Performance Evaluation of Plasma Actuator with Painted Surface

A dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuator (DBDPA) is a fluid control device consisting of electrodes asymmetrically arranged on the front and back of a dielectric. After measuring the emissivity of the DBDPA with a blackbody spray, the surface temperature of the DBDPA is measured with an infrared camera. However, the effect on the performance of the DBDPA has not been discussed in detail. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of spray coating on the performance of the DBDPA. To this end, thrust and power consumption were measured under two conditions: no spray coating and coating only on the dielectric surface, and the performance was compared. Thrust was measured using an electronic balance to measure the reaction force of the induced flow. Power consumption was calculated using the V-Q Lissajous method. The experimental results confirmed that when only the dielectric was coated, thrust and power consumption increased, and efficiency improved.