Rotational and Vibrational Temperatures of Atmospheric Double rc Argon--Nitrogen Plasma

The spectroscopic technique is employed to study the emission ofatmospheric argon--nitrogen plasma jet generated by an original dcdouble anode plasma torch. The molecular bands of the N₂⁺first negative system are observed at the torch exit and chosen toevaluate the rotational and vibrational temperatures in comparison withthe simulated spectra. The excitation temperature (T_exc ≈9600K) is determined from the Boltzmann plot method. The results show that the rotational, vibrational, electron and kinetic temperatures are in good agreement with one another, which indicates that the core region of atmospheric double arc argon--nitrogen plasma jet at the torch exit is close to the local thermodynamic equilibrium state under our experimental conditions.     

Line intensities of the asymptotic asymmetric-top radical HO2 at high temperatures

The total internal partition sums were calculated in the product approximation at temperatures up to 5000 K for the asymptotic asymmetric-top HO2 molecule. The calculations of the rotational partition function and the vibrational partition function were carried out with the rigid-top model and in the harmonic oscillator approximation, respectively. Our values of the total internal partition sums are consistent with the data of HITRAN database with -0.14% at 296 K. Using the calculated partition functions, we have calculated the line intensities of υ2 band of HO2 at several high temperatures. The results showed that the calculated line intensities are in very good agreement with those of HITRAN database at temperatures up to 3000 K, which provides a strong support for the calculations of partition functions and line intensities at high temperatures. Then we have extended the calculation to higher temperatures. The simulated spectra of υ2 band of the asymptotic asymmetric-top HO2 molecule at 4000 and 5000 K are also obtained.     

The influence of Exciting Frequency on N2 and N2+ Vibrational Temperature of Nitrogen Capacitively Coupled Plasma

By using optical emission spectroscopy （OES）, N2 and N2^＋ vibrational temperatures in capacitively coupled plasma discharges with different exciting frequencies are investigated. The vibrational temperatures are acquired by comparing the measured and calculated spectra of selected transitions with a least-square procedure. It is found that N2 and N2^＋ vibrational temperatures almost increase linearly with increasing exciting frequency up to 23 MHz, then increase slowly or even decrease. The pressure corresponding to the maximum point of N2 vibrational temperature decreases with the increasing exciting frequency. These experimental phenomena are attributed to the increasing electron density, whereas the electron temperature decreases with exciting frequency rising.     

Large eddy simulations of a circular orifice jet with and without a cross-sectional exit plate

The effect of a cross-sectional exit plane on the downstream mixing characteristics of a circular turbulent jet is in- vestigated using large eddy simulation （LES）. The turbulent jet is issued from an orifice-type nozzle at an exit Reynolds number of 5 ×104. Both instantaneous and statistical velocity fields of the jet are provided. Results show that the rates of the mean velocity decay and jet spread are both higher in the case with the exit plate than without it. The existence of the plate is found to increase the downstream entrainment rate by about 10% on average over the axial range of 8-30de （exit diameter）. Also, the presence of the plate enables the formation of vortex rings to occur further downstream by 0.5-1 .Ode. A physical insight into the near-field jet is provided to explain the importance of the boundary conditions in the evolution of a turbulent jet. In addition, a method of using the decay of the centreline velocity and the half-width of the jet to calculate the entrainment rate is proposed.     

Atmospheric pressure plasma jet utilizing Ar and Ar/H_2O mixtures and its applications to bacteria inactivation

An atmospheric pressure plasma jet generated with Ar with H2O vapor is characterized and applied to inactivation of Bacillus subtilis spores. The emission spectra obtained from Ar/H2O plasma shows a higher intensity of OH radicals compared to pure argon at a specified H2O concentration. The gas temperature is estimated by comparing the simulated spectra of the OH band with experimental spectra. The excitation electron temperature is determined from the Boltzmann’s plots and Stark broadening of the hydrogen Balmer Hβline is applied to measure the electron density. The gas temperature, excitation electron temperature, and electron density of the plasma jet decrease with the increase of water vapor concentration at a fixed input voltage. The bacteria inactivation rate increases with the increase of OH generation reaching a maximum reduction at 2.6%(v/v) water vapor. Our results also show that the OH radicals generated by the Ar/H2O plasma jet only makes a limited contribution to spore inactivation and the shape change of the spores before and after plasma irradiation is discussed.     

