The present disclosure is directed to a large area plasma sheet source for the treatment of a specimen surface.
Atmospheric pressure plasma is utilized in many industries as a means of activating, cleaning, or decontaminating surfaces, or changing surface chemistry. Further, as the plasma that interacts with a specimen surface may be at or near room temperature, it is compatible with the treatment of living tissues and objects. For example, a noble gas “working gas” mixed with nitrogen has been used to produce plasma, which in turn is used to treat seeds. The treated seeds have been shown to have enhanced germination and seedling growth, as well as decontaminated surfaces. Other applications for atmospheric pressure plasma include water treatment, bacteria inactivation, surface activation, adhesion enhancement, plasma cleaning, and surface modifications.
Atmospheric pressure plasma is typically utilized as plasma jets, which are thin jets that have diameters ranging from microns to millimeters and lengths of a few centimeters. The effective treatment area of each jet is very small due to its small diameter, leading to the production of arrays of plasma jets that can treat larger areas. However, these jet arrays have the disadvantage of creating non-uniformly treated surfaces since the jet arrays have discontinuous plasma production. The present disclosure is directed to a plasma sheet source, which produces atmospheric pressure plasma and applies the plasma to a specimen as a long continuous plasma sheet. In this way, specimen treatment area is expanded from that of an individual jet without the heterogeneity of j et arrays.
The present disclosure is directed to a plasma sheet source and methods of treating a specimen using the plasma sheet source. In one aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a plasma sheet source with a gas inlet for receiving gas and an electrode with a conductive core covered with a dielectric material, and the electrode is configured to generate an electrical field. The plasma sheet source further includes a body having a plurality of channels for directing gas from the gas inlet through the electrical field generated by the electrode to an elongated outlet of the body, so that the electrical field converts the gas to a plasma sheet output from the elongated outlet.
In some embodiments, the gas includes a noble gas and the dielectric material is quartz. In some embodiments, the body has a first cavity for receiving gas from the gas inlet and a second cavity in which the electrode is located, and each of the channels extends from the first cavity to the second cavity. In some embodiments, the plurality of channels includes at least a first channel and a second channel, and the first channel is parallel to the second channel. In some embodiments, the electrode is elongated and has a longitudinal axis that is parallel with the elongated outlet. In some instances, the electrode is electrically connected to a power source configured to transmit pulsed direct current to the electrode. In some embodiments, the plasma sheet is at room temperature and the plasma sheet source is configured to form the plasma at atmospheric pressure.
In another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a system for generating a plasma sheet. The system includes at least one gas source, a power source, and a plasma sheet source connected to the gas source. The plasma sheet source has an electrode and a plurality of channels for receiving gas from the at least one gas source and directing the gas past the electrode and through an electrical field generated by the electrode. The electrode is connected to the power source and the power source is configured to apply power to the electrode for generating the electrical field at a strength sufficient for converting the gas into the plasma sheet that egresses the plasma sheet source through the elongated outlet. The electrode has a conductive core covered with a dielectric material.
In some embodiments, the gas includes a noble gas and the dielectric material is quartz. In some embodiments, the plasma sheet source has a first cavity for receiving the gas and a second cavity in which the electrode is positioned, and the plurality of channels includes at least a first channel and a second channel, and each of the first channel and the second channel extends from the first cavity to the second cavity. In some instances, the first channel is parallel to the second channel. In some embodiments, the electrode is elongated and has a longitudinal axis that is parallel with the elongated outlet. In some embodiments, the power source is configured to apply pulsed direct current to the electrode. In some embodiments, the plasma sheet source is configured to form the plasma at atmospheric pressure.
In yet another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a method for generating a plasma sheet. The method includes receiving gas within a first cavity of a plasma sheet source having a plurality of channels, generating an electrical field with an electrode in a second cavity of the plasma sheet source, directing the gas from the first cavity through the plurality of channels to the second cavity so that the electrical field converts the gas into the plasma sheet, and emitting the plasma sheet from the plasma sheet source through an elongated cavity.
In some embodiments, the method further includes directing the plasma sheet to a specimen for treating the specimen. In some embodiments, the electrode is elongated and has a longitudinal axis that is parallel with the elongated outlet and the electrical field is generated using pulsed direct current. In some embodiments, the plurality of channels includes at least a first channel and a second channel, and each of the first channel and the second channel extends from the first cavity to the second cavity, and the first channel is parallel to the second channel.
A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention will be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings.
