Development of a Large-Scale Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactor and Optimization of Discharge Uniformity Based on Gas Path Modularization

Atmospheric pressure plasma has the advantages of low pollution, convenient operation and convenient application, which is applied to change chemical composition and electrical properties of material surface. However, in practical applications, the large size of most materials makes conventional plasma reactors unsuitable. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a large-scale reactor to increase the plasma discharge area. In this paper, a large-scale dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor is developed based on gas path modularization, and the discharge uniformity is optimized through simulation. The results show that the increase in dielectric thickness weakens the edge effect of electrodes and reduces the electric field in the discharge gap. The unit spacing and path depth of modularized gas path greatly affect the air flow distribution, and the air flow distribution is optimal as the unit spacing is 10 cm and the path depth is 4 cm. The increase in gas flow rate is helpful for the uniform distribution of the gas flow, but the uniformity of is destroyed as the inlet flow rate is greater than 7 L/min. After completing the structural optimization, a uniform plasma discharge can be achieved in the length of 1.12 m.