A system for determining an operational state of an atmospheric pressure plasma. The system has a transformer for coupling power into the atmospheric pressure plasma, a current sampling circuit configured to sample at least one current pulse flowing through a primary winding of the transformer, and a programmed microprocessor configured to determine, from a waveform of the current pulse, the operational state of the atmospheric pressure plasma. The operational state is one of: a no plasma state, a plasma origination state indicative of an ignited arc expanding into a plasma by gas flow thereinto, and a plasma maintenance state indicative of the plasma being expanded.

An atmospheric pressure plasma generating device includes a nozzle block in which fourth gas passages from which plasma gas is emitted are formed, is covered by cover, and a through-hole is formed in the cover such that the leading end of the fourth gas passage is positioned on the inside. Heated gas is supplied inside the cover and is emitted from the through-hole of the cover, and plasma gas is emitted so as to penetrate the heated gas. By the plasma gas being surrounded by the heated gas in this manner, deactivation of the plasma gas is prevented. A distance between the leading end of the fourth gas passage and an opening of the through-hole at an outer wall of the cover is set from 0 to 2 mm in an emission direction of the plasma gas.

An apparatus or device for performing cold atmospheric plasma procedures. The device or apparatus has a housing, a chamber within the housing, an entry port to the chamber, a plurality of exit ports from the chamber, and a plurality of electrodes mounted in the housing, each of the plurality of electrodes having a distal end adjacent one of the plurality of exit ports. The entry port, chamber, exit ports and plurality of electrodes are configured to provide for an inert gas flowing in the entry port and through the chamber to the exit port to become plasmatized by electrical energy applied to the plurality of electrodes to form a cold plasma flowing from the exit ports.

A system for plasma ignition and maintenance of an atmospheric pressure plasma. The system has a variable frequency alternating current (AC) power source, a transformer, a cable connected to a secondary winding of the transformer, a programmed microprocessor for control of power to the atmospheric pressure plasma. The microprocessor is configured to a) at pre-ignition, power the AC power source at an operational frequency f.sub.op higher than the resonant frequency f.sub.r, b) decrease the operational frequency f.sub.op of the AC power source until there is plasma ignition, and c) after the plasma ignition, further decrease the operational frequency f.sub.op of the AC power source to a frequency lower than the resonant frequency f.sub.r.

Applications of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) based atmospheric pressure plasma jets are often limited by the relatively small area of treatment due to their 1D configuration. This system generates 2D plasma jets permitting fast treatment of larger targets. DBD evolution starts with formation of transient anode glow, and continues with development of cathode-directed streamers. The anode glow can propagate as an ionization wave along the dielectric surface through and outside of the discharge gap. Plasma propagation is not limited to 1D geometry such as tubes, and can be organized in a form of a rectangular plasma jet, or other 2D or 3D shapes. Also described are a method for generating 2D plasma jets and use of the 2D plasma jets for cancer therapy.

An atmospheric pressure linear RF plasma source having an enclosure enclosing a chamber in the form of an extended slot having a width W, a length L, and a thickness T, with W20T, the enclosure having a top opening for receiving a flow of a working gas in the direction of the length L and a bottom opening for delivering a flow of plasma, with the bottom opening being open to atmospheric pressure. Then walls of the enclosure comprise a dielectric material. Two mutually opposing pancake coils are positioned on opposite sides of the enclosure and are capable of being driven by an RF power source in an opposing phase relationship. Alternatively, an elongated solenoid coil may surround the enclosure.

The present application relates to a cold plasma device (13) for treating a surface (6) with cold plasma. The device (13) has a cold plasma generator (14) adapted to generate cold plasma that produces reactive species for treating the surface (6). The device (13) also includes a treatment head (5) that is positionable relative to the surface (6) such that the reactive species are imparted toward the surface (6) during treatment. The device (13) is also provided with an air flow generator (8) to generate an air flow over the surface (6) and a controller (9) configured to control operation of the air flow generator (8) to generate an air flow over the surface (6) after the treatment has been completed such that remaining by-products of the cold plasma are dissipated.

In an array of a plurality of plasma generator modules for generating a physical plasma by dielectric barrier discharges at atmospheric pressure, each of the plasma generator modules comprises two parallel electrodes linearly extending at a lateral distance, one of which having a dielectric barrier; connection devices for connecting the electrodes to a high voltage source; two flat gas-conducting elements conducting a working gas between the electrodes; and a module housing delimiting the respective plasma generator module laterally along the electrodes and transversely to the electrodes. The module housings are fixed to one another or to a common module frame by means of fixation devices. The module housings are arranged side by side both in a first direction along and in a second direction transverse to the electrodes, and in such an offset way that the electrodes of the plasma generator modules partially overlap in the direction along the electrodes.

The invention relates to a method for treating surfaces of an electronic card (4) by means of a plasma torch (1), said card (4) comprising a plurality of electronic components (C1a, C1b, C1c, C2a, C2b, C3a) and a plurality of surfaces to be treated, arranged at various heights relative to a reference plane (Ref) of the electronic card (4). At least one region to be treated (Zn) containing the surfaces to be treated is determined, strata (S1, S2, S3) which are parallel to said reference plane (Ref) and each contain at least one surface to be treated are determined, and then a torch movement path is generated such that: the surfaces are treated, stratum by stratum; for each stratum, the torch is exclusively moved in parallel with the reference plane (Ref); during the projection of the plasma flow (2), each treated surface is exclusively placed in the ideal working zone (Pt).

In an activated gas generation apparatus, metal electrodes are formed on a bottom surface of a dielectric electrode, and are disposed so as to face each other with a central region of the dielectric electrode interposed therebetween in plan view. The metal electrodes face each other along the Y direction. A wedge-shaped stepped part is provided so as to protrude upward in the central region on an upper surface of the dielectric electrode. The wedge-shaped stepped part is formed so as to have a shorter formation width in the Y direction as approaching each of a plurality of gas spray holes in plan view.