22P008-O
Effect of Passive Components on the Dielectric Barrier Discharge Based on aThree-electrode Geometry
３電極バリア放電に及ぼす受動素子付加の効果
Jerome Jolibois, Kazunori Takashima, and Akira Mizuno
ジェローム ジョリボア, 高島和則，水野彰
Dept. Environmental and Life Sciences, Toyohashi University Technology
1-1 Hibarigaoka, Tempaku-cho, Toyohashi 441-8580, Japan
豊橋技術科学大学 環境・生命工学系 〒441-8580 豊橋市天伯町雲雀ヶ丘1-1
This paper deals with a new way to change the electrical properties of a surface DBD. It consists ofintegrating in series passive components (i.e. HV resistor and coil) between the power supply and the plasma
discharge. The experimental measurements of current-discharge and applied voltage show that the injected
power within the plasma can be significantly modified. Moreover, results highlight a coupling between thesurface DBD and the power supply (at f = 4 kHz) when an inductive component is present, resulting a drop of
the electrical power consumption.

1. Introduction
Non-thermal plasmas appear as an innovative
approach to solve some industrial problems [1,2].
Among these, the surface dielectric barrier discharge(surface DBD) knows an important development inmany research areas: pollution control, active flowcontrol, etc. [3,4]. The abilities of this discharge arerelated to the injected power into the plasma.
In this paper, we present the effect of passive
components on the electrical properties of a surface
DBD. To achieve this, high-voltage resistors or coils
are integrated in series in the electric circuit.
2. Experimental setup
Figure 1 displays a schematic side-view of thesurface DBD used in this study. It is composed by
two electrodes (#1 and #2) flush mounted on eachside of a dielectric plate, plus a counter-electrode(#3) placed on the top side of the insulating wall.
This counter-electrode is relatively separated to theright edge of the electrode #1 by an air gap of 40 mm.
Electrodes made of aluminium are 50 μm-thick, 100mm-long (in spanwise), 20 mm-width for upper ones
and 15 mm for the bottom one. The dielectric used isan alumina plate (150 mm × 150 mm) of 1.5
mm-thick. The inter-gap between electrodes #1 and#2 is 5 mm.
An adjustable power supply is applied to theelectrode #1, as shown in Fig. 1. The AC highvoltage is obtained with the help of a transformer
supplied by a power amplifier. While electrodes #2and #3 are grounded. In addition, passivecomponents (HV resistor, coil) are placed in series
between the power supply and the surface DBD.

Fig. 1. Cross-view of the experimental setup.

The electric current flowing the plasma discharge
was measured via a non-inductive resistor. The
applied voltage V1 and the applied voltage acrossterminals of the surface DBD V2 were measured withHV probes (Tektronix, P6015A). Each electricalwaveform was monitored using a digital
oscilloscope (Tektronix, TDS2014B).
All experiments are conducted at atmosphericpressure, room temperature and low humidity rate
(RH ≈ 20%).
3. Results
Here, we investigate the effect of the frequency ofthe sine waveform. The frequency ranges tested isincluded between 0.5 to 4.5 kHz (maximumfrequency at which the transformer can operate).
3.1 High-voltage resistor
Fig. 2 presents the power consumption as afunction of the frequency (V1 = 12 kV) in presence
and absence of HV resistors in the electric circuit.
One can observe that the high-voltage resistor has nosignificant effect on the power consumed up to 3
kHz. In this case, its evolution is linear and is in goodagreement with the results from the literature [5].
Beyond this frequency value, the power drops

compared to the normal case (i.e. without resistor).
This decline is all the more surprising because it
occurs only at f = 4 kHz. Indeed, we see that 4.5 kHz
the power consumption increases again. It meansthat the discharge current is reduced probably due toa coupling between the power supply and the surface
DBD when the plasma operates at driving frequency
4 kHz.

This coupling appears to be related to a specificvalue of frequency (4 kHz), suggesting a tuning
frequency of the transformer. Furthermore, it isremarkable that this particular point occurs at thesame frequency whatever the inductor used. This isprobably due to the frequency range tested which israther narrow, i.e. 0.5 ≤ f ≤ 4.5 kHz.

Fig. 3. Power consumed versus frequency without andwith coil (0 ≤ L ≤ 3 H).
Fig. 2. Power consumed versus frequency without andwith HV resistor (0 ≤ R ≤ 10 kΩ).

3.2 CoilFig. 3. shows the electric power variation with thefrequency (V1 = 11 kV) in presence and absence ofcoil. In this figure, we see that coils significantly
affect the power consumed by the plasma discharge.
Here, the effect occurs for frequencies above 2 kHz.
Beyond 2kHz, an electric power gap is obtained
whatever the value of coil. It appears that the power
gain depends on the inductance value. For example,at 4.5 kHz, the power reaches about 40, 75 and 120
W with an inductance of 1, 2 and 3 H, respectively. Itmeans the discharge current is increased probably
due to an impedance matching of electrical circuit of
the surface DBD, which results an increase of theinjected energy into the plasma. Moreover, Chen [6]has highlighted, by numerical modeling, a similar
result (i.e. increase of plasma power) for a parallel
plate OAUGDP reactor by using an impedance
matching network, composed by inductance andcapacitance.
However, the discharge presents a particular
operating point when the signal frequency is 4 kHz.
Indeed, we notice that the power consumed drops
and this decrease seems to depend on the value ofinductance. The power decline highlights a coupling
between the power supply and the surface DBD.

4. Conclusion
In this paper, we have investigated the effect ofpassive components on the electrical properties of asurface DBD.
The main results are as follows:(1) With the HV resistor, the electric power ismodified for frequencies above 3 kHz, probably due
to the fact that the resistor is wire-wound.
(2) The coils significantly affect the discharge
current, which results an increase of the injectedenergy into the plasma.
(3) A coupling between the power supply and thesurface DBD as a function of frequency (here, f = 4kHz) is observed. So, a drop of power consumed
occurs.
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