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Compact, Low Cost Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jets Driven by Piezoelectric Transformers

Tuesday, October 23, 2018, 2:20 pm, Room 104C

In order for non-thermal atmospheric pressure plasma technology to be used for applications outside of the laboratory, there is a need to develop low-cost, portable devices that can be used for applications in the field. Constructing portable power supplies that can produce stable, non-thermal plasmas in full density air can be challenging as large electric fields are required to generate breakdown. Piezoelectric transformers are solid state transformers that can produce large gains in voltage, which makes them attractive candidates for plasma production. In this work, a piezoelectric transformer is used to amplify a low voltage AC signal in order to produce an atmospheric pressure plasma jet. Using this approach, plasma jets were generated with input voltages as low as 10 V when the piezoelectric transformer was operated at its resonance frequency (≈ 88 kHz). The electrical and optical characteristics of the piezoelectric driven plasma jet was compared to a plasma jet produced using a conventional high voltage sinewave of comparable operating frequency. Both jets were examined in helium and argon for a variety of different flow rates and operating voltages. The length of the jets were measured to determine if the piezoelectric transformer limited the potential size of the plasma jet. The current carried by the plasma jets were measured along with optical emission spectroscopy to examine the relative characteristics of the jets. Together, the results suggest the piezoelectric material may have influence beyond simple voltage amplification.

This work was supported by the Naval Research Laboratory Base Program. This research was performed while Michael Johnson held an NRC Research Associateship award at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.