Progress in Plasma Processing of Materials, 1997

ISBN Print: 1-56700-093-2

Performances of a high power inductive plasma torch at medium frequency

DOI: 10.1615/ITPPC-1996.70
pages 47-58

Аннотация

An association between CFEI and EDF has developed a platform to study the electrical and thermal behaviour of a high power inductive coupled plasma (350 kW). The torch, pattern is a metal water-cooled camera developed by CFEI. The torch is inside a cold air-tight tank, which enables the plasma to be ignited in a vacuum. It is supplied by a MOS-transistors current inverter to improve the efficiency of the system. The energy performances are presented in this paper. We have measured separately the energy balance of the different components of the platform and describe the evolution of the behaviour respect to some parameters like the central and shield gas flow, the enthalpy or the pressure. The best global efficiency is only 35% at atmospheric pressure and reaches to 64% when working at 0.2 bar. This paper also presents some results on the study of the torch geometry to reduce its Joule losses.