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Effect of swirl and confinement on the flow and temperature fields in an inductively coupled r.f. plasma
Author(s) -
Boulos Maher I.,
Gagne Ronald,
Barnes Ramon M.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.5450580313
Subject(s) - plasma , inductively coupled plasma , argon , mechanics , materials science , heat flux , atmospheric pressure , thermal conduction , flow (mathematics) , atomic physics , thermodynamics , heat transfer , physics , meteorology , quantum mechanics
A mathematical model was used for the calculation of the flow and temperature fields in the fire‐ball of an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) under confined and free discharge conditions taking into account gravity and swirl in the sheath gas. Computations were made for an argon plasma at atmospheric pressure operating at a power level of 3kW and a frequnecy of 3 MHz. Natural convection has a negligible effect on the flow and temperature fields under confined discharge conditions, but a significant effect, for the free plasma discharge. The back flow in the discharge was substantially reduced in the presence of swirl for swirl velocities over the range 0‐70 m/s. With a moderate increase in swirl, the conduction heat flux to the wall decreased but increased with the further increase in swirl.