Transitional arc discharges-reactor design & applications

Summary form only given. This present work reports new reactor designs to achieve the transient GA discharge in cylindrical ´tornado´ geometry with a high degree of non-equilibrium and simultaneously high energy density. Reverse Vortex Flow (RVF) or ´Tornado´ provided the high velocity necessary to move GA discharge over the electrodes with long residence time inside reactor, recirculation of active species, a long discharge column, high power and cylindrical reactor geometry suitable for industrial systems. Different reactors were designed and tested for applications including syn-gas generation, combustion ignition and support, etc. Gas temperature in the case of transitional discharges in gliding arc was in the order of 2,000-4,000 K, which was much less than the electron temperature (>10,000 K). The frequency of the present GAT cycle involving the elongation, extinction and reignition varied according to the gas rate. As the flow rate of air varied from 0.5 L/s to 2.5 L/s, the gliding arc frequency varied from 100 Hz to 500 Hz. The electric field in transitional plasmas was relatively strong, and both translational and electron temperatures were strongly coupled. Since the decrease of the temperature in the translational plasma resulted in the increase of the electric field and electron temperature, we conclude that the plasma became more non-equilibrium.