The Effect of Discharge Gap Nonuniformity on the Energy Characteristics of a Barrier Ozone Generator

Results of modeling the operation of barrier ozone generators (OGs) are presented that take into account the imperfection of their design. The influence of the inhomogeneity of the discharge gap on the main power characteristics of the barrier systems is described. Using the example of volt–coulomb characteristics, direct integration of instantaneous values of the current through the OG and the voltage on its electrodes, as well as the use of known calculation expressions, a significant effect of the inhomogeneity of the gas gap on reducing the energy of the barrier discharge is shown. An explanation of the S-shape of the volt–ampere characteristics of the barrier structures is given, the effect of the gap inhomogeneity on the appearance of the characteristics is shown. Based on the calculations performed, it is shown that there is no effect of the gap nonuniformity on the ratio of the amplitude and effective values of current and voltage with a significant change in the nature of the waveforms themselves. The hypothesis is made that the variable power factor has an effect on the accuracy of determining the value of the discharge energy.