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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Method for Producing a Powerful Plasma Formation for Materials Processing

M. Gelenidze, D. Gelenidze, Z. Chankvetadze, C. Sichinava, L. Batkhadze, Georgian Technical University, Tbilisi, Georgia; F. D. S. Marquis, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA; J. Mostaghimi, Centre for Advanced Coating Technology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

In the applied industrial technologies, the demand for powerful plasma formations continuously grows. For this purpose the arc plasma torches are usually used. The arc current in these torches passes through electrodes and last ones rapidly collapse under arc current increasing conditions. 

In order to generate plasma with theoretically unlimited capacity it is necessary to solve a few problems:

1. The first problem is to create the closed plasma jet of open type, i.e. the jet operating in space unbounded by walls, unlike plasma accelerators. This problem may be solved by intersection of auxiliary plasma jets flowing from minimum three long-lived non-transferred plasma torches.

2. The second problem is to input the additional energy to the closed plasma jet representing one turn of electric conductor. Generation of sufficient electromotive force in such turn is a complex engineering problem. To solve this problem it is necessary to encircle the jet by more that one turn of magnetic coil, the tails of which are closed in the loop.

One turn of magnetic coil is wound by one turn of conductor. The last one is connected to switched mode power supply. Thus the electromotive force induced in the closed loop of the plasma jet will be equal to the electromotive force of one turn of electric coil multiplied by the number of turns of the coil. All this provides increasing of electric current in plasma jet closed loop up to tens thousand amps without current passage through electrodes of auxiliary plasma torches. The opportunity of unlimited increase in power of plasma without limitation of plasma machine lifetime is theoretically created.

3. The third basic problem is a plasma failure that occurs in plasma accelerators. This problem is solved by means of independent plasma sources, which are inexhaustible sources of plasma particles.


Summary: The work is devoted to amplification of closed plasma formation of open type by means of external electromotive force. Aforementioned plasma formation is applied for technological purposes.