Power consumption, discharge capacitance and light emission as measures for thrust production of dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators

A new procedure of determining the time resolved capacitance of a plasma actuator during operation is introduced, representing a simple diagnostic tool that provides insight into the phenomenological behavior of plasma actuators. The procedure is demonstrated by presenting example correlations between consumed electrical energy, size of the plasma region, and the operating voltage. It is shown that the capacitance of a plasma actuator is considerably increased by the presence of the plasma; hence a system that has previously been impedance matched can be considerably de-tuned when varying the operating voltage of the actuator. Such information is fundamental for any attempts to increase the energy efficiency of plasma-actuator systems. A combined analysis of the capacitance, light emission, size of the plasma region, force production, and power consumption is presented. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3603030]