Experimental investigation on electrical characteristics of alternating current arc plasma igniter

Summary form only given. Electrical characteristics of alternating current (AC) arc plasma igniter with feedstock gas air at atmospheric pressure were investigated. The discharge voltage and arc current were measured in the air breakdown and stable arc combustion processes respectively, and the current-zero phenomena, volt-ampere characteristics at different feedstock gas flow rates were studied. The results indicated that feedstock gas air between anode and cathode could be ionized to form arc discharge when the discharge voltage reached up to 8 kV, and the maximum arc current was 33.36A. When arc current came to zero, current-zero phenomena appeared with duration of 2μs. At current-zero moment, arc resistance between electrodes became extremely high, and the maximum value could reach up to 445 kΩ, which was the main factor to restrain the arc current. As feedstock gas flow rates increasing, the gradient of volt-ampere characteristic curves enlarged, so was the arc resistance, due to the constant driven power, the arc voltage increased.