Experimental Analysis of

Dielectric Barrier Discharge

F. F. Rodrigues
Center for Mechanical and Aerospace
Science and Technology (C-MAST),
Universidade da Beira Interior,
Covilha 6200, Portugal
e-mail: frederic@ubi.pt
J. C. Pascoa
Center for Mechanical and Aerospace
Science and Technology (C-MAST),
Universidade da Beira Interior,
Covilha 6200, Portugal
e-mail: pascoa@ubi.pt
M. Trancossi
Faculty of Arts, Computing,
Engineering and Sciences,
Sheffield Hallam University,
Sheffield S1 1WB, UK
e-mail: m.trancossi@shu.ac.uk
Plasma Actuators Thermal
Characteristics Under External
Flow Influence
Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators have several applications within
the field of active flow control. Separation control, wake control, aircraft noise reduction,
modification of velocity fluctuations, or boundary layer control are just some examples of
their applications. They present several attractive features such as their simple construc-
tion, very low mass, fast response, low power consumption, and robustness. Besides their
aerodynamic applications, these devices have also possible applications within the field
of heat transfer, for example film cooling applications or ice formation prevention. How-
ever, due to the extremely high electric fields in the plasma region and consequent impos-
sibility of applying classic intrusive techniques, there is a relative lack of information
about DBDs thermal characteristics. In an attempt to overcome this scenario, this work
describes the thermal behavior of DBD plasma actuators under different flow conditions.
Infra-red thermography measurements were performed in order to obtain the tempera-
ture distribution of the dielectric layer and also of the exposed electrode. During this
work, we analyzed DBD plasma actuators with different dielectric thicknesses and also
with different dielectric materials, whose thermal behavior is reported for the first time.
The results allowed to conclude that the temperature distribution is not influenced by the
dielectric thickness, but it changes when the actuator operates under an external flow.
We also verified that, although in quiescent conditions the exposed electrode temperature
is higher than the plasma region temperature, the main heat energy dissipation occurs in
the dielectric, more specifically in the plasma formation region.
[DOI: 10.1115/1.4040152]

Introduction originates an ionic wind, which blows across the actuator and,
consequently, it induces the adjacent air toward the actuator sur-
Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators have
face accelerating it downstream.
attracted interest from thermo-fluid dynamics and control scien-
Plasma actuators have already been widely studied and showed
tific communities [1,2]. Separation control [3–5], wake control
effectiveness in flow control applications. Enloe et al. [21,22] per-
[6,7], aircraft noise reduction [8], film cooling of turbine blades
formed important studies about the morphology and geometric
[9,10], modification of velocity fluctuations [11,12], and boundary
effects of DBD plasma actuators. They presented optical, electri-
layer control [13–16] are just some examples of plasma actuators
cal, and thrust measurements for an aerodynamic plasma actuator,
applications. These devices present very interesting features
and also measurements on the development of the plasma during
such as fast response time, easy implementation, very low
mass, robustness, absence of moving components, and low power
requirements [17–20]. The DBD configuration, represented in
Fig. 1, is currently the most studied configuration of plasma actua-
tors. In this configuration, the plasma actuator is constituted by
two electrodes, generally made of copper tape, and a dielectric
layer which is commonly made of Kapton, Teflon, quartz glass, or
Macor ceramic. One of the electrodes is covered by the dielectric
material and completely insulated from the other one, which is
exposed to the air in the top of the dielectric surface. To operate,
these devices need to be supplied by an alternative current (AC)
high voltage input, typically in the range of 5–20 kV with a fre-
quency in the range of the kiloHertz.
When the AC signal is applied to the exposed electrode, a
plasma discharge is formed over the surface of the dielectric, in
the region above the covered electrode. This plasma discharge

Contributed by the Heat Transfer Division of ASME for publication in the

JOURNAL OF HEAT TRANSFER. Manuscript received January 30, 2018; final manuscript
received April 24, 2018; published online May 25, 2018. Assoc. Editor: Milind A.
