Arc Behaviours in Vacuum Interrupters with Axial Magnetic Field Electrodes

To improve the limiting current interruption capability and minimizing vacuum interrupter with axial magnetic field （AMF） electrodes, it is significant to investigate the vacuum arc behaviours between the contacts. AMF distributions of the slot type electrodes were studied by both numerical analysis and experiments. Furthermore, the behaviours of vacuum arcs for different parameters of the slot type AMF electrodes were investigated by using high-speed CCD camera. The influences of gap distance, contact diameter and phase shift time between AMF and arc current on the vacuum arc were investigated. The results provide a reference for research and development of vacuum interrupters with slot type or other types of AMF electrode.     

Axial Magnetic Field Effects on Xenon Short-Arc Lamps

The effect of an axial magnetic field （AMF） on an old xenon short-arc lamp is experimentally investigated in this work. As the AMF increases up to 18 roT, the visible radiation power and electric power ascend more than 80% and 70% respectively, and the radiation efficiency is improved by 23% for the best increment at 12 mT AMF. The measurement of radiation intensity shows that the increment of radiation intensity comes mostly from the plasma area close to the cathode tip, and partially from the other area of the arc column. Successive images of the arc indicate that the arc column not only rotates about its axis, but revolves around the axis of electrodes with the AMF. The arc column structure is constricted, distorted and elongated as the AMF increases. It is suggested that the improvements of the radiation intensity and radiation efficiency are attributed to the constriction of the arc column, which is mainly induced by the enhanced cathode jet.     

Magnetic Field Improvement in End Region of Rectangular Planar DC Magnetron Based on Particle Simulation

For a rectangular planar direct current （DC） magnetron, anomalous target erosion may occur in the curve-out region and inner side of the curved region. One key factor is that the magnetic field in the end region is weaker than that in the straight region, and another important factor may be that there is a circumferential component of the magnetic field in the curved region. Through a calculation of three-dimensional magnetic field for the rectangular magnetron, a magnet structure shimmed by permanent magnet bars and ferromagnetic bars is proposed to solve the above problems. Through a three-dimensional non-self-consistent particle simulation and the Yamamura/Tawara formula, the target erosion profile could be predicted. The simulation results show that for an improved uniformity in magnetic field, the entire target utilization could be much enhanced.     

Design of Magnetic Measurement System on SUNIST Spherical Tokamak

A magnetic measurement system consisting of magnetic probes and flux loops for spherical tokamak SUNIST, is uniquely designed due to the strongly shaped plasma cross section and the narrow space near the central solenoid. Plasma equilibrium reconstruction with the current filament method is performed to determine the number and positions of the magnetic probes and flux loops, as well as their design precision required.     

A Simulation Study of Hall Effect on Double Tearing Modes

A Hall magnetohydrodynamics （MHD） simulation is carried out to study the dynamic process of double tearing mode. The results indicated that the growth rates in the earlier nonlinear and transition phases agree with the previous results. With further development of reconnection, the current sheet thickness is much smaller than the ion inertia length, which leads to a strong influence of the Hall effects. As a result, the reconnection in the late nonlinear phase exhibits an explosive nature with a time scale nearly independent of resistivity. A localized and severely intensified current density is observed and the maximum kinetic energy is over one order of magnitude higher in Hall MHD than that in resistive MHD.     

Analysis of the Plasma Properties Affected by Magnetic Confinement with Special Emphasis on Helicon Discharges

A one-dimensional radial non-uniform fluid model is employed to study plasma behaviors with special emphasis laid on helicon discharges. The plasma density ne, electron temperature Te, electron azimuthal and radial drift velocities are investigated in terms of the plasma radius rp, magnetic field intensity B0 and gas pressure p0, by assuming radial ambipolar diffusion and negligible ion cyclotron movement. The results show that the magnetic confinement plays an important role in the discharge equilibrium, especially at low pressure, which significantly reduces Te compared with the case of a negligible magnetic field effect, and higher B0 leads to a greater average plasma density. Te shows little variations in the plasma density range of 1011 cm-3- 1013 cm-3 for p0 〈 3.0 mTorr. Comparison of the simulation results with experiments suggests that the model can make reasonable predictions of Te in low pressure helicon discharges.     

