Uniformity optimization and dynamic studies of plasma jet array interaction in argon

Abstract

In this paper, the uniformity of a microsecond pulse driven argon plasma jet array is studied by optimizing experimental parameters, such as the ground electrode position d, gas flow rate, and pulse frequency. The results show that when d is less than 10 mm, there are always two plasma jets that cannot be ignited; while all jets are ignited with equal length at d = 12.5 mm. The plasma jet transition from laminar to turbulent at 6 l/min, presenting a “bead-like” structure. The jet length increases with the pulse repetition frequency and reaches a plateau at around 1.5 kHz. The ICCD images show that the plasma jets emerged preferably from the two quartz tubings located at the two ends of the linear array. The spatial-temporal resolved spectra show that the Ar emission (763.5 nm) and N2 emission (337.1 nm) at the end of the array (e.g., Jet #1) appeared earlier than that of the jet in the middle (e.g., Jet #2). On the contrary, the emission intensities of Ar in Jet #2 are higher than in Jet #1. This is due to the higher electric field and air diffusion at the plasma array boundary.