Dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor
AssigneeOffice National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aerospatiales
InventorsPaul-Quentin ELIAS, Radoslaw DEBEK, Maria Elena GALVEZ
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Abstract
A dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor, for activating a gas-phase chemical reaction, includes at least one tubular pipe made of dielectric material, an inner electrode and an outer electrode. The inner electrode is limited to the inlet of an active zone of the reactor, so that voltage pulses applied between both electrodes generate propagating discharges in the active zone. The reactor produces a volume-contact between a gas stream containing reactants and a plasma created by the discharges, allowing effective transfer of activation energy between the plasma and the reactants.
Claims13
A dielectric barrier discharge plasma reactor for activating a gas-phase chemical reaction, comprising:
- at least one tubular pipe made of dielectric material, which has a central axis and is arranged to guide a gas stream containing one or more reactant(s) from an inlet end to an outlet end of said tubular pipe, and for each tubular pipe (11):
- /i/ an inner electrode, positioned in the tubular pipe with a radial interval of separation between said inner electrode and said tubular pipe;
- and
- /ii/ an outer electrode, positioned outside the tubular pipe, and arranged to produce an electrical potential which is uniform in a longitudinal segment of an outer surface of the tubular pipe, a volume internal to the tubular pipe which is superposed on said longitudinal segment in an orthogonal projection on the central axis being called active zone of the reactor,
- the reactor further comprising:
- an electrical source, which is connected between the inner electrode and the outer electrode of each tubular pipe,
- wherein, for each tubular pipe:
- /iii/ the inner electrode is positioned in the tubular pipe near a boundary of the active zone, called the upstream boundary of the active zone, which is oriented towards one among the inlet end and the outlet end, said inner electrode having a spike shape directed towards the other one among the inlet end and the outlet end, and extending parallel to the central axis towards said other one among the inlet end and the outlet end without exceeding 10% of a length of the active zone, according to a measurement made parallel to said central axis from the upstream boundary of the active zone to a tip of the inner electrode;
- and
- /iv/ an inside diameter of the tubular pipe in the active zone is between 0.05 mm and 10 mm,
- and wherein the electrical source is adapted to deliver, during an operation of the reactor, voltage pulses which are alternately positive and negative, with a maximum absolute value for the voltage of each pulse which is adapted to produce an electrical discharge in the gas stream, inside the active zone, in accordance with a voltage sign convention which corresponds to an electrical potential of the inner electrode from which is subtracted an electrical potential of the outer electrode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.