A Two-Mode Portable Atmospheric Pressure Air
A Two-Mode Portable Atmospheric Pressure Air
A Two-Mode Portable Atmospheric Pressure Air
Abstract— In this paper, a low-cost and portable plasma device The use of atmospheric pressure nonthermal plasma for ster-
is developed to generate atmospheric pressure nonthermal air ilization, disinfection, blood coagulation, wound healing, etc.,
plasma jet for safe and effective biomedical applications. The has been investigated and obtained some achievements by sev-
device mainly consists of a pen electrode, a high-frequency ac
power supply, an ac/dc module, and a dc air pump, and it eral groups, and some novel atmospheric pressure nonthermal
totally costs only U.S. $63 and has a small size of 280 mm × plasma devices which employ various types of gas discharge
190 mm × 180 mm. The appearance of two-mode discharge have also been developed [5], [14]–[16]. Chang and Chen [17]
of half-wave and full-wave breakdown with the changing of reported a novel low-temperature atmospheric pressure device
applied voltage is identified, and the length of the plasma jet is based on dielectric barrier discharge and used it to inacti-
optimized through studying on the influences of distance between
two electrodes, gas flow rates, and hole diameters of the gas vate oral bacteria. Fridman et al. [18] developed a floating-
outflow in ground electrode. Stronger plasma with a longer jet electrode dielectric barrier discharge which can be touched
length of 12 mm can be obtained in the full-wave breakdown safely by human body and used it for blood coagulation and
discharge mode, while moderate plasma with a length of 8 mm living tissue sterilization. Chakravarthy et al. [19] reported a
can be obtained in the half-wave breakdown discharge mode. cold spark discharge atmospheric pressure plasma device, and
The discharge characteristics of the device such as the main
generated active particle, voltage and current, discharge power, they used it to suppress the progress of inflammatory bowel
and operation temperature are obtained. It is shown that rich disease. Weltmann et al. [20] reported a handheld atmospheric
active species for biomedical application can be generated at low pressure plasma jet device for medical therapy applications.
power of approximate 2 W and low operation temperature of Kang et al. [21] reported a portable microwave air plasma
approximate 40 °C. The developed device is tested for biomedical device for wound healing. Pei et al. [22] reported a room
application, and the results of effective sterilization of C. albicans
and blood coagulation are obtained. temperature, battery-operated, and handheld air plasma jet
device, and applied it to effectively inactivate multilayered
Index Terms— Coagulation, nonthermal plasma, plasma appli- E. faecalis biofilms. Wu et al. [23] reported a touchable
cation, plasma medicine, sterilization.
pulsed air plasma plume device and used it to kill E. faecalis
effectively. Up to now, several devices based on various kinds
I. I NTRODUCTION of discharge, driving power supply, and working gases have
Fig. 1. Schematic and photographs of the device. (a) Schematic and the experimental setup. (b) Photograph of the air jet touched by a finger. (c) Photograph
of inside accessories of the device. (d) Photograph of the total device.
a pen electrode, an ac/dc module (Philips, ADPC1936), and a the total weight of the device is less than 2 kg. The device
dc air pump (Jinan Inc., TMJ-3601), as shown in Fig. 1(a). The is also low cost, and its total cost is only U.S. $63 (with the
high-frequency ac power supply has a peak adjustable voltage high-frequency ac power supply of U.S. $18, dc air pump of
value from 0 to 2 kV and frequency of 40 kHz, and its output U.S. $7, pen electrode of U.S. $7, ac/dc module of U.S. $4,
is connected to the pen electrode directly. The pen electrode shell box of U.S. $17, machine and other small accessories
consists of a stainless steel needle (diameter: 1 mm and length: of U.S. $10).
