Electrical discharge excited by the deeply undercritical field of a microwave beam in a high-speed jet of air and air-propane mixture

An electrical gas discharge initiated by a tubular linear electromagnetic vibrator is studied. The discharge is excited by the deeply undercritical linearly polarized field of a quasi-optical microwave beam. Experiments are conducted at a flow velocity of several hundreds of meters per second. The discharge region is photographed, and the stagnation temperature of the flow in the wake of the discharge is measured. It is shown that a deeply undercritical microwave discharge may arise in air even at such high flow velocities. Moreover, it is found that the discharge ignites and stabilizes the discharge region in a “lean” air-propane mixture. In such an experimental design, propane completely burns out when the flow velocity is smaller than some threshold value. When the flow velocity is high and the Mach number of the flow approaches unity, throttling effects and “thermal blocking” of the jet are observed.     

Combustion Dynamics of a Propane–Air Gas Mixture when It Is Ignited by a Streamer Microwave Discharge

Technical Physics - The results of experimental studies of combustion of propane–air gaseous mixture when it was ignited by a microwave discharge have been described. The mixture with...     

Thermal ionization instability of an air discharge plasma in a microwave field

Results are presented from experimental studies of the initial stage of an air discharge initiated in a linearly polarized quasi-optical microwave beam. The discharge was excited at an air pressure at which the electron-neutral collision frequency in the discharge plasma was considerably higher than the circular frequency of the electromagnetic field and at a microwave field amplitude close to the threshold field for air breakdown. The experiments revealed relatively bright plasma channels stretched along the microwave electric field. The development rate of these channels and their characteristic transverse dimensions are estimated. A comparison of the experimental data and theoretical estimates indicates that the channels observed arise due to the onset of thermal ionization instability in the microwave discharge plasma.     

Effective area of energy interactions between the plasma of a deeply subcritical microwave discharge and its initiating electromagnetic field

Experiments on initiating electrical air discharge in an airtight radiotransparent volume have been described. The discharge is initiated by a quasi-optical linearly polarized microwave beam with a deeply subcritical field by means of an electromagnetic vibrator mounted above a screen. The results make it possible to calculate the effective area of energy interaction between the plasma of the discharge and its initiating microwave field. It has been shown that this area considerably exceeds the cross-sectional area of the discharge.     

Deeply undercritical microwave discharge excited by the field of a quasi-optical electromagnetic beam in a supersonic air jet

Electric discharge in a supersonic air jet is studied. It is ignited in a linearly polarized quasi-optical microwave electromagnetic beam the initial field intensity of which is much lower than the breakdown level. Electric breakdown is initiated by a tubular electromagnetic vibrator, one end of which has spikes and is covered by a quartz tube. Atmospheric air enters into a low-pressure working chamber through the inner channel of the vibrator. As a result, an immersed supersonic air jet forms in the chamber at the outlet from the quartz tube. A microwave discharge ignited in this jet is “attached” to aft spikes of the vibrator. The energy deposit into the discharge plasma and the effective area of energy interaction between the discharge and excited microwave field are estimated from the temperature and stagnation pressure distributions in the wake of the discharge.     

Ionization-overheating instability threshold in the electrodeless microwave discharge plasma

Experiments with a pulsed freely localized electrodeless microwave discharge in air under a pressure corresponding to the ascending branch of the pressure dependence of the breakdown field are described. The discharge is initiated in a focused quasi-optical electromagnetic beam. The minimal threshold values of the electromagnetic field (for which a brighter plasma channel extended along the field is formed in the initially spatially homogeneous diffuse discharge plasma) are determined by varying air pressure for several fixed values of this field in the focal region of the beam. In accordance with the prevailing theory, this phenomenon is interpreted as the result of evolution of ionization-overheating instability in the microwave discharge plasma.     