Analysis of Magnetic Field of the DNB Ion Source

A distribution of the magnetic field produced by permanent magnets in the DNB ion source is calculated and analyzed in order to understand the plasma confinement in a cusped magnetic field and optimize plasma discharge. A uniform plasma is obtained in the experiment.     

Cu Films Deposited by Unbalanced Magnetron Sputtering Enhanced by ICP and External Magnetic Field Confinement

Metallic copper（Cu） films were deposited on a Si （100） substrate by unbalanced magnetron sputtering enhanced by radio-frequency plasma and external magnetic field confinement. The morphology and structure of the films were examined by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, atomic force microscope （AFM） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）. The surface average roughness of the deposited Cu films was characterized by AFM data and resistivity was measured by a four-point probe. The results show that the Cu films deposited with radio-frequency discharge enhanced ionization and external magnetic field confinement have a smooth surface, low surface roughness and low resistivity. The reasons may be that the radio-frequency discharge and external magnetic field enhance the plasma density, which further improves the ion bombardment effect under the same bias voltage conditions. Ion bombardment can obviously influence the growth features and characteristics of the deposited Cu films.     

Genotoxic Effects of Superconducting Static Magnetic Fields （SMFs） on Wheat （Triticum aestivum） Pollen Mother Cells （PMCs）

The effects of superconducting static magnetic fields （SMFs） on the pollen mother cells （PMCs） of wheat were investigated in order to evaluate the possible genotoxic effect of such non-ionizing radiation. The seeds of wheat were exposed to static magnetic fields with either different magnetic flux densities （0, 1, 3, 5 and 7 Tesla） for 5 h or different durations （1, 3 and 5 h） at a magnetic flux density of 7 Tesla. The seeds were germinated at 23℃ after exposure and the seedlings were transplanted into the field. The PMCs from young wheat ears were taken and slides were made following the conventional method. The genotoxic effect was evaluated in terms of micronucleus （MN）, chromosomal bridge, lagging chromosome and fragments in PMCs. Although the exposed groups of a low field intensity （below 5 Tesla） showed no statistically significant difference in the aberration frequency compared with the unexposed control groups and sham exposed groups, a significant increase in the chromosomal bridge, lagging chromosome, triple-polar segregation or micronucleus was observed at a field strength of 5 Tesla or 7 Tesla, respectively. The analysis of dose-effect relationships indicated that the increased frequency of meiotic abnormal cells correlated with the flux density of the magnetic field and duration, but no linear relationship was observed. Such statistically significant differences indicated a potential genotoxic effect of high static magnetic fields above 5 T.     

Effect of Mirror Magnetic Field on Abnormal Glow Discharge of Four-Anode Device

Abstract In the four-anode device, the mirror magnetic field affects the characteristics of charged particles motion, so that the current-voltage relations of glow discharge are changed. Firstly, the discharge device is introduced, and the distribution of mirror magnetic field generated by the loops surrounding the discharge chamber is presented. Both the discharge current-voltage characteristics and the radial distributions of electron density are measured, respectively, with/without the magnetic field. When the discharge occurs in a 99.99% helium with a pressure ranging from 100 Pa to 800 Pa without magnetic field, the voltage, sustaining a certain abnormal glow discharge current, decreases with the increase in gas pressure. With a mirror magnetic field of certain intensity, the discharge voltage increases with the current in a rate slower than that without the magnetic field. Moreover, when the magnetic field intensity increases, the discharge voltage first decreases then increases. Simultaneously, the mirror magnetic field affects the moving characteristics of charged particles, and causes a more inhomogeneous electron density.     

Experimental Study of SO2 Removal by Pulsed DBD Along with the Application of Magnetic Field

Dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） for SOs removal from indoor air is investigated. In order to improve the removal efficiency, two novel methods are combined in this paper, namely by applying a pulsed driving voltage with nanosecond rising time and applying a magnetic field. For SOs removal efficiency, different matches of electric field and magnetic field are discussed. And nanosecond rising edge pulsed power supply and microsecond rising edge pulsed power supply are compared. It can be concluded that a pulsed DBD with nanosecond rising edge should be adopted, and electrical field and magnetic field should be applied in an appropriate match.     

