Investigation on performance characteristics of dielectric discharge plasma actuator using pulsed-dc waveform

Abstract

Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuator (DBDPA) is one of active flow control devices, which generates a wall-surface jet utilizing atmospheric discharge. However, the enhancement of the jet is indispensable for application to high Reynolds number flow because the flow speed is typically only up to several meters per second. In recently, it was reported that a Pulsed-DC voltage waveform can drastically improve the jet thrust (McGowan et al., 2016). In the Pulsed-DC waveform, the high DC voltage rapidly drops to zero and gradually recover. In the original idea, the DC high voltage is applied to the top electrode and the Pulsed-DC waveform is applied to the bottom electrode. In this study, firstly, we conduct experiments using the same method proposed by the previous study, and next, the DBDPA, in which the top electrode is powered by the Pulsed-DC waveform and the bottom electrode is electrically grounded, is investigated. Finally, we propose a new waveform which is a sinusoidal voltage with periodical pulsed-earthing. As a result, the DBDPA with Pulsed-DC voltage waveform cannot generate strong wall-surface jet, and on the other hand, the proposed waveform generates a significant jet. Even though its strength is the same magnitude as that by the simple sinusoidal waveform, it is confirmed that the jet thrust is enhanced at phases before and after the pulsed-earthing; the tentative thrust increment is up to 32 %.

Experimental demonstration of low-voltage operated dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators using SiC MOSFETs

“…Similar pulse waveforms were obtained in a previous study [20]. The fall and rise times can be adjusted by using resistors as reported in a previous study [21]. The pulse energy per unit length is calculated as the integral of the instantaneous power [22].…”

Highly responsive multi-flow pattern generation by multi-electrode plasma actuator using a single power supply

“…Previous studies have reported on the effectiveness of this approach in flow-separation control [7][8][9][10] and turbulent drag reduction [12][13][14]. Some researchers have also revealed that the characteristics of the induced flow generated by the DBD-PA vary depending on the applied AC voltage waveform [20][21][22]. It has been reported that when the applied voltage has a sinusoidal waveform, a unidirectional flow is induced from the exposed electrode to downstream locations, irrespective of whether the voltage signal is in its positive or negative half cycle.…”