Jog. Fig. 1 Schematic of a DBD plasma actuator configuration

Journal of Heat Transfer Copyright V

C 2018 by ASME OCTOBER 2018, Vol. 140 / 102801-1
the several phases of the discharge cycle. These measurements
allowed to conclude that the thrust created by the DBD plasma
actuator depends directly on the thickness of the exposed elec-
trode. On the other hand, Forte et al. [23] measured the instantane-
ous velocity induced in a flow by plasma actuators at atmospheric
pressure. These authors concluded that there is a quick accelera-
tion when the discharge is established and, due to this accelera-
tion, the boundary layer velocity near the electrode rises from
1.5 m/s to about 5 m/s. This shows the typical levels of momen-
tum which can be expected from the DBDs.
The effectiveness of DBD plasma actuators for boundary layer
control was investigated in several studies. Hyun and Chun [24],
Mclaughlin et al. [25], Sung et al. [26], and Kozlov [6] are exam-
ples of works on boundary layer control around a cylinder. In
these studies, the effectiveness of DBD plasma actuators was
shown and the authors demonstrated that these devices allowed to
attach the flow to the cylinder, reducing flow separation. In a simi-
lar perspective, there have been many studies about boundary
layer control over an airfoil. Shcherbakov et al. [27], Corke et al.
[28,29], Roth [30], and Post and Corke [31–33] are some exam-
ples of studies developed with DBD plasma actuators imple-
mented in airfoils. Once again, the feasibility of DBD plasma
actuators for boundary layer control was demonstrated.
Plasma actuators have also important applications within the
field of heat transfer, such as film cooling of gas turbine blades
[9,10] and heat production for de-icing and anti-icing purposes
[34,35]. The thermal behavior of DBD plasma actuators has great
importance for this type of applications. However, there have
been only a limited number of studies reporting the temperature
field of DBD plasma actuators during its operation. Dong et al.
[36] measured the influence of the input frequency and voltage of
the discharge on the dissipated power. They used an empirical for-
mula to compute the dissipated power and the energy consumed
in the dielectric. The plasma temperatures were also evaluated
using spectroscopy emission tools. They conducted experiments
for two dielectrics, epoxy, and Teflon, and for different thick-
nesses of dielectric under different operating conditions (input
voltages and frequencies). They found that although most of the
active power is injected in the plasma, a large part of the remain-
ing active power is directly transferred to the dielectric panel.
Stanfield et al. [37] also conducted spectroscopy measurements of
a dielectric barrier discharge actuator in order to obtain the rota-
tional temperature of the gas above the grounded electrode. The
rotational and vibrational temperature profiles were presented and
the authors concluded that the rotational temperatures of the gas
decreased in the induced flow direction and increased with
increasing voltage. Recently, Rodrigues et al. [38] experimentally
quantified the heat energy generated during the plasma actuators
operation. They verified that the heat released by DBD actuators
operation is provided by two main sources, dielectric heating and
gas heating and when operating under breakdown voltage, the
active power is completely consumed in dielectric heating.
Regarding infra-red measurements, only a few studies were per-
formed. Jukes et al. [39] observed the temporal and spatial struc-
ture of the plasma actuator induced flow and used thermal
imagery to estimate the surface temperature of the dielectric sheet
during plasma operation. They also deduced an analytical formula
to estimate the plasma gas temperature but, later on, in a study
carried out by Joussot et al. [40] was concluded that this formula
is not accurate enough to estimate the plasma gas temperature.
Jussot et al. [40] used infra-red thermography to determine the
temperature of the dielectric surface with the plasma on, and after
switching off the discharge. With these measurements, they con-
cluded that the average surface temperature increases linearly
with the electrical power as well as with the frequency and the
square of the voltage. Tirumala et al. [41] also conducted infra-
red thermography measurements on the surface of a DBD actuator
and characterized it against various electrical and geometrical
parameters. They studied the temperature distribution and
proposed a hypothesis on the mechanism of dielectric heating
102801-2 / Vol. 140, OCTOBER 2018
and a relationship between dielectric surface temperature and gas
temperature. Recently, Meng et al. [35] performed surface tem-
perature measurements in quiescent air and icing wind tunnel in
order to understand the effects of plasma actuation on de-icing
and anti-icing. The surface temperature measurements showed a
fast and significant increase of dielectric temperature, which is
suitable for de-icing and anti-icing purposes. The variety of
dielectrics studied in the literature has been very restricted and
the majority of the authors make use of Kapton, Teflon, Macor
ceramic, or polymethyl methacrylate. It is also important to study
different dielectric materials, which eventually may improve the
durability or the effectiveness of these devices. Recently, in the
study conducted by Portugal et al. [42], the authors reported an
experimental characterization of ozone generation in dielectric
barrier discharges as a function of the material, operating fre-
quency, and power consumed. In this work, the authors used ten
different dielectric materials, which can be considered for fabrica-
tion of DBD plasma actuators. In a similar way, in the present
work, we will study two more alternative dielectric materials,
which may be good options for plasma actuators fabrication.
