Numerical study of low pressure air plasma in an actuated channel

Houba, Tomas; Roy, Subrata

doi:10.1063/1.4938023

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The I sp of RGEJ, (60.7 s), operating at 750 (V) is 16% higher than the I sp of a highly optimized argon propellant CGT, (52 s), and 35% higher than the I sp of the argon propellant FMMR, (45 s) [1]. The increase in I sp for case 750 V over CGTs is achieved with only 406 (mW) per centimetre of width of the device and 98.5% of the total electrical power is converted to heating of the neutral gas, which is higher than the range (81-95%) predicted by Houba and Roy [17] for a device operating at assumed constant temperature (300 K) and pressure (0.6 Torr) using air as the working fluid. The remainder of the discharge power goes into the electrons, which lose energy in inelastic collisions due to the various ionization, attachment, and excitation reactions [17].…”

Section: Rgej Thruster Performancementioning

confidence: 73%

“…Each equation imposes a different restriction on the time step. The electric potential is updated based on the Maxwell time [17], while the heavy species fluxes restriction depends on the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) condition. The time step restrictions imposed by the electrons and the argon chemistry are stricter than the heavy species transport restrictions.…”

Section: Igm Numerical Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The electron transport coefficients (µ e and D e ) are calculated using an electron Boltzmann equation solver, Bolsig+ [16], as functions of the mean electron energy (ε) and the energy transport coefficients are related to the particle transport coefficients via µ ε = (5/3 ) µ e and D ε = (5/3 ) D e . The ion mobility and diffusion coefficients are obtained from equation (17) in Rafatov et al [20], and Einstein relation,…”

Section: Ionized Gas Module (Igm)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The performance plasma-discharge characteristics of RGEJ are presented in this section. The discharge current is obtained by integrating the species current over the length of the electrode [17]…”

Section: Rgej Thruster Discharge Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The first term on the right-hand-side of equation ( 2) describes the Joule heating, which is responsible for adding energy to electrons. The second and third term describe the electron energy losses due to the inelastic and elastic collisional processes [17]. The notation has been previously explained by Rafatov et al [12].…”

Section: Ionized Gas Module (Igm)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rarefied gas electro jet (RGEJ) micro-thruster for space propulsion

Blanco¹,

Roy²

2017

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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This article numerically investigates a micro-thruster for small satellites which utilizes plasma actuators to heat and accelerate the flow in a micro-channel with rarefied gas in the slip flow regime. The inlet plenum condition is considered at 1 Torr with flow discharging to near vacuum conditions (<0.05 Torr). The Knudsen numbers at the inlet and exit planes are ~0.01 and ~0.1, respectively. Although several studies have been performed in micro-hallow cathode discharges at constant pressure, to our knowledge, an integrated study of the glow discharge physics and resulting fluid flow of a plasma thruster under these low pressure and low Knudsen number conditions is yet to be reported. Numerical simulations of the charge distribution due to gas ionization processes and the resulting rarefied gas flow are performed using an in-house code. The mass flow rate, thrust, specific impulse, power consumption and the thrust effectiveness of the thruster are predicted based on these results. The ionized gas is modelled using local mean energy approximation. An electrically induced body force and a thermal heating source are calculated based on the space separated charge distribution and the ion Joule heating, respectively. The rarefied gas flow with these electric force and heating source is modelled using density-based compressible flow equations with slip flow boundary conditions. The results show that a significant improvement of specific impulse can be achieved over highly optimized cold gas thrusters using the same propellant.

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Section: Rgej Thruster Performancementioning

confidence: 73%

Section: Igm Numerical Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ionized Gas Module (Igm)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rgej Thruster Discharge Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ionized Gas Module (Igm)mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rarefied gas electro jet (RGEJ) micro-thruster for space propulsion

Blanco¹,

Roy²

2017

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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Effects of surface dielectric barrier discharge on aerodynamic characteristic of train

et al. 2017

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High-speed railway today has become an indispensable means of transportation due to its remarkable advantages, including comfortability, convenience and less pollution. The increase in velocity makes the air drag become the main source of energy consumption, leading to receiving more and more concerns. The surface dielectric barrier discharge has shown some unique characteristics in terms of active airflow control. In this paper, the influences of surface dielectric barrier discharge on the aerodynamic characteristics of a scaled train model have been studied. Aspects of the discharge power consumption, the temperature distribution, the velocity of induced flow and the airflow field around the train model were considered. The applied AC voltage was set in the range of 20 kV to 28 kV, with a fixed frequency of 9 kHz. Results indicated that the discharge power consumption, the maximum temperature and the induced flow velocity increased with increasing applied voltage. Mechanisms of applied voltage influencing these key parameters were discussed from the point of the equivalent circuit. The airflow field around the train model with different applied voltages was observed by the smoke visualization experiment. Finally, the effects of surface dielectric barrier discharge on the train drag reduction with different applied voltages were analyzed.

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Guided ionization waves: The physics of repeatability

Lü

Ostrikov

2018

Applied Physics Reviews

160

136

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Guided ionization waves, or plasma streamers, are increasingly important for many applications in spanning materials processing and biomedicine. The highly reproducible, repeatable behavior of the most puzzling kind of the streamers-plasma bullets is highly attractive as it promises a high degree of control in many applications. However, despite a dozen years since the discovery of this phenomenon, the exact reasons for such behavior still remain essentially unclear. To understand the dynamics of the guided ionization wave (plasma bullet), a large number of works have been carried out and many interesting results have been reported. Here, we critically examine the available results and generalize the physical mechanisms of the guided ionization waves, which are of particular interest to practical applications of atmospheric-pressure plasma discharges, in general. The critical examination of the fundamental principles will show that, in order to propagate in a repeatable-mode, the plasma bullet must propagate in a channel with a high seed electron density (HSED), which is on the order of 10 9 cm À3 . This review concludes that to distinguish guided ionization waves from traditional positive streamer discharges, it is most appropriate to describe an atmospheric-pressure discharge featuring a plasma bullet behavior as an HSED discharge. When the HSED condition is met, the dynamics of a plasma plume appears to be repeatable. On the contrary, it propagates in an unrepeatable mode and emerges more like a positive streamer discharge when the HSED condition is not satisfied. According to this theory, the transition of the propagation mode of the plasma bullet between the repeatable mode and the stochastic mode can be well explained. Besides by controlling the seed electron density around the transition region between the HSED discharge and the traditional positive streamer, this knowledge will help in better understanding of the positive streamer discharges in air, in cases relevant to practical applications of such plasma discharges in materials processing technologies, industrial chemistry, nanotechnology, and health care.

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Numerical study of low pressure air plasma in an actuated channel

Cited by 4 publications

References 23 publications

Rarefied gas electro jet (RGEJ) micro-thruster for space propulsion

Rarefied gas electro jet (RGEJ) micro-thruster for space propulsion

Effects of surface dielectric barrier discharge on aerodynamic characteristic of train

Guided ionization waves: The physics of repeatability

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