Research on the Plasma Anemometer Based on AC Glow Discharge

Journal of Sensors, Feb 2017

A new plasma anemometer based on AC glow discharge is designed in this article. Firstly, theoretical analysis of plasma anemometer working principle is introduced to prove the feasibility of the experimental measurement method. Then the experiments are carried out to study the effects of different parameters on the static discharge characteristics of the plasma anemometer system, by which the system optimization methods are obtained. Finally, several groups of appropriate parameters are selected to build the plasma anemometer system based on resistance capacitance coupling negative feedback AC glow discharge, and different airflow speeds are applied to obtain the achievable velocity measurement range. The results show that there is a linear relationship between airflow velocity and discharge current in an allowable error range, which can be applied for airflow velocity measurement. Negative feedback coupling module, which is composed of the coupling resistance and the coupling capacitance, has good effects on improving the system stability. The measurement range of the airflow velocity is significantly increased when the electrode gap is 3 mm, coupling resistance is 470 Ω, and coupling capacitance is 220 pF.

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Research on the Plasma Anemometer Based on AC Glow Discharge

Research on the Plasma Anemometer Based on AC Glow Discharge Bing Yu, Enyu Shen, Pei Yuan, and Huaxu Shen Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Aerospace Power System, Key Laboratory of Aero-Engine Thermal Environment and Structure, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Nanjing 210016, China Correspondence should be addressed to Bing Yu; nc.ude.aaun@302by Received 6 December 2016; Revised 5 February 2017; Accepted 7 February 2017; Published 28 February 2017 Academic Editor: Paolo Bruschi Copyright © 2017 Bing Yu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract A new plasma anemometer based on AC glow discharge is designed in this article. Firstly, theoretical analysis of plasma anemometer working principle is introduced to prove the feasibility of the experimental measurement method. Then the experiments are carried out to study the effects of different parameters on the static discharge characteristics of the plasma anemometer system, by which the system optimization methods are obtained. Finally, several groups of appropriate parameters are selected to build the plasma anemometer system based on resistance capacitance coupling negative feedback AC glow discharge, and different airflow speeds are applied to obtain the achievable velocity measurement range. The results show that there is a linear relationship between airflow velocity and discharge current in an allowable error range, which can be applied for airflow velocity measurement. Negative feedback coupling module, which is composed of the coupling resistance and the coupling capacitance, has good effects on improving the system stability. The measurement range of the airflow velocity is significantly increased when the electrode gap is 3 mm, coupling resistance is 470 Ω, and coupling capacitance is 220 pF. 1. Introduction Airflow velocity measurement technology is a long-studied subject, and it has been widely applied in many fields, such as aviation, spaceflight, meteorology, and military [1]. Due to the strict requirements of the traditional anemometers for measuring environment, these anemometers cannot measure the airflow velocity accurately and even cannot work in the harsh environment. Although the rotor or cup type mechanical anemometers can measure airflow from different directions, big size and poor accuracy limit their developments [2]. Pitot tube anemometers have better accuracy for measuring high airflow velocity and are not affected by air pollution; however large size and bad accuracy for low speed measurements are main defects [3]. The piezoelectric anemometers also can measure airflow from different directions; however, the anemometers are easily affected by temperature and even fail to work in high temperature environment [4]. The above anemometers all have some limitations, so new measurement technology which can measure airflow velocity in harsh environment and meet different measurement requirements is desired. And then a plasma airflow velocity measurement method based on gas discharge emerged. The concept of anemometer based on gas discharge can be traced back to the last century; it was firstly presented through the relationship between voltage, current, and wind speed in gas discharge test by Lindvall [5]. A German research team inspired by the work of Lindvall applied gas discharge to measure turbulence and ultimately achieved success in 1941. In the following three years, relevant experimental data was summarized well by Fucks, and some airflow velocity measurement rules based on gas discharge were obtained [6]. A low noise DC glow discharge anemometer was designed successfully by Mettler in 1949, and it was applied to measure the 1.6 Ma supersonic flow field and obtained the good effect [7]. Corona discharge was employed to measure airflow velocity by Werner and Geronime, which made good achievement in 1953 [8]. With the rapid development of electronic technology and the researches on gas discharge, the plasma anemometer based on glow discharge designed by Vrebalovich was continually improved by Matlis and Corke after 2003. The frequency of the discharge power supply was increased, and the voltage of the discharge power supply was decreased, which greatly reduced the power required by the glow discharge and the damage to the plate. The biggest progress is mainly in two aspects: first, the measuring probe reaching μm level through adopting MEMS (microelectromechanical system) manufacturing technology, which reduced the effect of the probe on the airflow field, and the sensor had better resolution; second, applying the constant current glow discharge system for error control and using the computer to collect discharge signal, process the data, and control current of the discharg (...truncated)


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Bing Yu, Enyu Shen, Pei Yuan, Huaxu Shen. Research on the Plasma Anemometer Based on AC Glow Discharge, Journal of Sensors, 2017, 2017, DOI: 10.1155/2017/1702671