Coronal discharges in air
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
Non-thermal plasmas generated through streamer coronas are of current interest due to their application to pollution control devices. A streamer coronal discharge produces non-thermal energetic electrons which, through dissociation and ionization processes, generate active radicals that in turn react with toxic molecules. Non-thermal plasma techniques can be used to destroy many types of hazardous molecules. For a given chemical gas mixture, the energy distribution of the electrons produced as the streamer bridges the gap between the electrodes is determined by the spatial and temporal evolution of streamer coronas. Streamers propagate due to a highly non-linear space charge driven ionization wave. The authors have developed a multi-dimensional coronal discharge model that can be applied to arbitrarily shaped electrode structures. They have applied this code to study some of the issues related to finding the optimum working conditions for streamer corona reactors. Their results show that the radial components of the electron flow and the space charge field are very important in providing an accurate picture of the streamer morphology. Results are shown for point-to-plane simulations with a 2 cm gap in air for various voltages.
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 67860
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9310400--
- Journal Information:
- Bulletin of the American Physical Society, Journal Name: Bulletin of the American Physical Society Journal Issue: 13 Vol. 38; ISSN BAPSA6; ISSN 0003-0503
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
The morphology of streamer coronas
Alternating nonsteady gas-discharge modes in an atmospheric-pressure air flow blown through a point-plane gap