Regular Article

Development of a low-cost atmospheric non-thermal plasma jet and its characteristics in air and nitrogen

¹ Plasma and Nuclear Fusion Department, Nuclear Research Center, Atomic Energy Authority, Egypt
² Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering -- Shoubra, Benha University, Egypt

^a e-mail: ahmedlashin27@yahoo.com

Received: 14 June 2016
Revised: 7 August 2016
Accepted: 4 October 2016
Published online: 28 October 2016

Abstract

This paper deals with the development of a low-cost atmospheric non-thermal plasma jet (ANPJ) which was designed and operated previously in our laboratory. The purpose of the developed design with a small size less than 4% of the previous volume is to obtain a more portable device which holds promise for various fields of applications. The discharge is operated separately with compressed air and nitrogen gas with flow rates varied within the range of 3–18 L/min. The plasma plume length and thickness are measured as a function of the gas flow rate and input voltage V_input within the range of 3–18 L/min and 2–6 kV respectively. The results showed that for nitrogen gas, the maximum values of the plume length and thickness are 20 mm and 1.3 mm respectively at a flow rate of 12 L/min and V_input = 6 kV. Results of electrical characterization at V_input = 6 kV such as discharge voltage, discharge current, the mean consumed power and energy showed that the maximum values of these parameters are obtained at a flow rate of 12 L/min. The developed design is found to be saving up to 65.47% and 68.54% of the consumed power compared to the previous design in the case of air and N₂ respectively. The new proposed configuration for the developed ANPJ offers more suitable characteristics than the earlier designs, especially for nitrogen gas.