Dielectric Barrier Discharge Characteristics of Multineedle-to-Cylinder Configuration

A dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) produces a homogenous discharge with low energy consumption, offering broad developmental prospects, and this discharge process is also the mechanism through which charges are transported. Higher reaction efficiency is achieved when more charges are transported. Focusing on the electrode configuration of the multineedle-to-cylinder (MC) system, i.e., the structure of needles arrayed on the inner coaxial rod, the effect of needle arrangement, including needle length (NL), inter axial needle distance (ID), and inter axial needle rotation angle (INRA), on the transported charge per cycle and discharge power in DBDs is investigated. The finite-element method (FEM) and quasi-static field simulation are adopted to study the active region (AR) where the electric field strength exceeds the breakdown electric field strength between MC electrodes because this region plays a dominant role in DBD. The improvement of its volume ratio in the reactor allows an increase in discharge power. The simulation results are in accordance with the experimental results, which illustrate that quasi-static field simulation is effective and reliable. Simulation results show that mutual effects of nearby needles and between needles and the inner rod exist. As a result, shorter ID (1.5 mm), needles with similar lengths (3.5 mm) are arranged, and an INRA of 0° is proven to be the optimal structure because it produces the highest AR volume ratio. The result is experimentally validated by transported charges per cycle and discharge power obtained through Lissajous figures. OPEN ACCESS Energies 2011, 4 2134