Experimental study on improvement of plasma characteristics of surface dielectric barrier discharge caused by argon flow

The effect of argon flow on the air surface dielectric barrier discharge at atmospheric pressure was experimentally investigated and discussed with the purpose to strengthen the discharge and its flow control ability. The plasma discharge characteristics and the mechanisms of excitation and ionization processes of nitrogen molecules have been discussed in this mixture. It is shown that a stable large-volume plasma is developed with higher discharge intensity and uniformity. Thermal effect of the plasma is evident. It is beneficial for the increase of the momentum transfer efficiency and the induced velocity by using argon-induced discharge. The spatial distribution results shows that the intensity of the spectral lines and the gas temperature have the maximum value at the central position and decrease along the electrode on both sides, however, variations of the N2 (C3Πu) vibrational temperature are just contrary. In addition, as the argon flow increases, the discharge intensity increases firstly then reduces, while the gas temperature increases. N2 (C3Πu) vibrational temperature decreases after the addition of argon flow. And it increases at first, then decreases and tends to stability at last with increasing flow rate. There is almost no influence of flow rate on electronic excitation temperature. © 2016 Chin. Soc. for Elec. Eng.