Analysis and design of pulse frequency modulation discontinuous-current-mode dielectric barrier corona discharge with constant applied electrode voltage

In dielectric barrier corona discharge (DBCD) used in material surface treatment, how to obtain a constant peak applied electrode voltage when regulating the power is an important issue as the voltage considerably influences the discharge stability and characteristics. In this study discontinuous current mode (DCM) is used in DBCD for surface treatment. The peak applied electrode voltage is constant when the output power is regulated with pulse frequency modulation, which is simpler than conventional control schemes. Moreover, the power regulation is linear with the operating frequency. Thus, the close-loop design is much easier. Moreover, zero-current-switch turn-on and zero-voltage-zero-current-switch turn-off are achieved with a high frequency and power density. The time-domain analysis is simple in DCM and the expressions for key parameters, in terms of the tank gain and the capacitance ratio, are presented. The conduction loss is confirmed to be relatively low in DCM because of the essential characteristic of DBCD load. A design procedure is presented and the magnetic integration technique is used for specified transformer leakage inductance. The accuracy of the deduced expressions and design methodologies is verified by simulation and experimental results.