A plasma propulsion nozzle incorporates a cylinder having an inlet and an outlet. A plurality of substantially cylindrical planarly disbanded electrodes with sandwiched dielectric spacers is cascaded in an array to be concentrically expanding from the inlet through an interior chamber to the outlet for a nozzle. A voltage source applies aperiodic signal with rapidly reversing polarity to the electrodes with differential phase applied to adjacent electrodes in the array creating and expelling plasma clusters at each dielectric spacer inducing flow from the nozzle outlet to produce thrust.

A plasma source has an outer surface, interrupted by an aperture for delivering an atmospheric plasma from the outer surface. A transport mechanism transports a substrate in parallel with the outer surface, closely to the outer surface, so that gas from the atmospheric plasma may form a gas bearing between the outer surface the and the substrate. A first electrode of the plasma source has a first and second surface extending from an edge of the first electrode that runs along the aperture. The first surface defines the outer surface on a first side of the aperture. The distance between the first and second surface increasing with distance from the edge. A second electrode covered at least partly by a dielectric layer is provided with the dielectric layer facing the second surface of the first electrode, substantially in parallel with the second surface of the first electrode, leaving a plasma initiation space on said first side of the aperture, between the surface of the dielectric layer and the second surface of the first electrode. A gas inlet feeds into the plasma initiation space to provide gas flow from the gas inlet to the aperture through the plasma initiation space. Atmospheric plasma initiated in the plasma initiation space flows to the aperture, from which it leaves to react with the surface of the substrate.

A plasma-assisted synthetic jet device, an aircraft including a plasma-assisted synthetic jet device, and a method of improving aerodynamic properties are disclosed for providing air flow control at an aerodynamic structure by ionizing one or more gases exiting through an aperture of the synthetic jet device disposed in the aerodynamic structure.

A system for directing airflow, a gas turbine engine, and a method for directing airflow exiting a cascade of internal airfoils are provided. An exemplary method for directing airflow exiting a cascade of internal airfoils includes coupling a first plasma generating device on a first surface and a rounded trailing edge of each of the internal airfoils. The method also includes coupling a second plasma generating device on an opposite second surface and the rounded trailing edge of each of the internal airfoils. Further, the method includes selectively energizing the first plasma generating device and the second plasma generating device on each of the internal airfoils to produce a plasma and to selectively alter a direction of local airflow around each of the internal airfoils to produce a combined airflow exiting the cascade in a desired direction.

A device for air decontamination comprises a housing (10) having an air inlet (14), an air outlet (16) and an air flow passage (12) therebetween, the housing including at least one non-thermal plasma cell (22); wherein the non-thermal plasma cell is sized and positioned relative to the internal dimensions of the housing such that a portion of air entering the housing from the air inlet is adapted to pass through and across the non-thermal plasma cell and a portion of air entering the housing from the air inlet is adapted to pass outside of the external surface of the non-thermal plasma cell. A method of decontaminating air is also disclosed.

A plasina-generation device for applying plasma to a human body, having a reservoir containing a gas, a plasma zone in fluid connection with the reservoir, and means for generating a plasma by electrical discharge in the plasma zone. The gas has a composition of 92% to 99.5% Helium and 0.5% to 8% Argon; or 95% to 99.5% Helium and 1% to 20% Neon; or 99.95% to 99.99% Helium and 0.01% to 0.05% Oxygen.

A large-sized plasma generator is suited to various surface shapes and has a longer service life and improved energy conservation. An example of the plasma generator (1-1) has a dielectric layer (3), first and second electrodes (4, 5) that are formed within the dielectric layer, an alternating-current power supply (6), and a first metal layer (7). The dielectric layer (3) is composed of polymer resin layers (31, 32) that are formed of a polyimide resin. The electrodes are arranged side by side within the dielectric layer. The first metal layer is formed of a metal having a sterilization effect, and has a plurality of pores (71) in the surface. The first metal layer spans between supporting parts (33, 34) of the polymer resin layer (32), and faces the whole of the electrodes. A gap (S) is formed between the first metal layer and the polymer resin layer.

A cooling device is provided with a heat sink having a plurality of fins, and a plasma actuator. Flow paths are formed between adjacent ones of the fins. The plasma actuator is provided away from the fins where the flow paths are formed. The plasma actuator has electrodes that are arranged offset in the flow path direction. The plasma actuator generates an induced air flow flowing in a direction of the flow path in the central region between adjacent fins.

A fabric dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) device, a textile material comprising interconnected insulated conductive fibers can be used to generate a cold homogenous plasma by forming a discharge path from a conductive core of a first fiber, to a dielectric layer surrounding the conductive core, through an air gap towards, e.g., a second fiber or human skin. When the plasma that lights in and around the air gap comes into contact with a contaminated surface (containing, e.g., bacteria and/or viruses), it induces reactive species to form on the contaminated surface, and the reactive species are then allowed to kill the bacteria and/or viruses.

The present disclosure presents systems, apparatuses, and methods of active flow controls for dissipating tip vortices. In this regard, a method comprises positioning one or more fan-shaped plasma actuators on an end surface of a tip of one or more airfoils of an aircraft, wherein the fan-shaped plasma actuators are surface compliant with the surface of the tip of the one or more airfoils; and activating the one or more fan-shaped plasma actuators during a flight of the aircraft, wherein at least one tip vortex generated by a flight of the aircraft is reduced by an introduction of one or more vortices generated by the one or more fan-shaped plasma actuators on the end surface of the tip of the one or more airfoils of the aircraft. Other systems, apparatuses, and methods are also presented.