Investigation of Atmospheric Pressure Discharges for Ionic Wind

Abstract

Ionic wind generated by corona discharge at atmospheric pressure has been investigated for propulsion and cooling applications for its low noise, simplicity of device design, and low power consumption. This thesis work focuses on enhancing ionic wind generation by analyzing the effects of positive and negative corona, glow, spark discharge. Velocity and temperature of ionic wind were measured using a vane anemometer, and flow patterns were analyzed through schlieren photography. In corona discharge, higher plasma power, especially under negative bias polarity, leads to increased ionic wind velocity. In glow discharges, despite an increase in current, the ionic wind velocity remains approximately constant, attributed to the formation of eddies caused by charged particle collisions at the counter electrode. The positive spark discharge produces ionic winds twice as fast as that of the corona discharge. In contrast, the negative spark discharge produces ionic winds two times slower than that of the corona discharge. The competition between gas heating and axial momentum transfer in the ion collision process is discussed.