Anode attachment and received heat of argon torch plasma with high lateral airflow as function of current

The torch plasma arc has useful characteristics of high energy and high current. The mode of torch plasma arcs can be flexible, even if the arc is exposed to the lateral gas. In this paper, we measured the input power, heat power, and heat efficiency of the torch plasma arc to the anode in order to determine the current effect on the anode attachment of plasma torch arc with high lateral air velocity, varying from 0 to 80 m/s at a plasma Ar flow rate of 12 slm. As a result, the input power increases with lateral gas velocity such as from about 8000 W to 16,000 W and the heat efficiency decreases with the lateral gas velocity such as from about 50% to 25% at the current I =150 A and appearance plasma length L a =1 cm. These results could be applied to providing the electrical power from the ground to high‐speed mobiles, v.v., and to reducing an anode surface erosion by the anode spot movement. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 165(2): 29–35, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20479