In this study, we present a thermal characterization of DBD
plasma actuators based on infra-red measurements. This charac-
terization was performed for quiescent air and also for an imposed
external airflow. This analysis will focus on the influence of the
dielectric thickness and also on the influence of the dielectric
material. Kapton is the most used dielectric in the literature; how-
ever, the temperature distribution of actuators made of katpon
was only reported in the study of Meng et al. [35] for a single
thickness of 0.33 mm (in the remaining works, the authors pre-
sented the temperature distribution for actuators made of Mylar
[39], polymethyl methacrylate [41], and a mixture of Mylar and
Kapton [40]). Considering the importance of Kapton actuators for
the scientific community, the current work will present and char-
acterize the temperature distribution of Kapton actuators with dif-
ferent thicknesses (0.3 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.84 mm, and 1.02 mm).
Furthermore, the temperature distribution of alternative dielectric
materials (polylactic acid (PLA), poly-isobutylene (PIB) rubber)
will be presented. Further, the results reported in literature were
performed for quiescent conditions; however, in real scenario
applications, plasma actuators operate under external flow condi-
tions. In order to understand the operation of these devices in real-
case applications, additional measurements were performed under
external flow conditions.
Experimental Setup
The experimental setup used in the present work was devised in
order to operate the DBD plasma actuators and analyze the power
consumption and temperature field of plasma actuators. The
experiments were performed at quiescent air conditions and also
with an imposed external flow in order to provide results under
realistic conditions. Figure 2 shows part of the experimental
setup.
Fig. 2 Experimental setup used for plasma actuators tempera-
ture characterization
Transactions of the ASME
 Dielectric barrier discharge plasma actuators were mounted and
tested in a flat plate with 12 cm width and 64 cm length. They
were mounted at a distance of 10 cm from the flat plate leading
edge. The electrodes of DBD plasma actuators were made of
copper tape and were asymmetrically mounted on either side of
the dielectric with no gap between them. The dimensions of the
exposed electrode were of 10 mm width, 80 mm length, and
80 lm thickness. The covered electrode had the same length and
thickness of the exposed electrode and 20 mm width to ensure that
the discharge extension is not limited by the end of the covered
electrode. In this study, different dielectric materials were used. In
a first approach, we analyzed the thickness influence. In this anal-
ysis, we tested actuators made of Kapton with thicknesses of
0.3 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.84 mm, and 1.04 mm. In a second approach,
we tested different dielectric materials with the same thickness
(1 mm). For this purpose, PLA and PIB rubber were used as
dielectric material. Some important electrical and thermal charac-
teristics of the used materials can be seen in Table 1.
A high voltage and high frequency power supply, model PVM
500, manufactured by Information Unlimited was used to supply
the DBD plasma actuators. This power supply can produce vol-
tages up to 20 kV AC peak-to-peak with a frequency from 20 kHz
to 50 kHz and at a current of 10 mA so that the power ranges up to
200 W. For power consumption analysis, the voltage waveform
was measured by a PicoScope model 5443A. The PicoScope is
an equipment that turns a normal computer into a digital oscillo-
scope. It is usually used in automotive diagnostics for fault detec-
tion in sensors, actuators, and electronic circuits. It allows to
obtain the high voltage and current waveforms present in the sys-
tem. Along with the PicoScope, a probe named secondary ignition
pickup allowed to measure the voltage and the frequency of the
signal. This tool has the advantage of allowing to make the meas-
urements without cutting, disconnecting, or stripping out the wire.
