Plasma current tomography for HL-2A based on Bayesian inference

An accurate plasma current profile has irreplaceable value for the steady-state operation of the plasma.In this study,plasma current tomography based on Bayesian inference is applied to an HL-2A device and used to reconstruct the plasma current profile.Two different Bayesian probability priors are tried,namely the Conditional Auto Regressive(CAR)prior and the Advanced Squared Exponential(ASE)kernel prior.Compared to the CAR prior,the ASE kernel prior adopts nonstationary hyperparameters and introduces the current profile of the reference discharge into the hyperparameters,which can make the shape of the current profile more flexible in space.The results indicate that the ASE prior couples more information,reduces the probability of unreasonable solutions,and achieves higher reconstruction accuracy.

Microwave preionization and electron cyclotron resonance plasma current startup in the EXL-50 spherical tokamak

Preionization has been widely employed to create initial plasma and help the toroidal plasma current formation.This research focuses on implementing a simple,economical and practical electron cyclotron resonance(ECR)preionization technique on the newly constructed EXL-50 spherical tokamak,and evaluating the effectiveness on improving the plasma current startup.Two types ECR microwave preionization experiments for the plasma initialization without the central solenoid are reported:(1)2.45 GHz microwave preionization and current startup with2.45 GHz ECR source;(2)2.45 GHz microwave preionization and current startup with 28 GHz ECR source.Application of the 2.45 GHz ECR microwave preionization to the experiments has contributed to(1)getting rid of the plasma breakdown delay;(2)the significant improvement of the discharge quality:the discharge is much longer and more stable while the driven plasma current is larger,compared to the discharge without preionization.

Startup of Plasma Current in J-TEXT Tokamak Prompted by the H_α Line Emission Criterion

An Hα line-emission detection system was developed on the joint texas experimental tokamak （J-TEXT）, which is used to determine the Hα emission level during the gas breakdown and hereafter to control the startup of the plasma current. The detector consists of an Hα interference filter, a focusing lens, a photodiode and a preamplifier. In the J-TEXT operation, the Hα emission is taken as a monitor signal which is highly sensitive to the generation of a plasma. Furthermore, the power supply control system using the above signal as an input is capable of determining whether and when to fire the Ohmic heating capacitor banks, which are applied to drive the plasma current ramp-up. The experimental results confirm that the Hα emission criterion is acceptable for controlling the plasma current promotion in the J-TEXT tokamak.

Feedback Control of Plasma Current and Horizontal Position in HT-7

There is a strong magnetic coupling between poloidal field coils of superconducting tokamak HT-7, especially between ohinic heating and vertical field coils. These coils are connected to individual power supply. The control system for the plasma current and horizontal position control has been designed and showed satisfactory results with the feedback control of multivari- able feedforward-decoupling and var-parameter PID controller to simultaneously modulate power supplies. The design and analysls of the control system is presented.

Plasma Current Sheath Motion in Coaxial Plasma Discharge

In this paper experiments and theoretical treatments [1] on 1.5 KJ coaxial plasma discharge device have been carried out to show, plasma current sheath, PCS, motion in coaxial plasma discharge by studying: the effect of nitrogen gas pressure in the range from 1 to 2.2 Torr and the axial position of PCS along the coaxial electrodes on the modification factor, actual drive parameter, PCS curvature and shape (thickness). Also the dynamics of PCS along the coaxial electrodes due to the combination effect of induced azimuthal and axial magnetic fields induction has been detected experimentally by using a magnetic probe technique.

Three modes of a direct-current plasma jet operated underwater to degrade methylene blue

A direct-current air plasma jet operated underwater presents three stable modes including an intermittently-pulsed discharge, a periodically-pulsed discharge and a continuous discharge with increasing the power voltage. The three discharge modes have different appearances for the plasma plumes. Moreover, gap voltage-current characteristics indicate that the continuous discharge is in a normal glow regime. Spectral lines from reactive species（OH, N2, N2^＋, Hα,and O） have been revealed in the emission spectrum of the plasma jet operated underwater.Spectral intensities emitted from OH radical and oxygen atom increase with increasing the power voltage or the gas flow rate, indicating that reactive species are abundant. These reactive species cause the degradation of the methylene blue dye in solution. Effects of the experimental parameters such as the power voltage, the gas flow rate and the treatment time are investigated on the degradation efficiency. Results indicate that the degradation efficiency increases with increasing the power voltage, the gas flow rate or the treatment time. Compared with degradation in the intermittently-pulsed mode or the periodically-pulsed one, it is more efficient in the continuous mode, reaching 98% after 21 min treatment.