Electric discharge in air in a deeply subcritical field of a quasi-optical microwave beam

We describe the results of experiments on initiation of an electric discharge in air in a quasi-optical microwave beam by an electromagnetic vibrator fixed above the screen. This method for initiating the electrical breakdown makes it possible to obtain a discharge at a level of the electric field component in the microwave, which two orders of magnitude lower than the minimal critical field of the electrodeless breakdown of air. In our experiments, the threshold value of the air pressure determining the low- and high-temperature forms of the microwave discharge are determined depending on the field level.     

Discharge in the Atmosphere in a Gaussian Beam of Subthreshold Millimeter Waves

The propagation velocities of a subthreshold discharge excited in air at atmospheric pressure by a pulsed microwave beam with a Gaussian field distribution, a wavelength of 4 mm, and an intensity up to 30 kW/cm² have been measured by means of optical and microwave diagnostics. It has been shown that the motion of a discharge front along the path of the beam toward the region of an increasing microwave field is accompanied by an increase in the velocity from subsonic (~10^–4 cm/s) to supersonic (~(6–8) × 10⁴ cm/s). At the same time, motion toward the decreasing field region is accompanied by a decrease in the velocity from supersonic to subsonic. It has been found that the maximum temperature of the gas in the discharge at velocities of ~10⁴ cm/s reaches ~5.3 kK.     

Microwave breakdown of air initiated by a short electromagnetic vibrator

The electrical breakdown of air (under a pressure from several tens of Torr to several hundreds of Torr) is initiated in a linearly polarized quasi-optical microwave beam using a rounded-end cylindrical metallic electromagnetic vibrator placed parallel to the electric component of the microwave field. The vibrator is much shorter than the wavelength of the field. The field strength at the top of the vibrator as a function of its length is determined. An empiric expression relating the field strength at the top with the vibrator length-to-diameter ratio is found for the vibrator length range studied. The practicability of locally measuring the field in a quasioptical microwave beam is substantiated. The idea is to determine the maximal air pressure at which electrical breakdown of air initiated by a short vibrator placed at a given point of the beam takes place.     

Surface streamer microwave discharge

An atmospheric-pressure pulsed microwave discharge on the surface of an insulating plate and between two insulating fllms is considered. The discharge is initiated in a quasi-optical microwave beam away from the beam-forming elements. The TEM field of the beam is less than the critical breakdown value. The initiator is a metallic dipole placed either directly on the plate surface facing away from the radiation source or between the films. The discharge has the form of branching streamer channels adjacent to the surface and filling up the cross section of the microwave beam with a field level higher than the value separating the subcritical and highly subcritical forms of the microwave streamer discharge.     

Incident case histories on mobile containers

While handling liquids in rigid intermediate bulk containers (RIBC), the assessment of ignition sources due to electrostatic discharges is of especial interest since it is often difficult to rule out all possible conditions which can lead to the generation of an effective discharge. Far from suggesting new criteria for the selection or construction of RIBC or standards for its design, this paper has the aim of describing three incidents where an electrostatic discharge caused a flammable mixture of vapours with air to ignite. Situations presented could usually be rated as highly remote on its probability of occurrence by operators since they are common and never caused an incident, but on the other hand it is rather easy, from a theoretical point of view, to explain the phenomena observed by applying the basic assessment rules for the generation of electrostatic ignition sources.If existing guidelines were to have been followed (mainly CENELEC 50404 and BGR132), those incidents would have not occurred.     