In order to obtain the current waveform, a metal film resistor was
placed in series with the plasma actuator. The resistor was con-
nected between the covered electrode and the ground of power
source. The current through the resistor was obtained from the
voltage Vr measured across the resistor, by using Ohms law
(Ir ¼ Vr/R). Applying this method, the voltage across the resistor
is low enough to be measured by conventional instruments. Once
the actuator was connected in series with the resistor, the current
through the actuator is equal to the current through the resistor
(Ia ¼ Ir). The metal film resistor used in the experiments has
100 X of impedance with 1% of tolerance. Therefore, the imped-
ance of the resistor is relatively low compared with the impedance
of the actuator, and do not affect its operation. This type of resis-
tor was chosen because its impedance remains constant even
under temperature variations. The resistor used here has a temper-
ature coefficient of 50 ppm, which means that the resistor imped-
ance only varies 0.00005 X/ C. Therefore, this variation can be
neglected in the power consumption analysis. As shown in Fig. 2,
an axial fan model HET EDF 6904 with a brushless motor
Typhoon EDF 4 W was used to create the external flow. The
brushless motor was controlled by means of an electronic speed
controller model 80A-Eco-6S ESC connected to the pulse-width
modulation (PWM) pulse generator model PWM Hobbyking LED
Servo Tester. The axial fan has 400 W of power and can achieve
velocities up to 30,000 rpm. The axial fan was supplied by a
power supply model Puls SL 30, which can provide 24 V or 28 V
DC and with a current up to 30 A. The velocity of the axial fan
Table 1 Electric and thermal properties of the used dielectrics
Dielect. Dissip. Dielect. Thermal
Material constant factor strength (kV/mm) cond. (W/m K)
Kapton 3.50 0.0020 205 0.12
PLA 3.20 0.0035 50–64 0.13
PIB 2.82 0.0015 40 0.19
Journal of Heat Transfer
was established through the PWM pulse generator, being that it
increases if we increase the width of the PWM pulse. Since the
flow produced by the axial fan is not completely axial, a grid was
used in front of the fan in order to break the swirl of the flow turn-
ing it almost completely axial. The actuators were tested at a dis-
tance of 20 cm from the axial fan. An FLIR i7 thermal camera
was used to perform infra-red measurements of upper surface of
the dielectric, immediately after the plasma actuator operation.
This infra-red camera has an uncertainty of 2%, which allow to
obtain accurate results. The plasma actuators were painted with a
black ink with known emissivity to ensure the feasibility of the
measurements. Before performing the experiments, we verified
that the black paint had no influence in the temperature field origi-
nated by the actuator operation.
Results
The current section presents the results obtained during this
study. It is divided into two subsections, the Power Consumption
Characterization section presents the power consumption analysis
for the different test cases, and the Infra-Red Temperature Charac-
terization section presents the thermographic analysis. The pre-
sented results were exposed and discussed in view to understand
the influence of an external flow in plasma actuators thermal
behavior.
Power Consumption Characterization. Initially, an electrical
analysis of the different DBD plasma actuators was performed.
The input voltage and current waveforms were recorded, and the
instantaneous power was computed via point-by-point multiplica-
tion of the voltage and current data values, as described in
Pa ðtÞ ¼ VðtÞ  IðtÞ (1)
where V(t) is the input voltage of the actuator, I(t) is the current,
and P(t) is the instantaneous power. The voltage, current, and
power waveforms are represented in Fig. 3. These waveforms
were acquired with a sampling rate of 125 MS/s and a vertical
resolution of 14 bits, which confers an uncertainty of the measure-
ments of less than 2%.
The voltage waveform presents a sinusoidal shape and the cur-
rent waveform presents a similar shape but with a series of high-
amplitude spikes. These spikes result of each microdischarge that
leads to a fast electrical impedance change within the actuator.
So, the current spikes are observed two times per each AC cycle
Fig. 3 Voltage, current, and power waveforms of a DBD plasma
actuator (acquired for a 0.6 mm Kapton actuator at 7 kV pp and
24 kHz)
OCTOBER 2018, Vol. 140 / 102801-3
Fig. 4 Power consumption of actuators made of Kapton with
different dielectric thickness at 24 kHz
and they indicate the time when each microdischarge happens.
Since the power is directly related with the current, these high-
amplitude spikes are also visible in the power waveform. How-
ever, the time period of the power is half the current period; then,
in the power waveform, these spikes appear one time per each
power cycle. Similarly to a capacitor, the current and voltage sig-
nals are approximately 90 deg out of phase with the current lead-
ing the voltage.