Current–voltage characteristics of hydrogen DC plasma torches with different sizes in an external axial magnetic field

Current–voltage(I–V) characteristics of hydrogen DC plasma torches with different sizes in an external axial magnetic field under atmospheric pressure are reported.Three anodes with different diameters are adopted in a 50-k W torch:25 mm,30 mm,and 35 mm,respectively.Two different diameters of anodes,that is,100 mm and 130 mm,are adopted in a 1-MW plasma torch.The arc voltage shows a negative trend with the increase of arc current under the operating regimes.On the contrary,arc voltage shows a positive trend as the flow rate of carrier gas increases,and a similar trend is found with increasing the external magnetic flux density.A similarity formula is constructed to correlate the experimental data of the torches mentioned above.Linear fitting shows that the Pearson correlation coefficient is 0.9958.     

Development of a new atmospheric pressure cold plasma jet generator and application in sterilization

This paper reports that a new plasma generator at atmospheric pressure, which is composed of two homocentric cylindrical all-metal tubes, successfully generates a cold plasma jet. The inside tube electrode is connected to ground, the outside tube electrode is connected to a high-voltage power supply, and a dielectric layer is covered on the outside tube electrode. When the reactor is operated by low-frequency (6 kHz--20 kHz) AC supply in atmospheric pressure and argon is steadily fed as a discharge gas through inside tube electrode, a cold plasma jet is blown out into air and the plasma gas temperature is only 25--30℃. The electric character of the discharge is studied by using digital real-time oscilloscope (TDS 200-Series), and the discharge is capacitive. Preliminary results are presented on the decontamination of E.colis bacteria and Bacillus subtilis bacteria by this plasma jet, and an optical emission analysis of the plasma jet is presented in this paper. The ozone concentration generated by the plasma jet is 1.0×10¹⁶cm^-3 which is acquired by using the ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy.     

First-principles study of lattice dynamics and thermodynamics ofosmium under pressure

We have performed the first-principles linear response calculations of the lattice dynamics, thermal equation of state and thermodynamical properties of hcp Os metal by using the plane-wave pseudopotential method. The thermodynamical properties are deduced from the calculated Helmholtz free energy by taking into account the electronic contribution and lattice vibrational contribution. The phonon frequencies at Gamma point are consistent with experimental values and the dispersion curves at various pressures have been determined. The calculated volume, bulk modulus and their pressure derivatives as a function of temperature are in excellent agreement with the experimental results. The calculated specific heat indicates that the electronic contribution is important not only at very low temperatures but also at high temperatures due to the electronic thermal excitation. The calculated Debye temperature at a very low temperature is in good agreement with experimental values and drops to a constant until 100~K.     

Characteristics of a large gap uniform discharge excited by DC voltage at atmospheric pressure

A large-gap uniform discharge is ignited by a coaxial dielectric barrier discharge and burns between a needle anode and a plate cathode under a low sustaining voltage by feeding with flowing argon. The basic aspects of the large-gap uniform discharge are investigated by optical and spectroscopic methods. From the discharge images, it can be found that this discharge has similar regions with glow discharge at low pressure except a plasma plume region. Light emission signals from the discharge indicate that the plasma column is invariant with time, while there are some stochastic pulses in the plasma plume region. The optical emission spectra scanning from 300 nm to 800 nm are used to calculate the excited electron temperature and vibrational temperature of the large-gap uniform discharge. It has been found that the excited electron temperature almost keeps constant and the vibrational temperature increases with increasing discharge current.Both of them decreases with increasing gas flow rate.     

Study on high-temperature spectra of asymptotic asymmetric-top radical SiO2

Total internal partition sums are calculated in the product approximation at temperatures up to 6000 K for the asymptotic asymmetric-top SiO2 molecule.The rotational partition function and the vibrational partition function are calculated with the rigid-top model and in the harmonic oscillator approximation,respectively.Our values of the total internal partition sums are consistent with the calculated value in the Gaussian program within 0.137% at 296 K.Using the calculated partition functions and the rotationless transition dipole moment squared as a constant,we calculate the line intensities of 001-000 band of SiO2 at normal,medium and high temperatures.Simulated spectra of the 001-000 band of the asymptotic asymmetric-top SiO2 molecule at 2000,5000 and 6000 K are also obtained.