Design and characteristics of a triple-cathode cascade plasma torch for spheroidization of metallic powders

Arc plasma torch is an effective tool for spheroidization of metallic powders. However, as most conventional plasma torches were not specifically designed for plasma spheroidization, they may exhibit the disadvantages of the radial injection of powders, large fluctuations in the arc voltage, large gas flow rate, and disequilibrium between multiple plasma jets during the spheroidization process. Therefore, this paper presents a triple-cathode cascade plasma torch (TCCPT) for plasma spheroidization. Its structural design, including three cathodes, a common anode, and three sets of inter-electrodes, are detailed to ensure that powders can be inserted into the plasma jet by axial injection, the arc voltage fluctuations are easily maintained at a low level, and the plasma torches can work at a relatively small gas flow rate. Experimental results showed that the proposed TCCPT exhibits the following characteristics: (1) a relatively small arc voltage fluctuation within 5.3%; (2) a relatively high arc voltage of 75 V and low gas flow rate range of 10–30 SLM; (3) easy to be maintained at the equilibrium state with the equilibrium index of the three plasma jets within 3.5 V. Furthermore, plasma spheroidization experiments of SUS304 stainless steel powers were carried out using the proposed TCCPT. Results verified that the proposed TCCPT is applicable and effective for the spheroidization of metallic powders with wide size distribution.     

Comparative analysis of the arc characteristics inside the converging-diverging and cylindrical plasma torches

A two-temperature thermal non-equilibrium model is used to simulate and compare the arc characteristics within the converging-diverging and traditional cylindrical plasma torches.The modeling results show that the presence of the constrictor within the converging-diverging torch makes the evolution characteristics of the arc significantly different from that of cylindrical torch.Compared with a cylindrical geometrical torch,a much higher plasma flow velocity and relatively longer high temperature region can be generated and maintained inside the converging-diverging torch.In the constrictor of converging-diverging torch,the normalized radius of arc column increases and the degree of thermodynamic equilibrium of the plasma is significantly improved with the increase of axial distance.The radial momentum balance analysis shows that for the cylindrical torch,the pressure gradient that drives the arc expansion and the Lorentz force that drives the arc contraction dominate the radial evolution of the arc.While at the converging and constrictor region of a converging-diverging plasma torch,the radial gas dynamic forces in arc fringes pointing toward the arc center enhance the mixing of the cold gas of boundary layer with the high temperature gas of the arc center,increasing the average gas temperature and decreasing the thickness of cold boundary layer,thereby facilitating the formation of diffusion type arc anode attachment at the diverging section of torch.     

阳极结构对直流非转移型等离子体射流特性的影响

本文介绍了自行研制的直流非转移弧等离子体炬的结构和工作原理,研究了不同阳极结构等离子体射流的特性与气体流量、弧功率的关系,以及侧向垂直送气对射流形貌的影响.结果表明,阳极结构对等离子体射流特性的影响较大,弧压随着阳极压缩角的增大而下降,较小压缩角的射流稳定性更好;通道直径较小的等离子体射流刚性更强;不同阳极结构的等离子体炬可以有不同的应用领域.     

Comparative Observation of Ar, Ar-H2 and Ar-N2 DC Arc Plasma Jets and Their Arc Root Behaviour at Reduced Pressure

Results observed experimentally are presented, about the DC arc plasma jets and their arc-root behaviour generated at reduced gas pressure without or with an applied magnetic field. Pure argon, argon-hydrogen or argon-nitrogen mixture was used as the plasma-forming gas. A specially designed copper mirror was used for a better observation of the arc-root behaviour on the anode surface of the DC non-transferred arc plasma torch. It was found that in the cases without an applied magnetic field, the laminar plasma jets were stable and approximately axisymmetrical. The arc-root attachment on the anode surface was completely diffusive when argon was used as the plasma-forming gas, while the arc-root attachment often became constrictive when hydrogen or nitrogen was added into the argon. As an external magnetic field was applied, the arc root tended to rotate along the anode surface of the non-transferred arc plasma torch.     

Study on the ignition process of a segmented plasma torch

Direct current plasma torches have been applied to generate unique sources of thermal energy in many industrial applications.Nevertheless,the successful ignition of a plasma torch is the key process to generate the unique source (plasma jet).However,there has been little study on the underlying mechanism of this key process.A thorough understanding of the ignition process of a plasma torch will be helpful for optimizing the design of the plasma torch structure and selection of the ignition parameters to prolong the service life of the ignition module.Thus,in this paper,the ignition process of a segmented plasma torch (SPT) is theoretically and experimentally modeled and analyzed.Corresponding electrical models of different stages of the ignition process are set up and used to derive the electrical parameters,e.g.the variations of the arc voltage and arc current between the cathode and anode.In addition,the experiments with different ignition parameters on a home-made SPT have been conducted.At the same time,the variations of the arc voltage and arc current have been measured,and used to verify the ones derived in theory and to determine the optimal ignition parameters for a particular SPT.     

