Efficiency and de-icing capability of nanosecond pulsed dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators

Master thesis (2016)

Contributors

G. Correale (mentor)
Programme
Aerodynamics (Aerospace Engineering) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2016 Van den Broecke, J.
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Published Date

29-03-2016

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Programme

Aerodynamics

Abstract

In this work a study was performed on the electrical, fluid-mechanical and net efficiency of nanosecond-pulsed dielectric barrier discharge (ns-DBD) plasma actuators. The plasma actuator efficiency was tested for dielectric barriers with a thickness between 0.5 and 1.5mm and made out of four different materials: Kapton, Lexan, PTFE and silicone rubber. Also, ns-DBD plasma actuators were investigated for their use as de-icing devices. This type of plasma actuator has been studied in research for its flow-control properties, however, this work investigated the same device for its use as a de-icing device. The cold-climate wind energy industry is still looking for a good working and reliable de-icing device. The ns-DBD plasma actuator could serve a double purpose on a wind turbine rotor blade by being both a flow-control device and a de-icing device. Experiments were performed at the Offshore Wind Infrastructure lab (OWI-lab) and confirmed that the ns-DBD plasma actuator can be used for de-icing. Part of the experiments were performed with a ns-DBD plasma actuator having an extended discharge and during the experiments performed in this research discharge lengths of up to 4cm were obtained.