65 mm) as high-voltage electrode and a coaxial cylinder
ground electrode (diameter: 4 mm and height: 4 mm) with III. C HARACTERISTICS AND O PTIMUM OF THE A IR J ET
one end of it being sealed and centrally perforated with a hole. The characteristics of the air jet such as its plasma
The grounded electrode is made of brass with cone shaped length, discharge power, generated active species, and oper-
inside facing the tip of the needle high-voltage electrode to ation temperature are important parameters which reflect
produce uneven electric field for generating plasma easily its performance and also determine the result treatment
at lower applied voltage. A polytetrafluoroethylene tube is effects [24]–[26]. For the air jet, they can be mainly influ-
inserted between the high-voltage electrode and the grounded enced and determined by the applied voltage, air flow rate,
electrode to fasten and insulate them, and two air flow ways are the distance between two electrodes and the hole diameter of
drilled on it to let the air flow through them. The breakdown the gas outflow in ground electrode, and the experiments are
is generated between the tip of the high-voltage electrode and carried out to investigate the influence of these parameters
the inside of the ground electrode, and is flown into ambient on the discharge characteristics, and thus to optimize the
atmosphere to form air jet through the hole in the ground operation parameters of the device. Detailed experimental
electrode. The generated plasma jet can be touched safely by setups are given in Fig. 1(a), and various used parameters are:
human body, as shown in Fig. 1(b). The air flow is provided the distance between two electrodes (1–6 mm), applied peak
by a microair dc pump which is powered by an ac/dc power voltage (0–2 kV), gas flow rates (3–10 slm), and hole diameter
module. A relay is used to control the switch of the high- of the gas outflow (4 and 6–10 mm). The current and voltage
frequency ac power supply and the ac/dc power module. waveforms are recorded by a digital oscilloscope (TDS-3054,
The device is a compact and portable one, as shown bandwidth: 500 MHz and sampling frequency: 5 GHz), and
in Fig. 1(c) and (d). All the part is put into a shell with a size they are measured with a current coil (Pearson 4100) and
of 280 mm × 190 mm × 180 mm, leaving the pen electrode a high-voltage probe (Tek P6015), respectively. The plasma
out of it and connected through a pluggable interface, and jet length is determined from the discharge images which
XU et al.: TWO-MODE PORTABLE ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE AIR PLASMA JET DEVICE 949
Fig. 3. Variation of the jet length and photographs with (a) different distances between electrodes (gas flow rate of 5 slm and hole diameter of 0.7 mm),
(b) gas flow rates (distance between electrodes of 5 mm and hole diameter of 0.7 mm), and (c) hole diameters (gas flow rate of 5 slm and distance between
electrodes of 5 mm).
discharge power, moderate species density and shorter jet Fig. 6. Photographs of the four groups of samples. (a) Control group A
length can be obtained in the half-wave breakdown discharge without plasma treatment. (b) Group B acted by air flow only. (c) Group C
mode at lower applied voltage. The reported two modes offer treated in the half-wave breakdown discharge mode. (d) Group D treated in
the full-wave breakdown discharge mode.
good options for intense or moderate atmospheric pressure
economic air plasma jet sources, which have great potential
for biomedical applications. For example, the air jet operated
in half-wave breakdown discharge mode can be used for the
coagulation of small wounds, inactivation of bacteria that
is easy to be killed, treatment of living tissues for longer
time without heat damage etc. While the air jet operated
in full-wave breakdown discharge mode can be used for
coagulation of relatively big wounds, inactivation of bacteria
that is difficult to be killed, rapid processing with high intensity
etc.
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metal filament particle within parallel-plate electrodes,” IEEE Trans. Ind. B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Department
Appl., vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 87–92, Jan. 2000. of Electrical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Tech-
[29] F. Liu, W. Wang, W. Zheng, and Y. Wang, “Investigation of spatially nology, Harbin, China, in 2008, 2010, and 2015,
resolved spectra of OH and N+ 2 in N2 and H2 O mixture wire-plate respectively.
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Spectrosc., vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 776–781, 2008. jing Tech University, Nanjing, China. His current
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plasma jet generated with a floating electrode at atmospheric pressure,” Zhi Fang (M’10–SM’15) was born in Heilongjiang,
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[33] X. J. Huang, Y. Xin, L. Yang, Q. H. Yuan, and Z. Y. Ning, “Spectro- in electrical engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong Uni-
scopic study on rotational and vibrational temperature of N2 and N+ 2
versity, Xi’an, China, in 1999, 2002 and 2005,
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[34] X. Tu, B. G. Chéron, J. H. Yan, and K. F. Cen, “Electrical and Plasma Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia,
spectroscopic diagnostic of an atmospheric double arc argon plasma PA, USA, from 2011 to 2012. He is currently a Pro-
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[35] X. Tu, B. Verheyde, S. Corthals, S. Paulussen, and B. F. Sels, “Effect His current research interests include atmospheric
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Yaowei Shi was born in Jiangsu, China, in 1993.
He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineer-
ing from Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China,
in 2016, where he is currently pursuing the M.S.
degree.
His current research interests include the discharge
characteristics of atmospheric pressure plasma jet
and its applications.
Nan Xu was born in Jiangsu, China, in 1993. Ruoyu Zhou was born in Jiangsu, China, in 1994.
She received the B.S. degree in electrical engineer- He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineer-
ing from Yancheng Teachers University, Yancheng, ing from Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, China,
China, in 2016. She is currently pursuing the in 2016, where he is currently pursuing the M.S.
M.S. degree with Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, degree.
China. His current research interests include the discharge
Her current research interests include discharge characteristics of atmospheric pressure plasma jet
characteristics of atmospheric pressure plasma jet and its applications.
and its applications.