大气压下大功率等离子体炬的数值模拟

主要研究直流等离子体炬的数值模拟方法,通过求解等离子体弧社区域的能量守恒,动量守恒,质量守恒及电流连续性方程,得到不同边界条件下温度,速度,电流密度分布,计算了大气压下２００Ａ自由氩弧的温度分布,电势和电流分布,并与实验数据及现有的理论计算进行了比较,得到了较好的结果,在此基础上结合本实验室５０００Ａ大功率等离子体炬,讨论了有阴极喷口存在下的弧柱部分的数值计算,以及能量守恒方程中辐射项,焦耳热项的     

Design and characteristics of a new type laminar plasma torch for materials processing

Laminar plasma jet(LPJ) generated by laminar plasma torch(LPT) has a favorable temperature and velocity distribution. Thus, it is superior to the turbulent plasma jet in material processing.However, most of the reported LPTs usually operate at a relatively low output power with a relatively low arc voltage and thermal efficiency, which limits its capabilities. In this context, this paper attempts to design a new type of high-power LPT with a relatively low arc current and a high thermal efficiency. In the first section, the design principle of the main components is studied and discussed in detail, and a new high-power LPT is proposed. Then, the experimental characteristics of the proposed high-power LPT are examined. Experimental results reveal the following characteristics of the proposed LPT.(1) The max jet length of the proposed LPT reaches at 540 mm.(2) Its mean arc voltage is higher than 290 V when the LPT works with arc currents lower than 200 A, leading to an output power greater than 50 kW.(3) The mean thermal efficiency is higher than 50%. Lastly, the proposed LPT has been applied to spheroidize the aluminum oxide powers. The experiment results for the production of spherical powders show that the proposed LPT has a good characteristic for material processing.     

Experimental study on the improvement of spray characteristics of aero-engines using gliding arc plasma

A gliding arc plasma fuel atomization actuator suitable for aeroengines was designed, and a gliding arc plasma fuel spray experimental platform was built to address the fuel atomization problem in aeroengine combustion chambers. The spray characteristics for different airflows,fuel flows, and discharge voltages were analyzed using laser particle size analysis. The research shows that the fuel atomization effect is improved from the increased airflow. The decreased fuel flow not only reduces the ...     

Numerical Simulation of Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in a DC Non-Transferred Arc Plasma Torch Operating Under Laminar and Turbulent Conditions

In this work, a magnetic fluid dynamics (MHD) model is used to simulate the electromagnetic field, heat transfer and fluid flow in a DC non-transferred arc plasma torch under laminar and turbulent conditions. The electric current density, temperature and velocity distributions in the torch are obtained through the coupled iterative calculation about the electromagnetic equations described in a magnetic vector potential format and the modified fluid dynamics equations. The fluid-solid coupled calculation method is applied to guarantee the continuity of the electric current and heat transfer at the interface between the electrodes and fluid. The predicted location of the anodic arc root attachment and the arc voltage of the torch are consistent with corresponding experimental results. Through a specific analysis of the influence of mass flow rates and electric current on the torch outlet parameters, the total thermal efficiency, thermal loss of each part, and the laws of the variation of outlet parameters with the variation of mass flow rates and electric current was obtained. It is found that operation under a laminar condition with a limited area of the anode could increase the total thermal efficiency of the torch.     

Modelling effect of magnetic field on material removal in dry electrical discharge machining

One of the reasons for increased material removal rate in magnetic field assisted dry electrical discharge machining(EDM) is confinement of plasma due to Lorentz forces.This paper presents a mathematical model to evaluate the effect of external magnetic field on crater depth and diameter in single-and multiple-discharge EDM process.The model incorporates three main effects of the magnetic field,which include plasma confinement,mean free path reduction and pulsating magnetic field effects.Upon the application of an external magnetic field,Lorentz forces that are developed across the plasma column confine the plasma column.Also,the magnetic field reduces the mean free path of electrons due to an increase in the plasma pressure and cycloidal path taken by the electrons between the electrodes.As the mean free path of electrons reduces,more ionization occurs in plasma column and eventually an increase in the current density at the inter-electrode gap occurs.The model results for crater depth and its diameter in single discharge dry EDM process show an error of 9%-10%over the respective experimental values.     

