HVGene

HVGene — Open-Source High-Voltage Power Supply for Cold Atmospheric Plasma

Open-source, digitally controlled high-voltage AC power supply for cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) research, developed with a specific focus on flexible-endoscope decontamination applications. The platform delivers either continuous sinusoidal high-voltage excitation or pulsed AC trains, with explicit user control over input voltage, operating frequency, duty cycle, timing, and operating mode.

This repository accompanies the following HardwareX article:

Open-Source High Voltage Power Supply for Cold Atmospheric Plasma Generation, HardwareX (2026). DOI: to be added once assigned.

Archived on Zenodo: 10.5281/zenodo.21889908.

If you use this hardware, firmware, or documentation, please cite the article above.

Repository structure

This project mixes three kinds of content, each released under the license most appropriate for that kind of content — see the LICENSE file inside each folder for the exact terms.

HVGene_OpenHardware/
├── hardware/          Electronics and mechanical design files
│   ├── LICENSE        CERN-OHL-P-2.0 (permissive open hardware licence, unmodified)
│   ├── NOTICE          Copyright notice (kept separate — the licence text itself
│   │                   must not be modified, per its own Preamble)
│   ├── KiCAD/          PCB schematic and layout (push-pull inverter board);
│   │                   Article_Figure3_version/ = schematic as drawn in Figure 3
│   │                   of the article
│   ├── CAD-Fusion360/  3D mechanical design (enclosure, mounting)
│   ├── Cutting/        Laser-cutting SVG files (LV/HV plates)
│   └── BOM.xlsx        Bill of materials
├── firmware/           RP2040 / MicroPython control firmware
│   ├── LICENSE          MIT
│   ├── main.py, lib/    Firmware source
│   └── tests/           Bench validation scripts (I2C, PIO, timing)
├── docs/                Build photos, diagrams, and other documentation media
│   ├── LICENSE           CC BY-SA 4.0
│   └── Figures/          Article_Figures/ = the article figures (Fig01–Fig29) and
│                         Supplementary Material figures (FigS1–FigS6); plus
│                         device/setup/plasma photos, CAD renders, diagrams (with
│                         their draw.io/TikZ sources), build-step and scope images
└── data/                Validation dataset (all measured operating points, raw and
                          derived quantities) behind the article's validation section

The folders above are the design files listed in the article's Design files summary (Table 3).

Versioning

The version tagged and archived alongside the HardwareX article submission is the exact hardware/firmware state described and validated in that article. This repository may continue to evolve after that point (bug fixes, improvements, community contributions); the archived release is the one to use for reproducing the results reported in the article.

Safety

This hardware generates high voltages (up to several tens of kV) and involves mains-connected power electronics. Building and operating it requires appropriate electrical safety training. See the "Safety Concerns" and "Operation instructions" sections of the article before use.