Ignition of hexane-air mixtures by highly under-expanded hot jets

We report an experimental study of ignition of flammable mixtures by highly unexpanded, supersonic hot jets. The high-pressure, hot-gas reservoir supplying the jet is created by impacting a projectile on a plunger to rapidly compress and ignite a rich n-hexane/air mixture, resulting in a peak reservoir pressure of more than 20 MPa. A locking mechanism was used to prevent the plunger from rebounding and the jet was created by rupturing a diaphragm covering a nozzle with an exit diameter between 0.25 and 1 mm. The jet development and ignition processes in the main chamber filled with hexane-air mixture were visualized using high-speed schlieren and OH* chemiluminescence imaging. The ignition threshold was determined as a function of composition in the jet and main chamber, the nozzle diameter, and the initial pressure in the main chamber. Unlike the case of subsonic jets in which ignition occurs at the shear layer near the nozzle exit, ignition of combustion in the main chamber was found to take place downstream of the Mach disk terminating the supersonic expansion and within the turbulent mixing region created by the startup of the supersonic jet. The results are interpreted using a constant-pressure, well-stirred reactor model simulating the mixing between the hot jet and cold ambient gas. The critical conditions for ignition are determined by the competition between energy release due to chemical reactions initiated by the hot jet gas and cooling due to mixing with the cold chamber atmosphere. The critical value (maximum for which ignition occurs) of the mixing rate was computed using a detailed chemical reaction model and found to be a useful qualitative guide to our observations.     

Ignition of hydrocarbon films under the conditions of surface microwave discharge

In the present work, rapid plasma-stimulated ignition of liquid hydrocarbons was carried out in still air under conditions of surface microwave discharge. It was shown that, depending on the microwave input power, the breakdown time changed in a range from 5 to 30μs, ignition occurred on an antenna in the area of the surface microwave discharge at a temperature not exceeding 1000 K, and the speed of the front boundary propagation of the intense ignition region near the antenna was 300 m s^?1.     

Influence of temperature on the ionization coefficient and ignition voltage of the Townsend discharge in an argon–mercury vapor mixture

The kinetics of main types of charged and excited particles present in a low-current discharge in an argon–mercury vapor mixture used in gas-discharge illuminating lamps has been investigated in a wide interval of the reduced electric field strength and temperature. Mechanisms behind the production and loss of ions and metastable atoms have been discovered, and the temperature dependences of their contributions to maintaining their balance have been determined. It has been shown that, when the discharge is initiated in the lamp and the mercury content in the mixture is low, the ionization coefficient exceeds that in pure argon, which is almost exclusively due to the Penning reaction. The influence of this reaction grows with a reduction of the electric field strength in the interelectrode gap. The dependences of the discharge ignition voltage on the interelectrode gap (Paschen curves) for different temperatures of the mixture have been calculated, and the nonmonotonicity of the temperature dependence of the ignition voltage has been explained.     

Inflammation dynamics of thin alcohol films under the action of a surface microwave discharge initiated in atmospheric-pressure air

Rapid nonthermal plasma-stimulated inflammation of liquid hydrocarbon (alcohol) films is realized under the conditions of a surface microwave discharge initiated in quiescent atmospheric-pressure air. The induction period is found, and the velocity of the intense combustion front is determined. Combustion is initiated by the low-temperature plasma of the surface microwave discharge that exists at high values of the reduced electric field. It is shown that the induction period varies between 10 and 100 μs depending on the input power, the plasma-stimulated inflammation occurs on the antenna at the site where the surface microwave discharge burns, and the velocity of the intense combustion front near the antenna reaches 300–350 m/s.     

Geometrical study of spark ignition in two dimensions

Spark ignition, as the first step during the combustion in Otto engines, has a profound impact on the further development of the flame kernel. Over the last ten years growing concern for environment protection, including low emission of pollutants has increased the interest in the numerical simulation of ignition phenomena to guarantee successful flame kernel development even for lean mixtures.

However, the process of spark ignition in a combustible mixture is not yet fully understood. The use of detailed reaction mechanisms, combined with electrodynamical modelling of the spark, is necessary to optimize ignition of lean mixtures.

This work presents simulations of the coupling of flow, chemical reactions and transport with discharge processes in order to investigate the development of a stable flame kernel initiated by an electrical spark. A two-dimensional code to simulate the early stages of flame kernel formation, shortly after the breakdown discharge, has been developed. The model includes Joule heating. The spark plasma channel formed as a consequence of the breakdown is incorporated into the initial conditions. The computations include the initial phase (1–5 µs), which is governed by pressure wave formation, but also the transition to flame propagation. A thorough study of the influence of the electrodes' geometry, i.e. shape and size, and gap width, has been performed for air and a lean H₂–air mixture. Also a detailed methane-air mechanism was chosen as another example including combustion.