By using the voltage and current data, the average power of n
periods (T) was obtained by the equation
ð nT
1 ture by infra-red techniques. So, to obtain the temperature field of
Pa ¼ V ðtÞ  I ðtÞdt (2)
nT 0 plasma actuators, we measured the temperature of the dielectric
To quantify the power consumed, the voltage and current
waveforms were recorded at different voltage levels and same fre-
quency (24 kHz). The power consumption results obtained for
DBD plasma actuators made of Kapton, with different dielectric
thicknesses, are presented in Fig. 4. The uncertainty of the esti-
mated power was about 1.7%.
In Fig. 4, we see that the actuator with thinnest dielectric
presents a higher power consumption and it decreases for actua-
tors with thicker dielectric layers. The power consumed by actua-
tors with different dielectric materials was also estimated. It was
quantified for actuators with dielectric layers made of Kapton,
PLA, and PIB rubber with same thickness (approximately 1 mm
thickness). The power consumption results obtained for DBD
plasma actuators with different dielectric materials are presented
in Fig. 5.
Figure 5 shows the power consumed by plasma actuators
depends on the dielectric material. We verified that, at same
applied voltages, the PLA actuator presents a power consumption
similar to the Kapton actuator while the actuator made of PIB
rubber presents a lower power consumption. Initially, the power
consumed by the PLA actuator is slightly lower than the power
consumed by the Kapton actuator, but then for higher voltage lev-
els, we see that the power consumption of PLA actuator increases
exponentially faster than the Katpon actuator power consumption.
This happens because the dielectric strength of PLA is lower
than Kapton and, in our experiments, we observed that PLA actua-
tor could not sustain voltages higher than 10 kV pp, so when we
approximate the applied voltage to this value, the power consump-
tion rises.
102801-4 / Vol. 140, OCTOBER 2018
Fig. 5 Power consumption of actuators with different dielectric
materials at 24 kHz
Infra-Red Temperature Characterization. In order to extend
the fundamental knowledge on the thermal aspects of the DBD
plasma actuators, infra-red thermography measurements were
conducted. Each body with a temperature above absolute zero
emits electromagnetic radiation from its surface, which is propor-
tional to its intrinsic temperature. A part of this intrinsic radiation
is infra-red radiation, which can be used to measure a body’s tem-
perature. For that purpose, it is essential to know the emissivity of
the material whose temperature we intend to measure. The plasma
discharge is a nonuniform material with filamentary regions, so
the emissivity of the plasma varies along the discharge area,
which turns impossible the measurement of the plasma tempera-
which, after some minutes of operation, will be equal to the
plasma temperature. The plasma actuators were switched-on dur-
ing 180 s and the thermographic images were taken immediately
after stopping the plasma operation. The actuators were painted
with a black matte ink with known emissivity e ¼ 0.97. This pro-
cedure turns it possible the measurement of the exposed electrode
and dielectric temperatures, which would not be possible if they
were not painted because they have different emissivities. To
ensure that the black painting does not influence the temperature
field of plasma actuators a validation was made in our previous
study [43], and it was shown that the temperature distribution
along the actuator surface presents the same behavior for different
voltage levels, independently of the black ink application. This
ensured the black painting has no influence in the thermal behav-
ior of DBD plasma actuators.
Therefore, the experiments were conducted for actuators
painted with the black matte ink at different voltage levels and at
same frequency (24 kHz). The experiments were performed with
quiescent air and with an external airflow over the flat plate. The
external flow velocity was measured with an anemometer near the
flat plate surface along the plasma actuator length. With this
measurement, it was verified that the velocity of the flow near the
surface is almost uniform being about 8.5 m/s with a nonuniform-
ity of 67%. The computed Reynolds number of the flow in this
experimental test is approximately 5624, which means that the
actuators were tested in laminar flow conditions.
