How to build yourself
a Glow Discharge Plasma panel
Advanced Reduced Drag Aircraft project
By Jean-Louis Naudin
created on January
16th, 2000 - JLN Labs - Last
update February 5, 2003
Glow
Discharge Panel Construction
You will find below, some explanations for building easily
yourself a basic OAUGDP (One Atmosphere Uniforme Glow Discharge)
device. This kind of panel will allow you to make some nice
pictures of glow and cold discharge plasma. This panel is not
able to generate some thrusting effects, but you will be able to
explore some OAUGDP properties like the air drag reduction effect
and to test the EM Cloacking effect.
Don't forget that the surface layer of your OAUGDP device
generates ozone and nitrogen oxydes, so you need to do these
experiments in an open and well ventiled area.
For constructing your OAUGDP device you need :
- Thin adhesive double sided tape ( 38mm wide )
- Polystyrene foam sheet, Depron ( 3 mm thick ) 100mm x 120mm
- 2 m of 20 gauge speaker wire ( Radio Shack 278.1387 )
- A cutter.
STEP
1 :
Cutting the Foam
Cut a 100 mm x 60 mm rectangle in your polystyrene foam
sheet, this will be the main part of your Glow Discharge Panel.
STEP
2 :
Preparing the panel layer
Stick a band of thin adhesive double sided tape in the center of
the sheet as shown in the picture below.
STEP
3 :
Winding your GDP Panel
Wind 8 turns with your 20 gauge wire from the top to the bottom
on the adhesive surface of your panel
STEP
4 :
Finishing your wiring
The first turn is at the top and the last turn is at the bottom
of your panel. Connect the upper wire of the first turn to the
upper wire of the last turn, now, this will be the side A of your
electric circuit shown below. Then, connect the lower wire of the
first turn to the lower wire of the last turn, now, this will be
the side B of your electric circuit.
You must check
that there is no short circuit between the two sides of your
panel cicuit. You can do this simply with an ohmmeter.
Your OAUGDP Panel
is now finished. To energize the panel you need about 10-15Kv AC
at 6 KHz, this can be done with a simple ignition coil used in
car. You will find below a simple electronic diagram which works
well.
Parts list for building your GDP Power supply :
1 - LM 555 Timer IC ( see datasheet at http://www.national.com/ds/LM/LM555.pdf )
1 - 7812 ( +12V Voltage Regulator (LM340T-12) ) ( see datasheet at http://www.national.com/ds/LM/LM340.pdf )
1 - BUZ 11 N-Channel Power MOSFET transistor
( see the BUZ 11 datasheet at : http://www.fairchildsemi.com/pf/BU/BUZ11.html )
Note - The transistor BUZ 11 must be cooled with a heat sink. The BUZ 11 can also be replaced by an IRFZ 34 transistor ( RadioShack Cat No. 900-5317 ( see the data sheet IRFZ34 Advanced Power MOSFET )
1 - Diode 1N4007
1 - Iginition coil ( commonly used for car engine )
2 - capacitors 10 nF/63v
1 - potentiometer 220 K ohms ( for tuning the frequency )
1 - 470 ohms 1/2W resistor
1 - 220 ohms 1/2 resistor
1 - 390 ohms 1/2 resistor
1 - 1 K ohms 1/2 resistor
1 - DC power supply 24 V DC or better 30 V DC which is able to give at least 2 A
Note : You may find a very simple 30 V DC power supply diagram ( here )
or at : http://www.aaroncake.net/circuits/supply.htmBE CAREFUL, USE EXTREME CAUTION !!!, this device use High voltage, ALWAYS swtich off the power supply before touch it. These plans are not intended for the inexperienced. User of this document should be very carefull and experienced in high-voltage electronics to try anything out !. The surface layer of your OAUGDP device generates ozone and nitrogen oxydes, so you need to do these experiments in an open and well ventiled area. If you do it the risk of any results is just yours. I take no responsibility of anything that might happen, let it be of a wrong information or anything else.
Power Output tests of the Glow Discharge Plasma panel
The photos below have been taken with a film AGFA HDC ISO 200-AP70/C41 (with 10 sec exposure).
You may hear the Glow Discharge Panel sound
Analysis of the GDP sound wave and its output signal
Power Output tests of the Glow Discharge Plasma panel
You may also see :
A very simple OAUGDP device ( see the pictures...)
- The ARDA "FairyStar" OAUGDP skin in action (01-11-2000)
Some interesting references, patents and links :
- The Industrial Plasma Engineering Group of the UTK Plasma Sciences Laboratory has been supported by NASA Grant NCC 1-223 since October 1, 1995 to develop the applications of a One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma (OAUGDP) to aerodynamic boundary layer and flow control. These and related applications are described in U. S. Patent 5,669,583, "Method and Apparatus for Covering Bodies with a Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma and Applications Thereof". Wind tunnel measurements for this research were taken in the 7 X 11 inch Low Speed Wind Tunnel of the NASA Langley Research Center's Fluid Modeling and Control Branch, Hampton, VA.
- Boundary Layer Flow Control with a one Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Surface Plasma. AIAA 98-0328, 36th Aerospace Sciences Meeting & Exhibit, Reno, Nevada, pp. 29.- Roth, J. Reece; Sherman, Daniel M.; Wilkinson, Stephen P. (1998)
-
"Steady-State, Glow Discharge Plasma". U. S. Patent
#5,387,842, Issued February 7, 1995.- Roth J. R., Tsai P. P. and
Liu C.
- "One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma". U. S.
Patent #5,414,324, Issued May 9, 1995. - Roth J. R., Tsai P. P.,
Liu C., Laroussi M. and Spence P. D.
- "Method and Apparatus for Glow discharge Plasma Treatment
of Polymer Materials at Atmospheric Pressure". U. S. Patent
#5,456,972, Issued Oct 10, 1995. - Roth J. R., Tsai P. P., Liu C.
and Wadsworth L. C.
- "Method and Apparatus for Covering Bodies with A Uniform
Glow discharge Plasma and Applications Thereof". U. S.
Patent #5,669,583, Issued Sept 23, 1997.- Roth J. R.
Email : JNaudin509@aol.com
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