Design of a current converter to maximize the power into homogeneous dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) devices

¹ Université de Toulouse; INPT, UPS; LAPLACE (Laboratoire Plasma et Conversion d’Energie); ENSEEIHT, 2 rue Charles Camichel, BP 7122, 31071 Toulouse cedex 7, France
² CNRS; LAPLACE, 31071 Toulouse, France

^a e-mail: xavier.bonnin@laplace.univ-tlse.fr

Received: 8 February 2013
Revised: 9 July 2013
Accepted: 22 July 2013
Published online: 8 October 2013

Abstract

This paper proposes a design approach of an electrical power supply intended to offer an especially well-suited supply mode, through the efficient control of the current injected into a DBD setup. The proposed topology is aimed at controlling the operating point of the electrical discharge, thereby allowing favoring the homogeneous regime, and maximizing the electrical power injected into the plasma. The power supply structure is designed on the basis of causality criteria and of an analytical analysis of the electrical waveforms, which are derived from an equivalent circuit model of the DBD. Design issues of this electrical generator are detailed and experimental analysis of its operation, together with actual performances are presented. A very good agreement is obtained by comparing simulation and experiments. Effective ability to control the power transfers by means of its two degrees of freedom (current magnitude and frequency) is highlighted.