In Fig. 6, we show the infra-red images obtained for the actua-
tors made of Kapton operating at the same input voltage (8 kV pp)
and different flow conditions. The asymmetry direction of the
electrodes is the positive direction of the y-axis. The position of
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 6 Infra-red images obtained for plasma actuators with different dielectric thicknesses operating at quiescent conditions
and with an external flow
the exposed electrode is delimited by the dashed square. Minor
temperature asymmetries are observed, but they are originated by
the connection of the electrode with the high voltage cable, which
tends to increase the temperature in that region. Analyzing Fig. 6,
we verified that, for quiescent air, higher temperatures are located
in the exposed electrode and in the region near to its edge. When
we change the dielectric thickness, the temperature distribution is
similar while temperature magnitudes increase. The temperature
field presents similar distribution because the materials used as
electrode and dielectric are the same so, although they present dif-
ferent thicknesses, the dielectric permittivity, dissipation factor, or
thermal conductivity remain the same. In terms of temperature
magnitudes, we observed a different behavior. At same applied
voltage, the temperature levels are higher in actuators with
thin dielectrics, decreasing with the increase of the dielectric
thickness. This happens because as we have seen in the Power
Consumption Characterization section, power consumption is
higher in actuators with thin dielectrics. As we know, a part of the
applied power is converted in thrust and the remaining part is dis-
sipated as heat. So, since actuators with thin dielectrics present
higher power consumption, they also dissipate more energy in the
form of heat, which consequently increases the surface tempera-
ture. We may conclude that temperature levels are lower for
thicker dielectrics, so if we increase the dielectric thickness, we
may reduce the surface temperature. This shows a relation with
Journal of Heat Transfer
the power consumption, which is also reduced for plasma actua-
tors with thicker dielectrics.
When the actuator is operating under influence of an external
flow, we observed that temperature magnitudes are lower, as
expected, because we increased the heat transfer process with the
surrounding medium. Moreover, we observed that for these
conditions, higher temperatures are located in the dielectric sur-
face, near the exposed electrode edge, and the temperature of the
exposed electrode is significantly reduced when compared with
quiescent conditions.
When we change the dielectric material, a few more considera-
tions can be made. Figure 7 presents the infra-red images acquired
for plasma actuators with different dielectric materials and same
dielectric thickness (1 mm). Comparing the results we see that,
when operating at same applied voltage, PLA actuator present
higher temperature levels than PIB rubber actuator, and also than
1.02 mm Kapton actuator. Once more, we verified also that there
is a relation between the power consumption and the temperature
magnitudes being that temperatures are higher in actuators, which
present higher power consumption. The PIB rubber actuator was
found to be the one, which presents lower surface temperatures. In
our previous study [38], we have already verified that plasma
actuators made of PIB rubber dissipate less energy in heat than
actuators made of Kapton or PLA, and here we show that these
actuators also present lower surface temperatures than Kapton and
OCTOBER 2018, Vol. 140 / 102801-5
 Fig. 7 Infra-red images captured for plasma actuators with different dielectric materials
PLA actuators. Comparing this behavior with the values presented
in Table 1, we observe that PLA presents the highest dissipation
factor, and PIB rubber the lowest, which indicates that the
dissipation factor of the dielectric material is a parameter, which
significantly influences the surface temperature levels. The same
analogy is not observed for the dielectric permittivity or the ther-
mal conductivity. So, we may conclude that the dissipation factor
is a parameter, which should be taken in account to evaluate the
ability of the dielectric for achieving higher (or lower depending
on the objective) surface temperatures. Similarly to the actuators
made of Kapton, the PIB rubber actuator also presents higher tem-
perature levels in the exposed electrode and in the adjacent region
of it. However, the same behavior was not observed with the PLA
actuator. In this actuator, the higher temperatures are located in
the region of the plasma formation, but the temperatures of the
exposed electrode are lower than the temperatures found in this
region. When these actuators operate under influence of an exter-
nal flow, we verified that, similarly to the Kapton actuators, the
temperature of the exposed electrode is significantly reduced
while the temperature in the plasma formation region is just
slightly reduced. Of course, this reduction is not so evident in the
PLA actuator because, as we have seen, in quiescent conditions,
the exposed electrode temperature is lower than the dielectric
temperature.
The temperature variations along the x-axis were analyzed in
the adjacent points of the exposed electrode edge, which is the
102801-6 / Vol. 140, OCTOBER 2018
region where the maximum temperatures are located. The temper-
atures along the x-axis were obtained from x/l ¼ 0.20 to x/l ¼ 1.2
(l is the length of the exposed electrode) and are represented in
Fig. 8. As we can see, the temperature distribution along x-axis
presented a similar distribution in any test case. The temperature
increases from x/l ¼ 0.2 to x/l ¼ 0 and is higher between x/l ¼ 0
and x/l ¼ 1, which corresponds to the frontal region of the exposed
electrode. The temperature variations are almost constant between
x/l ¼ 0 and x/l ¼ 1, decreasing in positive direction after x/l ¼ 1.
