the electrodes to generate a homogenous DBDP. The parameters of the discharge such as discharge current, discharge voltage, consumed power of discharge, streamer filament, and emitted plasma light have been studied. A magnetic field, with the direction parallel to the electric field, is applied to the ac and DBD, using Ar and helium (He) gases. The effect of the parallel magnetic field for generating the DBDP has been investigated. It indicates that the discharge current in the antiparallel magnetic field is lower than that without the magnetic field. Also, the DBDP in the magnetic field is more luminous than that without the magnetic field. It further indicates that the area of Lissajous figure of the DBD in the presence of antiparallel magnetic field is little reduced than that without the magnetic field. It could be concluded that the effect of the magnetic field influenced DBDP progress.