Simulation Study of Heat Flux Deposition Pattern on the Surface of HT-7 Toroidal Limiters

The heat flux deposition pattern on the toroidal limiters installed in HT-7 was simulated with ANSYS code. The simulation model was established with the ripple of the magnetic field. The heat deposition pattern and temperature distribution on the surface of the toroidal linfiters were obtained. A comparison of the results obtained with and without the shaped tiles, used to reduce the heat flux on the leading edge of the limiters, was made. The maximum heat load allowed at the leading edge was about 1.8 MW/m2 because of the poor power removing capacity on the ends of the limiters. This approach can also be applied to other devices with a limiter configuration in a circular cross-section shape.     

Influence of Copper Vapor on Low-Voltage Circuit Breaker Arcs During Stationary and Moving States

The influence of copper vapor on the low-voltage circuit breaker arcs is studied. A three-dimensional （3-D） magnetohydrodynamics（MHD） model of arc motion under the effect of external magnetic field is built up. By adopting the commercial computational fluid dynamics （CFD） package FLUENT based on control-volume method, the above MHD model is solved. For the mediums of air-1% Cu and air-10% Cu, the distributions of stationary temperature, pressure, electrical potential and the arc motion processes are compared with those of a pure air arc. The copper vapor diffusion process in the arc chamber and the distribution of copper vapor mass concentration are also simulated. The results shows that the copper vapor has a cooling effect on the arc plasma and can decrease the stationary voltage as well. Moreover, the presence of copper vapor can decelerate the arc motion in the quenching chambers. The maximal copper vapor concentration locates behind the arc root because of the existence of a ＂double vortex＂ near the electrodes.     

Development of Data Acquisition Card Driver for ICRH System on EAST

Presented in this paper is the development of the driver for the data acquisition card with a peripheral component interconnection （PCI） local bus on the ion cyclotron range of frequency heating （1CRH） system. The driver is mainly aimed at the embedded VxWorks system （real-time operating system） which is widely used in various fields of real-time systems. An efficient way is employed to develop this driver, which will advance the real-time control of the ICRH system on the experimental advanced superconductor tokamak （EAST）. The driver is designed using the TORNADO integrated development environment （IDE）, and implemented in C plus language. The details include the hardware configuration, analogue/digital （A/D） and digital/analogue （D/A） conversion, input and output （I/O） operation of the driver to support over five cards. The data acquisition card can be manipulated in a low-level program and meet the requirements of A/D conversion and D/A outputs.     

Simultaneous Oxidization of NOx and SO2 by a New Non-thermal Plasma Reactor Enhanced by Catalyst and Additive

The non-thermal plasma as one of the most promising technologies for removing NOx and SO2 has attrm~ted much attention. In this study, a new plasma reactor combined with catalyst and additive was developed to effectively oxidize and remove NOx and SO2 in the flue gas. The experimental results showed that TiO2 could improve the oxidation efficiency of SO2 in the case of applying plasma while having a negative effect on the oxidation process of NO and NOx. With the addition of NH3, the oxidation rates of NOx, NO and SO2 were slightly increased. However, the effect of adding NH3 on NOx oxidation was negative when the temperature was above 200℃.     

Role of Ion Beam Irradiation and Annealing Effect on the Deposition of AlON Nanolayers by Using Plasma Focus Device

AlON nanolayers are synthesized on Al substrate by the irradiation of energetic nitrogen ions using plasma focusing. Samples are exposed to multiple （5, 10, 15, 20 and 25） focus shots. Ion energy and ion number density range from 80 keV to 1.4 MeV and 5.6×10^19 m^- 3 to 1.3×10^19 m ^-3, respectively. Moreover, the effect of continuous annealing （473 K and 523 K） on an AlN surface layer synthesized with 25 focus shots is also examined. The main features of the X-ray diffraction （XRD） patterns with increasing focus shots are： （i） variation in the crystallinity of AlN along （111）, （200） and （311） planes, （ii） increasing average crystallite size of AlN （111） plane, and （iii） stress relaxation observed in AlN （111） and （200） planes. The crystallinity of AlN surface layer is comparatively better at 473 K annealing temperature. A broadened diffraction peak related to an aluminium oxide phase showing weak crystallinity is observed for 15 focus shots while non-bounded oxides are present in all other deposited layers. Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR） analysis confirm the presence of AlN and Al203 for the surface layer annealed at 473 K temperature. Raman analysis shows that the overlapping of AlN and Al2Oa results in the development of residual stresses. Scanning electron microscope （SEM） results demonstrate that the formation of rounded grains （range from 20 nm to 200 nm） and variations in their microstructures features depend on the increasing number of focus shots. Decomposition of larger clusters into smaller ones is observed.     

