Dynamics behavior of homogeneous dielectric barrier discharge at atmospheric pressure

Abstract

An experimental study on the dynamics behavior of homogeneous dielectric barrier discharge (HDBD) at atmospheric pressure is described in this paper. Two kinds of discharge mode, glow and Townsend discharge modes, can be easily identified according to the differential conductivity of current-voltage relationship in the ascent stage of discharge current for the atmospheric HDBD. A (three-dimensional) 3D phase space made by discharge current, gas gap voltage, and charge density of dielectric-plate surface was utilized in the study. By projecting the discharge evolution trajectory in the 3D space, the 3D trajectory of multiple current peaks discharge in atmospheric helium shows a limited cycle with convolutions and undergoes a series of bifurcation process; however, the 3D trajectory of atmospheric N2 HDBD is a limited cycle without any convolution and bifurcation process. In addition, the first ionization coefficient of working gas plays a key role to determine the discharge mode of atmospheric HDBD, the transition of discharge mode and the dynamics stability of atmospheric HDBD.