Numerical simulation of the initial plasma formation and current transfer in single-wire electrical explosion in vacuum

In this paper, a computational model is constructed to investigate the phenomenon of the initial plasma formation and current transfer in the single-wire electrical explosion in a vacuum. The process of the single-wire electrical explosion is divided into four stages. Stage Ⅰ： the wire is in solid state. Stage Ⅱ： the melting stage. Stage Ⅲ： the wire melts completely and the initial plasma forms. Stage IV： the core and corona expand separately. The thermodynamic calculation is applied before the wire melts completely in stages Ⅰ and Ⅱ. In stage Ⅲ, a one-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics model comes into play until the instant when the voltage collapse occurs. The temperature, density, and velocity, which are derived from the magnetohydrodynamics calculation, are averaged over the distribution area. The averaged parameters are taken as the initial conditions for stage Ⅳ in which a simplified magnetohydrodynamics model is applied. A wide-range semi-empirical equation of state, which is established based on the Thomas-Fermi-Kirzhnits model, is constructed to describe the phase transition from solid state to plasma state. The initial plasma formation and the phenomenon of current transfer in the electrical explosion of aluminum wire are investigated using the computational model. Experiments of electrical explosion of aluminum wires are carried out to verify this model. Simulation results are also compared with experimental results of the electrical explosion of copper wire.

Flow separation control over an airfoil using continuous alternating current plasma actuator

The flow separation control over an NACA 0015 airfoil using continuous alternating current(AC)dielectric barrier discharge(DBD)plasma actuator is investigated experimentally and numerically.This work is intended to report some observations made from our experiment,to which little attention is paid in the previous studies,but which is thought to be important to the understanding of control of complex flow separation with AC DBD.To this end,the response of separated flow to AC plasma actuation is visualized through the time-resolved particle image velocimetry(PIV)measurement,whereas numerical simulation is carried out to complement the experiment.The flow control process at chord-based Reynolds number(Re)of 3.31×105 is investigated.It is found that the response of external flow to plasma forcing is delayed for up to tens of milliseconds and the delay time increases with angle of attack increasing.Also observed is that at the intermediate angle of attack near stall,the forced flow features a well re-organized flow pattern.However,for airfoil at high post-stall angle of attack,the already well suppressed flow field can recover to the massively separated flow state and then reattach to airfoil surface with the flow pattern fluctuating between the two states in an irregular manner.This is contrary to one’s first thought that the forced flow at any angles of attack will become well organized and regular,and reflects the complexity of flow separation control.

Determination of arc pressure pool surface in and current density on the molten plasma arc welding

A unified numerical model is developed to couple the plasma arc, weld pool and keyhole in a self consistent way. The plasma arc/anode interface and the melt/solid interface are treated specially, the VOF method is used to trace the moving keyhole wall, and the fluid flow and heat transfer in both the plasma arc and weld pool are numerically simulated. The distributions of current density and arc pressure on the weld pool surface during the keyhole formation process are analyzed using the coupled model. The predicted arc pressure and current density are compared with the experimentally measured results, and both are in good agreement.

Effect of Current Density on Microstructure and Corrosion Behavior of Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation Coated 6063 Aluminum Alloy

Plasma electrolytic oxidation(PEO) coatings were fabricated on 6063 aluminum alloy in a cheap and convenient electrolyte. The effect of different current densities, i e, 5, 10, 15, and 20 A/dm2on the microstructure and corrosion behavior of coatings was comprehensively studied by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), stereoscopic microscopy, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS), respectively. It is found that the pore density decreases and the pore size increases with increasing current density. The XRD results show that the coatings are only composed of α-Al2O3and γ-Al2O3. Potentiodynamic polarization test proves that the coating formed under 10 A/dm2possesses the best anticorrosion property. The long time EIS test shows that the coating under 10 A/dm2is able to protect the aluminum alloy substrate after long time of immersion in 0.59 M NaCl solution, which confirms the salt solution immersion test results in 2 M NaCl solution.

The Relief of Plasma Pressure and Generation of Field-Aligned Currents in the Magnetosphere

A combined action of plasma convection and pitch-angle diffusion of electrons and protons leads to the formation of plasma pressure distribution in the magnetosphere on the night side, and, as it is known, steady electric bulk currents are connected to distribution of gas pressure. The divergence of these bulk currents brings about a spatial distribution of field-aligned currents, i.e. magnetospheric sources of ionospheric current. The projection (mapping) of the plasma pressure relief onto the ionosphere corresponds to the form and position of the auroral oval. This projection, like the real oval, executes a motion with a change of the convection electric field, and expands with an enhancement of the field. Knowing the distribution (3D) of the plasma pressure we can determine the places of MHD-compressor and MHD-generators location in the magnetosphere. Unfortunately, direct observations of plasma distribution in the magnetosphere are faced with large difficulties, because pressure must be known everywhere in the plasma sheet at high resolution, which in situ satellites have been unable to provide. Modeling of distribution of plasma pressure (on ~ 3-12 Re) is very important, because the data from multisatellite magnetospheric missions for these purposes would be a very expensive project.

A theory about induced electric current and heating in plasma

The traditional generalized Ohm’s law in MHD (Magnetohydrodynamics) does not explicitly present the relation of electric currents and electric fields in fully ionized plasma, and leads to some unexpected concepts, such as ``the magnetic frozen-in plasma'', magnetic reconnection etc. In the single fluid model, the action between electric current and magnetic field is not considered. In the two-fluid model, the derivation is based on the two dynamic equations of ions and electrons. The electric current in traditional generalized Ohm's law depends on the velocities of the plasma, which should be decided by the two dynamic equations. However, the plasma velocity, eventually not free, is inappropriately considered as free parameter in the traditional generalized Ohm's law. In the present paper, we solve the balance equation that can give exact solution of the velocities of electrons and ions, and then derive the electric current in fully ionized plasma. In the case ignoring boundary condition, there is no electric current in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field when external forces are ignored. The electric field in the plane perpendicular to magnetic field do not contribute to the electric currents, so do the induced electric field from the motion of the plasma across magnetic field. The lack of induced electric current will keep magnetic field in space unaffected. The velocity of the bulk velocity of the plasma perpendicular to magnetic field is not free, it is decided by electromagnetic field and the external forces. We conclude that the bulk velocity of the fully ionized plasma is not coupled with the magnetic field. The motion of the plasma do not change the magnetic field in space, but the plasma will be confined by magnetic field. Due to the confinement of magnetic field, the plasma kinetic energy will be transformed into plasma thermal energy by the Lamor motion and collisions between the same species of particles inside plasma. Because the electric field perpendicular to magnetic field do not contribute electric current, the variation of magnetic field will transfer energy directly into the plasma thermal energy by induced electric field. The heating of plasma could be from the kinetic energy and the variation of magnetic field.

Study on Effect of Welding Speed on Micro Structure and Mechanical Properties of Pulsed Current Micro Plasma Arc Welded Inconel 625 Sheets

Nickel alloys had gathered wide acceptance in the fabrication of components which require high temperature resistance and corrosion resistance, such as metallic bellows used in expansion joints used in aircraft, aerospace and petroleum industry. Micro Plasma Arc Welding (MPAW) is one of the important arc welding processes commonly using in fabric- cation of Nickel alloys. In the present paper welding of Inconel 625 sheets using pulsed current micro plasma arc weld- ing was discussed. The paper mainly focuses on studying the weld quality characteristics like weld pool geometry pa- rameters, microstructure, grain size, hardness and tensile properties of Pulsed Current Micro Plasma Arc Welded In- conel 625 sheets at different welding speeds. Results reveals that at a welding speed of 260 mm/minute better weld quality characteristics can be obtained.

Electrical Characteristics of an Alternating Current Plasma Igniter in Airflow

The electrical characteristics of an alternating current （AC） plasma igniter were investigated for a working gas of air at atmospheric pressure. The discharge voltage and current were measured in air in both breakdown and stable combustion processes, respectively, and the current-zero phenomena, voltage-current （V-I） characteristics were studied for different working gas flow rates. The results indicated that the working gas between anode and cathode could be ionized to generate gas discharge when the voltage reached 8 kV, and the maximum current was 33.36 A. When the current came to zero, current-zero phenomena appeared with duration of 2 #s. At the current-zero moment, dynamic resistance between electrodes became extremely high, and the maximum value could reach 445 kf~, which was the main factor to restrain the current. With increasing working gas flow rates, the gradient of V-I characteristic curves was increased, as was the dynamic resistance. At a constant driven power, the discharge voltage increased.

Study on Weld Quality Characteristics of Pulsed Current Micro Plasma Arc Welding of Inconel625 Sheets

Nickel alloys had gathered wide acceptance in the fabrication of components which require high temperature resistance and corrosion resistance, such as metallic bellows used in expansion joints used in aircraft, aerospace and petroleum industry. In the present paper an attempt is made to study various weld quality characteristics like weld bead geometry dimensions, micro hardness, microstructure, grain size and tensile properties of Pulsed Current Micro Plasma Welding of Inconel625sheets. Weld joint was prepared by fusing the two parent metals of Inconel625 sheets. Square butt joint is used and welding was carried out using Pulsed DCEN, without filler wire. Peak current, back current, pulse and pulse width are considered as the main influential input variables during the welding.

Numerical analysis of weld pool geometry in pulsed current plasma arc welding

Numerical analysis of weld pool shape and size is of great significance for selection and optimization of the process parameters in pulsed current plasma arc welding （PAW）. In this paper, a mathematical model and relevant algorithm are developed to determine the temperature profiles and weld pool geometry in pulsed current PAW through employing an adaptive heat source model. The volumetric heat source consists of semi-ellipsoid at upper part and a conic body at lower part along the workpiece thickness direction. The dynamic variation features of weld pool shape during a pulse cycle are numerically simulated. The calculated weld cross-section is consistent with the measure one.

Numerical analysis of transient keyhole shape in pulsed current plasma arc welding

Based on the characteristics of ＂one keyhole in a pulse＂ in pulsed current plasma arc welding （PAW） , the transient variation process of weld pool in a pulse cycle is simulated through the establishment of corresponding heat source model. And considering the effects of gravitational force, plasma arc pressure and surface tension on the weld pool surface, the dynamic change features of the keyhole shape in a pulse cycle are calculated by using surface deformation equation. Experiments are conducted and validate that the calctdated weld fusion line is in good agreement with the experimental results.

A Study of Energy Conversion Efficiency Versus Plasma Density by Lower Hybrid Current Drive in HT-7 Tokamak

Ramp-up experiments by means of lower hybrid wave on HT-7 superconducting tokamak have been performed and analyzed. A ramp-up rate of over 300 kA/s is obtained and a conversion efficiency of over 1.0% has been achieved during the ramp-up phase. The study of the dependence of conversion efficiency on plasma density shows that the conversion efficiency is affected by the driven current, which is mainly dominated by the competition of impurity concentration with wave accessibility condition. In addition, the effect of current profile may play an important role in determining the conversion efficiency.

Analysis of current waveform in plasma based ion implantation processes

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Study of Current Sheath Velocity and Its Distribution Using Tridimensional Magnetic Probe in Sahand Plasma Focus

The current sheath velocity in 0.25 Torr gas pressure of Filippov type plasma focus is studied experimentally. By using two tridimensional magnetic probes on top of the anode surface, the current sheath velocity is measured for argon, oxygen and nitrogen. Additionally, the effect of charging voltage on the current sheath velocity is studied in both axial and radial phases. We found that, the maximum current sheath velocities at both radial and axial phases are respectively 4.33 ± 0.28 （cm/μs） and 3.92 ± 0.75 （cm/μs） with argon as the working gas at 17 kV. Also, the minimum values of current sheath velocity are 1.48 ± 0.15 （cm/μs） at the radial phase and 1.14 ± 0.09 （cm/μs） at the axial phase with oxygen at 12 kV. The current sheath velocity at the radial phase is higher than that at the axial phase for all gases and voltages. In this study, variation of the full width half maximum （FWHM） of magnetic probe signals with voltage is investigated for different gases at radial and axial phases.