Elongated DBD with floating interelectrodes for actuators

¹ Centre for Plasma and Laser Engineering, The Szewalski Institute of Fluid Flow Machinery, Polish Academy of Sciences, Fiszera 14, 80952 Gdańsk, Poland
² Department of Marine Electronics, Gdynia Maritime University, Morska 81-87, 81225 Gdynia, Poland

^a e-mail: aberendt@imp.gda.pl

Received: 2 November 2010
Revised: 23 December 2010
Accepted: 3 January 2011
Published online: 21 July 2011

Abstract

In this paper the use of a floating interelectrode for dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators applied in aerodynamics is described. The velocity profiles of airflow generated by a single-DBD actuator with the floating interelectrode are presented. Also double-DBD and multi-DBD plasma actuators with floating interelectrodes were investigated to get a longer DBD on a dielectric surface. Obtained results show that the DBDs with floating interelectrodes are capable of extending the plasma area on the dielectric surface. The airflow induced by the successive DBD sets with floating interelectrodes in the multi-DBD actuator had the same direction enhancing the net airflow. The airflow velocity produced by the investigated multi-DBD actuator was up to 10 m/s. This suggests that multi-DBD actuators with floating interelectrodes can be attractive for many aerodynamic purposes.