Due to the fast expansion of the plasma channel, together with the geometrical complexity of the electrodes, a complicated flow field develops after the emission of a pressure wave by the expanding channel. Special numerical methods, including artificial viscosity, are required to resolve the complicated flow field during these first 1–5 µs. The heat release through chemical reactions and transport processes is almost negligible during this short phase. The second phase, i.e. the development of a propagating flame and the flame kernel expansion, can last up to several milliseconds and is dominated by diffusive processes and chemical reactions. It has been found that the geometry greatly influences the developing flame kernel and the flow field. As soon as chemical reactions begin to contribute significantly to the heat release, the effect becomes smaller.     

Laser ignition of flammable mixtures via a solid core optical fiber

To date no commercial fiber coupled laser systems have reached the irradiance and pulse energy required for flammable mixtures ignition. In this work we report preliminary results on the ignition of two-phase mixtures promoted by a laser delivering pulses through optical fiber. Experiments undertaken on free beam path configurations have allowed identification of the optical parameters required for laser ignition. The fiber coupled system used is based on a Q-switched nanosecond laser operating at 1064 nm. The fiber input angle and the focal length have been identified as the most important parameters. We demonstrated the possibility of delivering nanosecond pulses of 30 mJ focused onto a spot of 200 μm through a solid core optical fiber, and to promote ignition of n-heptane/air and JP4/air mixtures. PACS 42.62.-b; 42.81.-i; 47.55.-t; 82.33.Vx     

Parameters of the beam plasma formed by a forevacuum plasma source of a ribbon beam in zero-field transportation system

We have studied the generation of the beam plasma formed by a forevacuum plasma source of a ribbon electron beam in the conditions of its transportation without an accompanying magnetic field. The ignition conditions in the beam transportation region of the beam–plasma discharge producing a plasma formation of the plasma sheet type with a plasma concentration of ~10¹⁶ m^–3 and an electron temperature of 1–2.5 eV have been determined. The attained values of parameters and the sizes of the plasma formation make it possible to use it in technologies of the surface modification of planar extended articles.     

Structure of propagating edge diffusion flames in hydrocarbon fuel jets

Direct numerical simulations with a C₃-chemistry model have been performed to investigate the transient behavior and internal structure of flames propagating in an axisymmetric fuel jet of methane, ethane, ethylene, acetylene, or propane in normal earth gravity (1g) and zero gravity (0g). The fuel issued from a 3-mm-i.d. tube into quasi-quiescent air for a fixed mixing time of 0.3 s before it was ignited along the centerline where the fuel–air mixture was at stoichiometry. The edge of the flame formed a vigorously burning peak reactivity spot, i.e., reaction kernel, and propagated through a flammable mixture layer, leaving behind a trailing diffusion flame. The reaction kernel broadened laterally across the flammable mixture layer and possessed characteristics of premixed flames in the direction of propagation and unique flame structure in the transverse direction. The reaction kernel grew wings on both fuel and air sides to form a triple-flame-like structure, particularly for ethylene and acetylene, whereas for alkanes, the fuel-rich wing tended to merge with the main diffusion flame zone, particularly methane. The topology of edge diffusion flames depend on the properties of fuels, particularly the rich flammability limit, and the mechanistic oxidation pathways. The transit velocity of edge diffusion flames, determined from a time series of calculated temperature field, equaled to the measured laminar flame speed of the stoichiometric fuel–air mixtures, available in the literature, independent of the gravity level.     

Detachment of electrons from atmospheric oxygen molecules in a high electric field

The results of experiments on the electrical breakdown of air in a quasi-optical microwave beam with a deeply subcritical initial field have been reported. Breakdown has been initiated by a cylindrical vibrator with spherically rounded ends and a vibrator with a tapered end. The experimental data suggest that the amount of initial breakdown-initiating electrons in a breakdown area can be provided by the detachment of electrons from atmospheric oxygen molecules. The effect of detachment depends on the field strength.