The characteristics of primary and secondary arcs on a solar array in low earth orbit

In this paper, the characteristics of the primary arc and secondary arc on a solar array in low earth orbit(LEO) are investigated. The vacuum plasma environment in LEO has been used to study the primary arc and secondary arc of a high-voltage solar array. Silicon solar cells with rigid substrate specimens are used for the experiment. The series-parallel spacing of the silicon solar cells is 1 mm. The string currents of the solar cells are 0.7 A, 1.5 A and 2 A. The primary arc and secondary arc are photographed by high-speed cameras. The differences between the primary arc and secondary arc are observed. The secondary arc can be observed before the primary arc is extinguished. The primary arc is a single arc when the string current is 0.7 A. Multiple arc columns are accompanied by higher arc current. Two arc columns of the primary arc can be observed at 1.5 A string current and 2 A string current. The multiple primary arc columns are related to higher bias voltage. The threshold for sustained arcing is near 145 V/0.7 A, 105 V/1.5 A and 100 V/2 A at 1 mm string gap. Moreover, the transition time of secondary arc formation is analyzed, and found to be about 10–13 μs. The string currents, string voltages and primary arc have no effect on the transition time of the secondary arc formation.     

Simulation,Design, Construction of Duoplasmatron and Diagnostic Neutral Beam System for Alborz Tokamak

Diagnostic Neutral Beam (DNB) has been used for measuring plasma parameters of tokamaks such as ion and electron temperature, safety factor, impurity concentration and etc. Ion source and electrical power supply specification are the main part of DNB. Arc discharge current value is affected by filament current and anode voltage. Beam current changes with arc current signal in our experiment that agree with theoretical relations. Sixty milli-ampere (60 mA) pulse beam current is because of arc current of about 40 A and extraction voltage of about 20 kV. The increase of beam current with arc current has been reported experimentally and effect of arc current on beam current has been investigated for several high extraction voltages. Optimum condition, which means having a telescopic beam (minimum divergence) for specific parameters of duoplasmatron, has been simulated and verified with experimental test. The best extraction voltage for these parameters has been found to be about 16-kV. The ratio of the perpendicular velocity to parallel velocity has been calculated to be about 0.012. It has been shown experimentally with optical emission spectroscopy that increase in arc current and magnetic current increase proton content of beam.     

Numerical investigation on the flow characteristics of a reverse-polarity plasma torch by two-temperature thermal non-equilibrium modelling

A two-temperature(2 T) thermal non-equilibrium model is developed to address the thermal nonequilibrium phenomenon that inevitably exists in the reverse-polarity plasma torch(RPT) and applied to numerically investigate the plasma flow characteristics inside and outside the RPT.Then, a detailed comparison of the results of the 2 T model with those of the local thermal equilibrium(LTE) model is presented. Furthermore, the temperature of the plasma jet generated by a RPT and the RPT's voltage are experimentally measured to compare and validate the result obtained by different models. The differences of the measured excitation temperature and the arc voltage between the 2 T model and experimental measurement are less than 13% and 8%,respectively, in all operating cases, validating the effectiveness of the 2 T model. The LTE model overestimates the velocity and temperature distribution of the RPT and its plasma jet, showing that thermal non-equilibrium phenomena cannot be neglected in the numerical modelling of the RPT. Unlike other common hot cathode plasma torches, the thermal non-equilibrium phenomenon is found even in the arc core of the RPT, due to the strong cooling effect caused by the big gas flow rate.     

Dual Torch Plasma Arc Furnace for Medical Waste Treatment

In this paper, characteristics of a treatment and operated at atmospheric pressure dual torch plasma arc used for hazardous waste are studied, and also compared with those of the multi-torch plasma arc and the single torch plasma arc. The dual torch plasma arc is generated between the cathode and anode with argon as the working gas. The temperature distributions of the plasma arc are measured using a spectroscope and line pair method with the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium （LTE） for the DC arc current I=100 A and argon flow rate Q = 15 slpm. The measurements show that the temperatures of the dual torch arc plasma in the regions near the cathode, the anode and the center point are 10,000 K, 11,000 K and 9,000 K, respectively. And the high temperature region of the multi torch plasma arc is of double or much wider size than that of a conventional dual torch plasma arc and single plasma torch. Based on the preceding studies, a dual torch plasma arc furnace is developed in this study. The measured gas temperature at the center region of the argon arc is about 11,000 K for the case of I=200 A and Q=30 slpm operated in atmosphere.     

