Scientific Article

Corona discharge actuator as an active sound absorber under normal and oblique incidence

¹ Signal Processing Laboratory LTS2, EPFL STI IEM LTS2 Station 11, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
² Laboratoire d’Acoustique de l’Université du Mans, LAUM-UMR CNRS 6613, Avenue Olivier Messiaen, 72085 Le Mans Cedex 9, France

^* Corresponding author: herve.lissek@epfl.ch

Received: 13 August 2021
Accepted: 4 January 2022

Abstract

In the majority of active sound absorbing systems, a conventional electrodynamic loudspeaker is used as a controlled source. However, particular situations may require an actuator that is more resistant to harsh environments, adjustable in shape, and lighter. In this work, a plasma-based electroacoustic actuator operating on the atmospheric corona discharge principle is used to achieve sound absorption in real-time. Two control strategies are introduced and tested for both normal in the impedance tube and grazing incidence in the flow duct. The performance of plasma-based active absorber is competitive with conventional passive technologies in terms of effective absorption bandwidth and low-frequency operation, however, it presents some inherent limitations that are discussed. The study reveals that the corona discharge technology is suitable for active noise control in ducts while offering flexibility in design, compactness, and versatility of the absorption frequency range.