For higher applied voltages, we verified higher temperature levels.
When the amplitude of the applied voltage is increased, fluctua-
tions are observed along the temperature profile. These fluctua-
tions are created by the nonuniformity of the plasma distribution
along the actuator, which is caused by the hot spots that are visible
in the plasma discharge and which are more evident at higher vol-
tages. These fluctuations are also visible in the plasma discharge
edge. For lower high-voltage levels, the end of the plasma area is
almost linear; however, when the voltage levels are increased, the
plasma presents filamentary regions and the end of the plasma
area presents fluctuations. This phenomenon can be observed in
Fig. 9. As we can see, at 7 kV pp, the plasma is almost uniform,
but when operating at a voltage of 11 kV pp, filamentary regions
can be observed and these regions indicate plasma hot spots.
The temperature variations were also analyzed along the y-axis
from y/w ¼ 0 to y/w ¼ 5, in the middle of the exposed electrode
(x/l ¼ 0.5). This analysis is shown in Fig. 10. For quiescent
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 8 Spatial temperature variation along the x-axis
Fig. 9 Plasma discharge visualization for a 1.02 mm Kapton
conditions, we see that, along the y-axis, the temperature is higher
near the exposed electrode edge (y/w ¼ 0) in the onset of plasma
formation. This happens because the temperature of the exposed
electrode is equal to the maximum temperature of the dielectric.
However, when the actuators are operating under an external
flow, we observed that the maximum temperature is not located
Fig. 10 Spatial temperature variation along the y-axis
Journal of Heat Transfer
in y/w ¼ 0 because the temperature of the exposed electrode is
lower than the temperature of the dielectric. So, the temperature
increases from y/w ¼ 0 to y/w ¼ 0.2, where the temperature is
maximum, and then it decreases along the y-axis until it reaches a
temperature variation practically nil. The temperature variation
along the y-axis is similar for actuators with different dielectric
thicknesses and different dielectric materials. Its evolution along
the y-axis is also similar for different applied voltage levels.
Till here, we have verified that the highest temperatures are
found in the exposed electrode and in the plasma discharge region.
For a better understanding of the external flow influence on the
plasma actuators surface temperature, we decided to focus on
these two main regions. So then, we considered the region in the
dielectric surface in which the maximum temperatures are located
(y/w ¼ 0.2) and the region in the middle of the exposed electrode
(y/w ¼ –0.5). In these two regions, average temperatures along the
x—axis (from x/l ¼ 0 till x/l ¼ 1) were obtained for quiescent flow
and induced external flow experiments. The obtained results are
shown in Figs. 11 and 12. Figure 11 shows the average tempera-
tures obtained for actuators made of Kapton with different dielec-
tric thicknesses. We observed that in plasma actuators made of
OCTOBER 2018, Vol. 140 / 102801-7
 Fig. 11 Average temperature found along the x-axis in electrode and in dielectric surface for actuators with different dielectric
thicknesses
Kapton, when they operate in quiescent conditions, the average
temperature in the middle of the exposed electrode is higher than
the one found in the plasma formation region. When they operate
under an external flow the surface temperatures decrease, as
expected, but we observed that the temperature decrement in the
exposed electrode is much higher than in the dielectric layer.
Therefore, we see that in quiescent conditions, the electrode tem-
perature is higher than the dielectric surface temperature but,
under an external flow we observed the inverse. The use of differ-
ent dielectric materials may lead to a slightly change on the ther-
mal behavior. The plasma actuator made of PIB rubber presents
lower temperature levels, but a similar thermal behavior to Kapton
actuators. Similarly to Kapton actuators, when it operates in quies-
cent conditions, the highest temperatures are located in the
exposed electrode, whereas under an external flow, the highest
temperatures are found in the plasma discharge region. The PLA
actuator presents a different behavior being that even in quiescent
conditions the electrode temperature is already slightly lower than
the temperature found in the plasma discharge region. However,
the difference between the average temperatures in these two
regions is more expressive when it operates under an external
flow.
