An experimental analysis of ionic wind velocity characteristics in a needle-plate electrode system by means of laser-induced phosphorescence

A flow velocity measurement of ionic wind fields under DC corona discharge on a needle-plate electrode system was experimentally investigated. In this work, a vapor-phase biacetyl tracer with laser-induced phosphorescence phenomenon was applied to optically characterize the ionic wind profile. The phosphorescence radiation was used as a molecular tagging of the ionic wind and the lifetime of phosphorescence emission from the excited biacetyl tracer was much longer than the fluorescence emission. Since this method was advantaged for the measurement of high-speed area, the velocity measurement was focused on the tip of corona discharge electrode. The characteristics of ionic wind velocity were analyzed as a function of the corona discharge current from the discharge electrode. This paper presents the experimental approach to ionic wind measurement with laser-induced phosphorescence phenomenon and the ionic wind characteristics depended on several electrical conditions of the corona discharge current.