Simulation of Electron-Beam Generating Plasma at Atmospheric Pressure

As electron-beam generating plasma is widely applied, the software tool EGS4 （Electron-Gamma Shower） was used to simulate the transmission and energy deposition of electron-beam in air. The simulation results indicated that the range of the electron-beam was inversely proportional to the gas pressure in a wide range of gas pressure, and the electron-beam of 200 keV could generate a plasma with a density 10^11 cm^-3 in air of latm. In addition, the energy distribution of the beam-electron and plasma density profile produced by the beam were achieved.     

Density and temperature of fermions and bosons from quantum fluctuations

A novel method to determine the density and temperature of a system constituted by fermions and/or bosons is proposed based on quantum fluctuations. For fermions system, the results in the limit where the reached temperature T is small and where there is no constraint for the reached temperature T compared to the Fermi energy ~f at a given density p are given, respectively. Quadrupole and multiplicity fluctuation relations are derived in terms of T/6f. We compared the two set results in the limit when Tis much smaller compared to Fermi energy Cf and they are consistent, as expected. The classical limit is also obtained for high temperatures and low densities. For bosons system, quadrupole and multiplicity fluctuations using Landau＇s theory of fluctuations near the critical point for a Bose-Einstein condensate （BEC） at a given density p are derived. As an example, we apply our approach to heavy ion collisions using the Constrained Molecular Dynamics model （CoMD） which includes the fermionic statistics. The multiplicity fluctuation quenching for fermions is found in the model and confirmed by experimental data. To reproduce the available experimental data better, we propose a modification of the collision term in the approach to include the possibility of ct-a collisions. The relevant Bose-Einstein factor in the collision term is properly taken into account. This approach increases the yields of bosons relative to fermions closer to data. Boson fluctuations become larger than one as expected.     

Effect of Cold Plasma Treatment on Seed Germination and Growth of Wheat简

This study investigated the effect of cold helium plasma treatment on seed germina- tion, growth and yield of wheat. The effects of different power of cold plasma on the germination of treated wheat seeds were studied. We found that the treatment of 80 W could significantly improve seed germination potential （6.0%） and germination rate （6.7%） compared to the control group. Field experiments were carried out for wheat seeds treated with 80 W cold plasma. Com- pared with the control, plant height （20.3%）, root length （9.0%） and fresh weight （21.8%） were improved significantly at seedling stage. At booting stage, plant height, root length, fresh weight, stem diameter, leaf area and leaf thickness of the treated plant were respectively increased by 21.8%, 11.0%, 7.0%, 9.0%, 13.0% and 25.5%. At the same time, the chlorophyll content （9.8%）, nitrogen （10.0%） and moisture content （10.0%） were higher than those of the control, indicating that cold plasma treatment could promote the growth of wheat. The yield of treated wheat was 7.55 t-ha-1, 5.89% more than that of the control. Therefore, our results show that cold plasma has important application prospects for increasing wheat yield.     

Mechanical Properties of Thermoplastic Polyurethanes Laminated Glass Treated by Acid Etching Combined with Cold Plasma

To overcome the problem of interlaminar delamination of thermoplastic polyurethane laminated glass, silicate glass was etched with hydrofluoric acid and thermoplastic polyurethane was then treated with cold plasma. Compared with the untreated samples, the interlaminar shear strength of acid etching samples, cold plasma-treated samples and acid etching combined with cold plasma-treated samples increased by 97%, 84% and 341%, respectively. Acid etching combined with cold plasma-treated samples exhibited a higher flexural strength and strain as compared with the untreated samples. The impact energy of acid etching samples, cold plasmatreated samples and acid etching combined with cold plasma-treated samples increased by 8.7%, 8.1% and 11.6%, respectively, in comparison with the untreated samples. FT-IR analysis showed that a large number of -C-O, CO N and CO O C groups appeared on the surface of cold plasma-treated thermoplastic polyurethane, which resulted in the formation of hydrogen bonds. SEM results showed that some pittings formed on the surface of the silicate glass treated by acid etching, which resulted in the formation of a three-dimensional interface structure between tile silicate glass and polyurethane. Hydrogen bonds combined with the three-dimensional interface between silicate glass and polyurethanes co-improved the mechanical properties of thermoplastic polyurethanes laminated glass.