Parametric Study on the Performance of Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuator

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) plasma actuators utilizing dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) are experimentally examined for their performance (in terms of volume flow rate and energy efficiency) over various AC applied voltages that range from 24 to 30 kV pp. The geometric parameters considered include the widths of discharge and ground electrodes as well as the gap distance between them. The results show that a decrease in the width of discharge electrode produces an ionic wind with a higher velocity at the expense of greater power consumption. In addition, there exists an optimal width of ground electrode for maximizing the plasma extent and the acceleration zone that leads to a higher performance of the actuator. With a gap distance between the electrodes, it helps improve the performance of the actuator. Based on the results obtained, an optimal DBD actuator is comprised of 0.01-mm-wide discharge electrode, 25-mm-wide ground electrode and a gap distance of 5 mm. The test results clearly indicate that the actuator with 0.01-25-5 configuration delivers a higher volume flow rate with a less or equal power consumption over the entire range of operating voltages, which leads to a significantly higher performance than others considered in the study.