Non-steady processes in a plasmatron for hydrocarbon combustion and partial oxidation

This paper deals with investigation of a new regime in a plasma ignition and flame control system. The system is based on a classical high-current arc plasmatron. The glow-to-spark transitions, the current spark pulses are accidentally superimposed on the non-equilibrium plasma of the plasma torch. The spark discharges initiate the combustion process, which is efficiently sustained due to the presence of the glow background plasma in the anode cavity. Although average power dissipation in the discharge does not exceed 200 W and averaged gas temperature at the plasmatron exit for discharge in air is less than 500 K, the device demonstrates reliable ignition and flame stabilization in a wide range of equivalence ratios. The principal physical properties of the discharge are discussed in the paper.