An Maximization of Ionic Wind Utilizing a Cylindrical Corona Electrode

A corona discharge system with needle point or wire type corona electrode has been well used as an ionic wind blower. The corona discharge system with a needle point electrode produces ions at lower applied voltage effectively. However, the corona discharge on the needle point electrode transits to the arc discharge at lower voltage, and it is hard to obtain the elevated electric field in the discharge airgap for enhancing the ion migration velocity due to the weak Coulomb force. A cylindrical corona electrode with sharp round tip is reported as one of effective corona electrode, because of its higher breakdown voltage than that of the needle electrode. A basic study, for the effectiveness of cylindrical electrode shape on the ionic wind generation, has been investigated to obtain an maximum wind velocity, which however is the final goal for the real field application of this kind ionic wind blower. In this paper, a parametric study for maximizing the ionic wind velocity utilizing the cylindrical corona electrode and a maximum ion wind velocity of 4.1 m/s were obtained, which is about 1.8 times higher than that of 2.3m/s obtained with the needle corona electrode from the velocity profile.