Pin-to-mesh glow discharge in air at atmospheric pressure

In this paper a pin-to-mesh discharge in atmospheric air is studied with the perspective to develop an easily scalable DC-excited source of non-thermal plasma for gas cleaning applications. Air is flowing parallel to the discharge axis with velocities up to 15 m/s. The influence of the gas flow direction and the inter-electrode distance on the discharge properties are investigated. It is found that for a pin cathode and for sufficiently high inter-electrode distances the discharge operates in the glow regime. In this regime the discharge is an efficient medium for the production of radicals and other oxidizing species. The threshold currents prior to sparking depend on the flow direction and are the highest when the flow is directed from the pin cathode to the mesh anode.