Stability measurements of PPL atmospheric pressure arc
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab., NJ (United States)
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
Experiments on the stability of atmospheric pressure arcs have been started at PPL to understand and improve the performance of arc furnaces used for processing applications in metallurgy and hazardous waste treatment. Previous studies have suggested that the violent instabilities in such arcs may be due to kink modes. A 30 kW, 500 Amp CW DC experimental arc furnace was constructed with a graphite cathode and a molten steel anode. The arc plasma is diagnosed with 4000 frames/sec digital camera, Hall probes, and voltage and current monitors. Under certain conditions, the arc exhibits an intermittent helical instability, with the helix rotating at {approx}600 Hz. The nature of the instability is investigated. A possible instability mechanism is the self-magnetic field of the arc, with saturation occurring due to inhomogeneous heating in a helical arc. The effect of external DC and AC magnetic fields on the instability is investigated. Additionally, arc deflection due to external transverse magnetic field is investigated. The deflection angle is found to be proportional to the applied field, and is in good agreement with a simple model of the {rvec J} x {rvec b} force on the arc jet.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 321043
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970559-; TRN: IM9910%%234
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 24. IEEE international conference on plasma science, San Diego, CA (United States), 19-23 May 1997; Other Information: PBD: 1997; Related Information: Is Part Of IEEE conference record -- Abstracts; PB: 354 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Driven Motion and Instability of an Atmospheric Pressure Arc
The effect of cathode geometry on stability of an atmospheric pressure arc