Low-Current "Gliding Arc" in an Air Flow

• Published in: IEEE transactions on plasma science Vol. 39; no. 12; pp. 3319 - 3325
• Main Authors: Korolev, Y. D., Frants, O. B., Geyman, V. G., Landl, N. V., Kasyanov, V. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.12.2011; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Air flow; Arc discharges; Breakdown; Discharge; Electric fields; Electrodes; Gas discharges; Gliding; Gliding arc; glow discharge; Glow discharges; glow-to-spark transition; hydrocarbon oxidation; Low level; Oxidation; Plasma physics; Plasmas; Positive columns
• ISSN: 0093-3813; 1939-9375
• DOI: 10.1109/TPS.2011.2151885

This paper describes the result of the investigation of a gas discharge in a flow of air with electrode geometry typical for the so-called gliding arc. The feature characteristic of the experimental conditions is a rather low level of an average discharge current (of about 0.2 A). The discharge is initiated due to a spark breakdown in the narrow part of the gap. After that, the spark discharge is transformed into a kind of a glow discharge. At the subsequent stage, the plasma column travels in the gap under the effect of a gas flow, and the current is sustained in the regime of a normal glow discharge. The typical cathode-voltage-drop value in this regime is estimated to be about 300 V, an average electric field in the positive column plasma is (700-800) V/cm, and the neutral-particle temperature in the negative glow region is T ≈ 1100 K.