Collaborative Research: Distributed Predictive Control of Cold Atmospheric Microplasma Jet Arrays for Materials Processing

Cold atmospheric plasmas are composed of weakly ionized gases containing a mixture of ions, electrons, neutral and excited species, and photons at relatively low temperatures. Cold atmospheric plasmas are emerging as an effective and cheaper alternative to the low-pressure plasma technology and are increasingly used in materials processing and manufacturing applications. In these applications there has been a growing interest in using arrays of microplasma jets to scale up the surface area treated by plasma. This project is focused on addressing challenges involved in the control of such microplasma jets. This research will lead to the development of new models and advanced model-based controllers for plasma jet arrays opening new vistas in other areas such as plasma medicine and biomedical engineering. The outcomes of this work will advance research in data-driven modeling and distributed control of nonlinear distributed-parameter systems with interacting subsystems. The educational and outreach activities planned in this effort are natural extensions of this multidisciplinary research. The overarching goal of this collaborative research between University of California at Berkeley and University of Georgia is to develop a systems theoretic framework for tractable modeling and optimal control of plasma jet arrays for state-of-the-art materials processing applications that critically hinge on uniform treatment of large surface areas. This goal will be realized through fusion of nonlinear systems theory for data-driven modeling of distributed-parameter systems and distributed model predictive control. The key objectives of the project are to: (1) develop a novel framework for non-parametric, input-output modeling of nonlinear distributed-parameter systems; (2) develop a distributed control approach that can systematically coordinate predictive control of spatially distributed but interacting systems; and (3) test the modeling and distributed control methods for effective and reproducible operation of a micro-plasma jet array consisting of several jets through real-time control experiments. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.