US 12,075,551 B2
Method of operating a piezoelectric plasma generator
Alexander Melischnig, Graz (AT); Markus Puff, Graz (AT); Robert Krumphals, Deutschlandsberg (AT); Amnon Lam, Kibbutz Giv'at Oz (IL); Eliezer Fuchs, Kibbutz Megiddo (IL); and Betsalel Rechav, Nes Ziona (IL)
Assigned to TDK Electronics AG, Munich (DE)
Appl. No. 17/783,576
Filed by TDK Electronics AG, Munich (DE)
PCT Filed Dec. 17, 2020, PCT No. PCT/EP2020/086771
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jun. 8, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/122995, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 24, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 102019135497.8 (DE), filed on Dec. 20, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2023/0007764 A1, Jan. 5, 2023
Int. Cl. H05H 1/24 (2006.01)
CPC H05H 1/2481 (2021.05) [H05H 2242/22 (2021.05)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operating a piezoelectric plasma generator, comprising:
applying an input signal to a piezoelectric transformer of the piezoelectric plasma generator,
wherein an absolute value of a peak amplitude of the input signal is periodically reduced and increased to a level smaller and larger than an ignition voltage of the plasma generator, such that plasma generation periodically collapses, and
wherein the absolute value of the peak amplitude of the input signal switches between a high level and a low level, wherein the low level of the absolute value of the peak amplitude is above zero, or
wherein the absolute value of the peak amplitude oscillates in accordance with a continuous envelope curve.
 
14. A piezoelectric plasma generator, comprising:
a piezoelectric transformer having electrodes; and
a control circuit coupled to the piezoelectric transformer, the control circuit configured to:
generate a periodic input signal having a period spanning a first duration and a second duration,
apply the periodic input signal to the electrodes of the piezoelectric transformer, wherein
(i) in the first duration, an absolute value of a peak amplitude of the periodic input signal is below an ignition voltage of the plasma generator, and
(ii) in the second duration, the absolute value of the peak amplitude of the periodic input signal and greater than the ignition voltage of the plasma generator,
wherein the absolute value of a peak amplitude of the periodic input signal is a first value in the first duration and a second value in the second duration, the first value being greater than zero and less than the second value, or
wherein the absolute value of the peak amplitude gradually increases or decreases during the period, the absolute value of the peak amplitude increasing or decreasing according to a continuous envelope curve.