Comparison of Reynolds average Navier-Stokes turbulence models in numerical simulations of the DC arc plasma torch

Five turbulence models of Reynolds average Navier-Stokes(RANS),including the standard k-ω model,the RNG k-e model taking into account the low Reynolds number effect,the realizable k-ω model,the SST k-ω model,and the Reynolds stress model(RSM),are employed in the numerical simulations of direct current(DC)arc plasma torches in the range of arc current from 80 A to 240 A and air gas flow rate from 10 m^3 h^-1 to 50 m^3 h^-1.The calculated voltage,electric field intensity,and the heat loss in the arc chamber are compared with the experiments.The results indicate that the arc voltage,the electric field,and the heat loss in the arc chamber calculated by using the standard k-ω model,the RNG k-ωmodel taking into account the low Reynolds number effect,and the realizable k-ω model are much larger than those in the experiments.The RSM predicts relatively close results to the experiments,but fails in the trend of heat loss varying with the gas flow rate.The calculated results of the SST k-ω model are in the best agreement with the experiments,which may be attributed to the reasonable predictions of the turbulence as well as its distribution.     

Diagnosis of Electron, Vibrational and Rotational Temperatures in an Ar/N2 Shock Plasma Jet Produced by a Low Pressure DC Cascade Arc Discharge

In this paper,a low pressure Ar/N2 shock plasma jet with clearly multicycle alternating zones produced by a DC cascade arc discharge has been investigated by an emission spectral method combined with Abel inversion analysis.Plasma emission intensity,electron,vibrational and rotational temperatures of the shock plasma have been measured in the expansion and compression zones.The results indicate that the ranges of the measured electron temperature,vibrational temperature and rotational temperature are 1.1 eV to 1.6 eV,0.2 eV to 0.7 eV and 0.19 eV to 0.22 eV,respectively,and it is found for the first time that the vibrational and rotational temperatures increase while the electron temperature decreases in the compression zones.The electron temperature departs from the vibrational and the rotational temperatures due to non-equilibrium plasma efects.Electrons and heavy particles could not completely exchange energy via collisions in the shock plasma jet under the low pressure of 620 Pa or so.     

Influenceof the Laminar Plasma Torch Construction on the Jet Characteristics

Based on two typical laminar plasma torches(LPT), i.e. a multi-electrode plasma torch(MEPT) with segmented anode structure and a two-electrode plasma torch(TEPT) with conventional structure, this paper studied the influence of the LPTs construction on the jet characteristics. Experiments were designed to measure their arc voltage, jet length, thermal efficiency and specific enthalpy using a home-made data acquisition system. With them, the jet characteristics of the two different LPTs were compared in detail. Results show that different plasma torch construction leads to distinctively different characteristics of the generated plasma jet. Based on the different jet characteristics, a plasma torch with appropriate construction could be used to meet the different application requirements.     

The detailed characteristics of positive corona current pulses in the line-to-plane electrodes

The corona current pulses generated by corona discharge are the sources of the radio interference from transmission lines and the detailed characteristics of the corona current pulses from conductor should be investigated in order to reveal their generation mechanism. In this paper, the line-to-plane electrodes are designed to measure and analyze the characteristics of corona current pulses from positive corona discharges. The influences of inter-electrode gap and line diameters on the detail characteristics of corona current pulses, such as pulse amplitude, rise time, duration time and repetition frequency, are carefully analyzed. The obtained results show that the pulse amplitude and the repetition frequency increase with the diameter of line electrode when the electric fields on the surface of line electrodes are same. With the increase of inter-electrode gap,the pulse amplitude and the repetition frequency first decrease and then turn to be stable, while the rise time first increases and finally turns to be stable. The distributions of electric field and space charges under the line electrodes are calculated, and the influences of inter-electrode gap and line electrode diameter on the experimental results are qualitatively explained.     

Simulation of the Effects of Several Factors on Arc Plasma Behavior in Low Voltage Circuit Breaker

Taking into account the properties of the arc plasma and the electromagnetic, heat and radiative phenomena, commercial computational fluid dynamics software PHOENICS has been adapted and modified to develop the three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamic （MHD） model of arc in a low voltage circuit breaker. The effects of the arc ignition location, venting size and gassing material on arc behavior have been investigated. The analysis of the results show that the arc velocity accelerates with the increase in the distance between arc ignition location and of the venting size, and the existence of the gassing material is beneficial to improving the arc voltage and reducing the arc temperature.     

Parametric Study on Arc Behavior of Magnetically Diffused Arc

A model coupling the plasma with a cathode body is applied in the simulation of the diffuse state of a magnetically rotating arc.Four parametric studies are performed:on the external axial magnetic field (AMF),on the cathode shape,on the total current and on the inlet gas velocity.The numerical results show that:the cathode attachment focuses in the center of the cathode tip with zero AMF and gradually shifts off the axis with the increase of AMF;a larger cathode conical angle corresponds to a cathode arc attachment farther away off axis;the maximum values of plasma temperature increase with the total current;the plasma column in front of the cathode tip expands more severely in the axial direction,with a higher inlet speed;the cathode arc attachment shrinks towards the tip as the inlet speed increases.The various results are supposed to be explained by the joint effect of coupled cathode surface heating and plasma rotating flow.