| AVS 64th International Symposium & Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology Division | Monday Sessions |
| Session PS+AS+SE-MoM |
| Session: | Atmospheric Pressure Plasmas |
| Presenter: | Vladimir Milosavljevic, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland |
| Authors: | V. Milosavljevic, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland J. Lalor, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland L. Scally, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland P.J. Cullen, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Non thermal plasmas can be generated in laboratory conditions using generic, readily available and easily sourced components. Examples include glass tubing, copper or stainless wire electrodes, metal mesh, plastic enclosures, and step-up transformer based power supplies. Such sources, although effective, may not offer optimised conditions or efficiencies. In many cases they may not sustain extended operation due to excess thermal and electrical breakdown. Second-generation laboratory apparatus and scaled up designs involve selected materials, custom machined components, electrodes based on calculated requirements, and suitably designed or sourced power supplies. These assemblies will offer a more accurate theoretical and empirical view of the plasma performance. The inclusion of a material selection software tool for the rational selection of engineering materials can provide detailed information relating to the mechanical thermal and electric properties. Developing a non-thermal atmospheric plasma source involves three important factors for material selection. Firstly the application and operating conditions of the design needs to be examined; is it to be handheld, exposed to ambient air or contained in an enclosure. For many plasma sources, certain polymers offer an ideal material, for other configurations, composites or metals may be best. Secondly, does the source need to facilitate a controllable environment in which to generate the plasma, in other words, is it necessary to purge or evacuate the enclosure in order to accurately control the gas chemistry, if this is the case, a choice of material for this housing and containment area must be considered. The third factor is the material selection for the conducting elements, namely the cables, electrodes and grounding components. Typical electrode metals include copper, aluminium, brass and stainless steel.
In this work 12 circular plasma jets are presented. They are designed and built in-house, and power up with a single phase generator of 10-30 kV, at 10-100 kHz that powers up to 2 kW. Voltage-current measurements and optical emission spectroscopy (OES) are applied for optimization of transient discharges operated for several different gas chemistry at atmospheric pressure. The influence of applied voltage, frequency, gas flow rate and gas chemistry in relation with the OES signal, plasma plume formulation, gas velocity and electrical properties of plasma jets are the objectives of this study.
This work was funded under the ’PlasmaGrain’ project funded by the SFI, Republic of Ireland.