102801-8 / Vol. 140, OCTOBER 2018
The operation physics of these devices may help us to under-
stand why the exposed electrode temperature is so high in quies-
cent conditions, and that when operating with an external airflow
is lower than the dielectric surface temperature. As we know,
plasma actuators generate a body force which pulls the adjacent
air toward the surface and accelerates it downstream so, when we
are testing them at quiescent conditions, we know that actually
there is an induced flow over the surface which is generated by
the operation of the plasma actuator. By the literature [44–46], we
know that the velocity of the induced flow is higher above the
dielectric surface, while above the exposed electrode is almost
zero. This means that the heat transfer through convection is
increased in the dielectric surface but in the exposed electrode, it
is almost insignificant. When we have the influence of an external
flow, whose velocity is higher than the velocity of the flow
induced by the plasma actuator, we increase the heat transfer
through convection in all over plasma actuator surface, which pro-
vides a reduction of the surface temperatures. However, this
reduction is higher in the exposed electrode region since in quies-
cent conditions, the heat transfer through convection was very
much reduced. This indicates also that, although in quiescent
conditions, the exposed electrode temperature is higher than the
Transactions of the ASME
 Fig. 12 Average temperature found along the x-axis in electrode and in dielectric surface for actuators with different dielectric
materials

plasma region temperature, the main heat energy dissipation highest temperatures are found in the dielectric surface tempera-
occurs in the dielectric, more specifically in the plasma formation ture. The use of different dielectric materials may lead to a
region. So, in quiescent conditions, part of the heat energy dissi- slightly change on this thermal behavior. Based on these results,
pated in the plasma region is conducted to the exposed electrode we concluded that although in quiescent conditions, the exposed
because it has high thermal conductivity (thermal conductivity of electrode temperature is higher than the plasma region tempera-
copper is 401 W/m K at 27  C) but since the heat transfer coeffi- ture, the main heat energy dissipation occurs in the dielectric,
cient here is lower, because there is no convection in this region, more specifically in the plasma formation region.
the electrode temperature rises. When plasma actuators operate
under external flow conditions, the heat energy conducted to the Funding Data
exposed electrode is dissipated through flow convection so then
the temperature of the exposed electrode is lower than the temper-  Seventh Framework Programme—European FP7 Project
ature in the plasma formation region because here is where the “ACHEON—Aerial Coanda High Efficiency Orienting-jet
main heat energy dissipation occurs. Nozzle,” (Grant No. 309041).
 Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT)
Conclusions through the POCH program (Grant No. SFRH/BD/110529/
2015).
The thermal behavior of DBD plasma actuators has great impor-  Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia project PTDC/EMS-
tance for applications within the heat transfer field. Thus, this work ENE/5742/2014 “Unsteady Boundary Layer Flow Control
focused on a thermal analysis of plasma actuators under different Using Plasma Actuators of Next Generation” through the
flow conditions. In terms of power consumption, we concluded that POCI program.
the actuator with thinnest dielectric presents a higher power con-  C-MAST—Center for Mechanical and Aerospace Sciences
sumption that becomes lower for actuators with thicker dielectrics. and Technologies, Research Unit No. 151 of Fundacao para
The power consumption also changes if we use different dielectric a Ciencia e Tecnologia.
materials. We verified that the PLA actuator presents a power con-
sumption similar to the Kapton actuator (with similar thickness) and
the PIB rubber actuator presents lower power consumption. By Nomenclature
infra-red thermographic measurements, it was seen that, for quies-
cent air, in Kapton and PIB rubber actuators, higher temperatures e¼ emissivity
are located in the exposed electrode and in the region near to its I¼ current
edge. Similar temperature distribution was observed for the different l¼ length
dielectric thicknesses tested, which means that the temperature dis- n¼ number of cycles
tribution is not influenced by the dielectric thickness. We also veri- P¼ power
fied that the temperature magnitude, for same operation voltage, R¼ resistance
decreases when we increase the dielectric thickness, so we conclude T¼ period
that temperature levels are lower for thicker dielectrics. A different V¼ voltage
behavior was observed with the PLA actuator. In this actuator, the w¼ width
higher temperatures are also located in the region of the plasma for- DT ¼ temperature variation
mation, but the temperatures on the exposed electrode are lower
than the temperatures found in this region.
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