Separation Control Using DBD Plasma Actuators: Designs for Thrust Enhancement

New plasma actuators designed for enhanced flow control authority are made by increasing asymmetry of thrust during the Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) actuation cycle. This is done by a change of circuitry and by adding a semi-conductive layer on top of the dielectric surface, both for effective discharging of the dielectric. Compared to the conventional sinusoidal waveform driven plasma actuators, the new designs increases the thrust by about 70% when operating at the same frequency and voltage. Measurements indicate that increases in conductivity of the semi-conductive layer lead to increasingly higher thrust.