Computational Analysis of Different Non-Transferred Plasma Torch Geometries

A non-transferred plasma torch is a device used to generate a steady thermal plasma jet. These electric-driven plasma burners have the potential to be upscaled and used as heat sources in the process industry instead of the large-scale fossil fuel burners used today. A non-transferred plasma torch comprises the combination of a cathode, anode, and working gas flowing between the electrodes in order to generate a plasma jet. To enable the upscaling it is important to understand the effects of different electrode shapes and sizes on the plasma jet formation and its properties. There are two available cathode shapes: flat cathodes and conical cathodes, and the two shapes of anodes are cylindrical and stepped anodes. Therefore, to understand their effects computational analysis is performed on 2D axisymmetric geometries. Steady-state computational analysis is done using magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modeling assuming the plasma to be fully ionized. The results obtained for the different cases are as follows: