Meng Yuedong

A New Wall Conditioning Technique Developed on the HT-7 Superconducting Tokamak with a Permanent Magnetic Field

A new technique for wall conditioning with a permanent magnetic field has been tested and developed on the HT-7 superconducting tokamak by ion cyclotron range frequency wave injection. The operation ranges for conditioning and recycling was investigated with different working gas (D2, He), toroidal field (0.1-2.5 T) and rf powers. The experimental results show that its cleaning efficiency is about three times higher than that of glow discharge cleaning. This new technique has been used daily during experiments.

Atmospheric pressure plasma jet utilizing Ar and Ar/H2O 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 Boltzmanns plots and Stark broadening of the hydrogen Balmer Hβ line 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.

Electron Density and Temperature Measurement by Stark Broadening in a Cold Argon Arc-Plasma Jet at Atmospheric Pressure

Determination of both the electron density and temperature simultaneously in a cold argon arc-plasma jet by analyzing the Stark broadening of two different emission lines is presented. This method is based on the fact that the Stark broadening of different lines has a different dependence on the electron density and temperature. Therefore, a comparison of two or more line broadenings allows us to diagnose the electron density and temperature simultaneously. In this study we used the first two Balmer series hydrogen lines Hα and Hβ for their large broadening width. For this purpose, a small amount of hydrogen was introduced into the discharge gas. The results of the Gigosos–Cardenoso computational model, considering more relevant processes for the hydrogen Balmer lines, is used to process the experimental data. With this method, we obtained reliable electron density and temperature, 1.88 × 1015 cm−3 and 13000 K, respectively. Possible sources of error were also analyzed.

The interaction of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet using argon or argon plus hydrogen peroxide vapour addition with bacillus subtilis

This paper reports that an atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge plasma jet, which uses argon or argon + hydrogen peroxide vapour as the working gas, is designed to sterilize the bacillus subtilis. Compared with the pure argon plasma, the bacterial inactivation efficacy has a significant improvement when hydrogen peroxide vapour is added into the plasma jet. In order to determine which factors play the main role in inactivation, several methods are used, such as determination of optical emission spectra, high temperature dry air treatment, protein leakage quantification, and scanning electron microscope. These results indicate that the possible inactivation mechanisms are the synergistic actions of chemically active species and charged species.

Surface Modification of Nanometre Silicon Carbide Powder with Polystyrene by Inductively Coupled Plasma

An investigation was made into polystyrene (PS) grafted onto nanometre silicon carbide (SiC) particles. In our experiment, the grafting polymerization reaction was induced by a radio frequency (RF) inductively coupled plasma (ICP) treatment of the nanometre powder. FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectrum) and XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) results reveal that PS is grafted onto the surface of silicon carbide powder. An analysis is presented on the effectiveness of this approach as a function of plasma operating variables including the plasma treating power, treating time, and grafting reaction temperature and time.

Microstructure, Hardness and Corrosion Resistance of ZrN Films Prepared by Inductively Coupled Plasma Enhanced RF Magnetron Sputtering

ZrN films were deposited on Si(111) and M2 steel by inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-enhanced RF magnetron sputtering. The effect of ICP power on the microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of ZrN films was investigated. When the ICP power is below 300 W, the ZrN films show a columnar structure. With the increase of ICP power, the texture coefficient (Tc) of the (111) plane, the nanohardness and elastic modulus of the films increase and reach the maximum at a power of 300 W. As the ICP Power exceeds 300 W, the films exhibit a ZrN and ZrNx mixed crystal structure without columnar grain while the nanohardness and elastic modulus of the films decrease. All the ZrN coated samples show a higher corrosion resistance than that of the bare M2 steel substrate in 3.5% NaCl electrolyte. The nanohardness and elastic modulus mostly depend on the crystalline structure and Tc of ZrN(111).

DC Arc Plasma Disposal of Printed Circuit Board

A new solid waste disposal technology setup with DC arc plasma is presented. Being different from conventional combustion or burning such as incineration, it is based on a process called controlled high-temperature pyrolysis, the thermal destruction and recovery process. The results of vitrification of the circuit board is presented. The properties of vitrified product including hardness and leaching test results are presented. The final product (vitrified material) and air emission from the plasma treatment is environmentally acceptable.

Effect of Frequency on Emission of XeI* Excimer in a Pulsed Dielectric Barrier Discharge

Emission spectra of XeI* excimers and ultraviolet intensity at 253 nm from a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) lamp excited by a pulsed voltage were measured as functions of pressure, electrical power, and frequency. In the DBD lamp driven by a higher frequency voltage, a more intense emission of XeI* excimers with high efficiency at 253 nm was found. A diffuse discharge mode was observed at high xenon pressure (>1 atm) with an excessive iodine concentration in the DBD driven by a high frequency (60 kHz) voltage.

Characteristics of a Novel Water Plasma Torch

Relying on heat generated by plasma arc heating liquid water into steam as a swirl gas, a water plasma torch has the distinctive steam generation structure, which has various applications such as in the treatment of organic waste and hydrogen production for fuel cells in future vehicles. The operational features of the water plasma torch and water phase change process in the discharge chamber are investigated based on the temporal evolution of the voltage and current. The optical emission spectrum measurement shows that the water molecule in the plasma is decomposed into H, OH and O radicals. As the electrodes do not require water-cooling, the thermal efficiency of the torch is very high, which is confirmed by analytical calculation and experimental measurement.

Characteristics of Low Power CH4/Air Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet

A low power atmospheric pressure plasma jet driven by a 24 kHz AC power source and operated with a CH4/air gas mixture has been investigated by optical emission spectrometer. The plasma parameters including the electron excitation temperature, vibrational temperature and rotational temperature of the plasma jet at different discharge powers are diagnosed based on the assumption that the kinetic energy of the species obeys the Boltzmann distribution. The electron density at different power is also investigated by Hβ Stark broadening. The results show that the plasma source works under non-equilibrium conditions. It is also found that the vibrational temperature and rotational temperature increase with discharge power, whereas the electron excitation temperature seems to have a downward trend. The electron density increases from 0.8 × 1021 m−3 to 1.1 × 1021 m−3 when the discharge power increases from 53 W to 94 W.