Effect of a pulsed power supply on the ultraviolet radiation and electrical characteristics of a low-pressure mercury discharge

The influence of a pulsed-current power supply on the electrical properties and the spectral radiant flux emitted by a germicidal ultraviolet (UV) lamp has been investigated, both experimentally and theoretically. A self-consistent collisional–radiative model has been developed and used to model the temporal behaviour of the plasma characteristics of the lamp operated in the pulsed mode. The model includes elastic and inelastic processes as well as ambipolar diffusion. The macroscopic properties of the plasma, including the electron temperature, electric fields, radiation and energy transfer due to various collisional processes, have been considered. To evaluate the energy emitted in the UV bandwidth, a photometric system composed of an integrating cylinder, a UV radiometer, a spectrograph and a charge-coupled device camera is mounted. This study provides a framework for the design of a pulsed-current power supply, which permits the generation of a single pulse or multiple pulses superimposed on a low-frequency square wave.