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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE, VOL. 40, NO. 6, JUNE 2012
Discharge Characteristics of a
Cold-Atmospheric-Plasma Jet Array Generated
With Single-Electrode Configuration
Qian-Qian Fan, Mu-Yang Qian, Chun-Sheng Ren, Dezhen Wang, and Xiaoqiong Wen
Abstract—In this paper, a cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) jet
array is generated by a 2-D array device of seven CAP jets
arranged in a honeycomb configuration and designed with single-
electrode configuration as the elemental plasma jet. The work is
motivated by the challenge of using inherently small atmospheric
plasmas to address many large-scale processing applications. The
discharge characteristics of the plasma jet array are investigated
based on detailed electrical, spectroscopic, and imaging charac-
terizations. The CAP jet array is shown to achieve good temporal
jet–jet uniformity. Furthermore, the dynamic behavior of the jet
discharges is studied particularly through two series of intensified-
charge-coupled-device images taken at the end views. It has been
found that the seven jets show a good temporal synchronization
and jet–jet uniformity, as well as rich dynamics of jet–jet in-
teractions such as a slight repulsion at surrounding jet heads,
particularly for a small gas flow rate of helium. These dynamic
features offer possible insights with which to better control the
jet–jet interactions and further optimize the design of large-scale
CAP sources.
Index Terms—Plasma, plasma diagnosis, plasma jet array.
Fig. 1. Schematic of the CAP jet array configuration with both (left) side view
and (right) end view.
I. INTRODUCTION
this kind of application is by grouping many CAP jets together
to form an array of plasma jets. While extensive studies and
considerable advance have been made with individual plasma
jets [8]–[19], CAP jet arrays are far less studied [20]–[25].
Driven by the exciting prospects for a range of commercial
large-scale applications, several cold-plasma jet array devices
of scalable 1-D and 2-D arrays have been designed by Lu et al.
[22], Cao et al. [23], [24], and Nie et al. [25]. These plasmas
are capable of a direct production of reactive species near large-
scale 3-D objects with tight control of plasma stability, which
are generated with capillary–ring electrode configuration or
with a downstream ground electrode. Our work aims to develop
a 2-D CAP jet array with single-electrode configuration as
the elemental plasma jet and with its ability to treat complex
3-D heat-sensitive biomedical material. Properties of the jet
array discharge are investigated by means of detailed electrical,
spectroscopic, and imaging diagnoses. The rest of this paper is
organized as follows. The experimental setup is described in
Section II. Details of the experimental results are presented in
Section III. Finally, the conclusions are given in Section IV.
OWADAYS, utilization of cold atmospheric plasmas
(CAPs) is studied with growing interest, and many con-
N
figurations and applications are investigated for its remarkable
advantages compared with plasma applications in vacuum sys-
tems, such as low operating cost, reduction of investment, and
production of abundant radical species [1]–[5]. One of CAP
sources is jet type, which can generate plasmas in open space
rather than in confined discharge gaps and is characterized by
flexibility, compact, and efficiency [6]–[9]. A promising CAP
jet device for applications is the plasma needle with a single-
electrode configuration, which makes it possible for direct
treatments that have no limitation on the size of the objects to be
treated [10]–[15]. However, for most of the plasma jet devices,
the plasma jets cover only a few square millimeters, which
make them difficult for large-scale applications, such as surface
coating, deposition, cleaning, and medicine. One way to meet
Manuscript received August 6, 2011; revised October 28, 2011; accepted
March 8, 2012. Date of publication April 9, 2012; date of current version
June 6, 2012. This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China under Grants 51077008 and 11175037.
The authors are with the Center for the Plasma Science and Engineering,
School of Physics and Optoelectronic Technology, Dalian University of Tech-
nology, Dalian 116024, China (e-mail: ; qmy198502@
eyou.com; ; ; ).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
II. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The 2-D CAP jet array considered in this study is shown
schematically in Fig. 1, with a honeycomb configuration show-
ing its structural details with both side and end views. As
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPS.2012.2191307
0093-3813/$31.00 © 2012 IEEE
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