The present disclosure can be better understood, by way of example only, with reference to the following drawings. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily to scale relative to each other, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the disclosure. Furthermore, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
The present disclosure is generally directed to plasma sheet sources and methods of using same for the treatment of specimen surfaces. The plasma sheet source allows plasma to be applied to a surface of a specimen with a larger application area than typical plasma jets afford. The plasma sheet source additionally improves upon plasma jet arrays in that it results in a generally uniform treatment across the sheet. Furthermore, while plasma jet arrays require multiple devices with multiple power sources, the present plasma sheet source may utilize a single device powered by a single power source. The use of a dielectric-coated electrode produces plasma that is at or near room temperature, so that the presently disclosed plasma sheet sources are compatible with biological specimen treatment.
As used herein and known in the art, the term “plasma” refers to a gas comprised of ions and/or free electrons. Plasma may be partially or fully ionized and may be formed by heating a neutral gas or subjecting a neutral gas to an electrical field.
As used herein and known in the art, the term “atmospheric pressure plasma” refers to plasma that is maintained at a pressure approximately equal to atmospheric pressure. No vacuum or pressurized containers are required to maintain atmospheric pressure plasma.
A plasma sheet source 10 is shown in
Plasma sheet source 10 may be manufactured using additive manufacturing techniques or injection molding. In some instances, plasma sheet source 10 is 3D printed and comprises polylactic acid (PLA), though other non-conductive materials and manufacturing techniques may be used. For instance, the plasma sheet source 10 may be composed of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), nylon, and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Components or features of plasma sheet source 10 are in some instances produced as a unitary construction, though in other instances not depicted the components or features are manufactured separately and attached using commercially available attachment means.
As shown in the block diagram of
As shown by
Note that the controller 14 may be implemented in hardware or any combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. As an example, the controller 14 may be implemented as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). In some embodiments, the controller 14 may comprise one or more processors programmed with software or firmware to perform the control functionality described herein. The controller 14 also may have one or more user interfaces (not shown), such as buttons, dials, switches, keypads, display screens, or other types of devices for receiving or providing user inputs or outputs. As an example, when the plasma sheet source 10 is to be used, a user may provide a user input that causes the controller 14 to open the valve 16 to allow gas 9 to flow to the plasma sheet source 10. When use of the plasma sheet source 10 is no longer desired, a user may provide another user input that causes the controller 14 to close the valve 16, thereby stopping the flow of gas 9 to the plasma sheet source 10. Other techniques for controlling the flow of gas 9 are possible in other embodiments.
Gas 9 is ideally a noble gas, such as helium, neon, argon, or krypton, to facilitate ionization of the gas 9 by the electrical field from the electrode 20. That is, less energy is generally required to ionize noble gases relative to other types of gases. However, if desired, other types of gases 9 may be used in other embodiments. In some instances, the gas 9 may be a mixture of gasses that include at least one noble gas as the “working gas” and optionally one or more additional gasses that are application-specific. For instance, when seeds are to be treated, nitrogen gas may be mixed with a noble gas to form gas 9. In some embodiments, gas 9 is output at 2-6 L/min, though other output speeds and flow rates may be used. In some embodiments, gas flow rates may be similar to those used for conventional plasma jets. Gas 9 may be conveyed from gas source 12 to gas inlet 23 through tubing (not specifically shown in
In some embodiments, the electrode 20 is elongated and cylindrical in shape, as shown by
The conductive core 32 is at least partially covered by dielectric covering 34 that prevents the flowing plasma 8 from contacting the core 32. In the embodiment shown by
Electrode 20 may pass through holes 31 (
In
Prior to entry into gas inlet 23, gas 9 is in some instances mixed so that individual component gasses are uniformly distributed. This mixing may be enhanced or facilitated using turbulence introduced by features in the interior of tubing 30 or using friction from roughened inner walls of tubing 30. Additionally, while the block diagram in
Regardless of the number of gas components making up gas 9, it is directed toward electrode 20 by channels 18 within plasma sheet source 10, as described above. After plasma 8 is produced, it may be directed to plasma outlet 25 and applied to specimen 26 as a plasma sheet.
As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Accordingly, the disclosures and descriptions herein are intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention which is set forth in the following claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/908,245 filed on Sep. 30, 2019, titled “Continuous Large Area Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Sheet Source,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein.
This invention was made with Government support under OIA-1655280 awarded by the National Science Foundation. The Government has certain rights in the invention.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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