Characteristics and Spectral Analysis of the Back-Corona Discharge Using Different Power Supplies

Back-corona discharge (BCD) is a new method to generate high-concentration and low-temperature plasma. The characteristics of the back-corona excited by different power supplies are different. In this article, a BCD system consisting of three power supplies, discharge electrodes, honeycomb medium, and detection devices was established. The characteristics of the BCD were studied by using voltage-current curves, photos of the discharge process, spectral analysis, and discharge parameter comparison. The experimental results show that a peak discharge current is generated on the rising and falling edges of the discharge pulses. Meanwhile, the pulse current repetition rate of the negative discharge is higher than that of the positive discharge. With the increasing voltage, the development process of the pulse BCD is more stable than that of the dc discharge. From the emission spectrum, the types of excited active particles of three BCD plasma in the near-ultraviolet band are basically the same. The rotation temperature of the dc plasma is higher than that of the pulse plasma. The vibration temperature of the pulse plasma is higher than that of the dc plasma. The advantages of the pulsed BCD in generating the low-temperature plasma are discussed.