Development of a 30kW Inductively Coupled Plasma Torch for Aerospace Material Testing

Owens, Walten; Uhl, J.; Dougherty, Max; Lutz, Andrew; Fletcher, Douglas G.; Meyers, Jason M.

doi:10.2514/6.2010-4322

Cited by 36 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…A 30 kW ICP torch was developed at UVM to simulate the near surface chemically reacting boundary layer of reentry and atmospheric hypersonic flight. 8 The concept of the ICP-type facility for reentry and hypersonic testing applications is not new, but in the U.S. arc-heated facilities are more commonly used for these investigations. However, in arc-heaters the direct arc attachment to electrodes produces molten copper at the attachment points.…”

Section: A Uvm 30 Kw Icp Facilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Near Surface CO2 Detection in an Inductively Coupled Plasma Facility Using Diode Laser Absorption

Meyers

Owens

Fletcher

2011

42nd AIAA Thermophysics Conference

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Uncertainty exists as to whether appreciable amounts of CO2 are formed by surface recombination for Mars entry vehicles. It is well understood that highly catalytic thermal protection system (TPS) material can lead to nearly two times the heat flux to the vehicle surface as a non-catalytic material. Conservative design practice assumes a supercatalytic surface to accommodate this uncertainty. Risk avoidance leads to oversized TPS geometries that add mass to entry vehicle designs that could be otherwise employed. Determining whether significant near surface production of CO2 occurs at trajectory heating conditions would add significant insight. The University of Vermont (UVM) has developed a 30kW Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Facility to provide a pure high temperature plasma environment for aerospace material testing and gas-surface interaction chemistry investigations. The goal of the present work is to develop and test a diode laser absorption spectroscopy (DLAS) sensor to target near sample surface CO2 concentrations. A DFB diode laser at 2744 nm with a tuning range of around 3 nm is chosen as the light source. Current investigations show no appreciable amount of CO2 near a highly catalytic surface (water cooled copper) within the sensors' detectivity limits. Work is ongoing to further improve these sensitivity limitations.

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Section: A Uvm 30 Kw Icp Facilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Near Surface CO2 Detection in an Inductively Coupled Plasma Facility Using Diode Laser Absorption

Meyers

Owens

Fletcher

2011

42nd AIAA Thermophysics Conference

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“…5 The current design allows for subsonic operation in an attempt to simulate the hypersonic, post-shock conditions. Despite operating at subsonic flows, the facility produces test conditions that can be related to in-flight conditions seen in re-entry.…”

Section: Facility Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of Pyrolysis Gas Chemistry in an Inductively Coupled Plasma Facility

Tillson

2016

46th AIAA Thermophysics Conference

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“…Experimental tests were conducted by Professor Doug Fletcher and his graduate students in a 30 kW inductively coupled plasma torch facility at the University of Vermont [9,10]. Laser diagnostic instrumentation that employs a laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique is installed at the facility.…”

Section: A Experimental Facilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Analysis of Surface Chemistry in High-Enthalpy Flows

Anna

Boyd

2015

Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer

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The effects of surface-chemistry processes of a graphite sample exposed to a subsonic high-enthalpy nitrogen flow are investigated using a coupled computational fluid-dynamics/surface-chemistry model. The results obtained are assessed for the accuracy of the model using experimental data from tests conducted in a 30 kW inductively coupled plasma torch facility at the University of Vermont. Significant discrepancies are observed between the computational and experimental results. Therefore, a study is performed to determine sensitivities of flow and surface parameters to variations in testing input conditions, as well as physical modeling parameters. Measurements of the absolute number density are required to draw firm conclusions about the surface-chemistry models, as well as the surface reactions involved.Nomenclature C k = concentration of gas species k, mol∕m 3 D k = diffusion coefficient of species k, m 2 ∕s E ad = energy barrier for adsorption, J∕mol E ER = energy barrier for Eley-Rideal recombination, J∕mol h = species enthalpy, J∕kg K = total number of species K g = total numbers of gas species K nb = number of species in bulk phase nb K ns;na = number of species in active site set na on surface phase ns k B = Boltzmann constant k fi , k bi = forward and backward reaction rates for reaction i M k = molar weight of species k, kg∕mol _ m b = mass blowing rate due to surface reactions, kg∕m 2 ∕s N = total number of phases N nb = number of bulk species N g , N s , N b = number of gas, surface, and bulk phases N ns;a = number of active site sets in surface phase ns N R = number of surface reactions P = pressure, Pa q = total heat flux, W∕m 2 q conv = convective heat flux, W∕m 2 q diff = diffusive heat flux, W∕m 2 R u = universal gas constant, J∕mol∕K r i;ns = reaction flux of reaction i on surface phase ns, mol∕m 2 ∕s S, S 0 = sticking coefficient T = translational-rotational temperature, K ν ki = net stoichiometric coefficient for species k in reaction i ν s = sum of the stoichiometric coefficients of all surface reactants ν k = thermal speed of gas-phase species k, m∕s ν 0 ki = reactant stoichiometric coefficient for species k in reaction i ν 0 0 ki = product stoichiometric coefficient for species k in reaction i _ w k = production rate of species k in all reactions, mol∕m 2 ∕s _ w ki = production rate of species k in reaction i, mol∕m 2 ∕s, Y = mass fraction Γ k = impingement flux of gas species k, m 2 ∕s γ = reaction efficiency θ ns;k = fraction of active sites occupied by species k on surface phase ns ρ = density, kg∕m 3 σ = Stefan-Boltzmann constant, W∕m 2 ∕K −4 Φ ns = active site density on surface phase ns, mol∕m 2 Φ ns;k = concentration of species k on surface phase ns, mol∕m 2 χ k = mole fraction of species k χ nb;k = mole fraction of bulk species k in bulk phase nb Subscripts b = bulk phase e = empty site g = gas phase na = number of active sites nb = number of bulk phases ns = number of surface phases s = surface phase tr = translational-rotational energy mode ve = vibrational-electronic energy mode...

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Development of a 30kW Inductively Coupled Plasma Torch for Aerospace Material Testing

Cited by 36 publications

References 1 publication

Near Surface CO2 Detection in an Inductively Coupled Plasma Facility Using Diode Laser Absorption

Near Surface CO2 Detection in an Inductively Coupled Plasma Facility Using Diode Laser Absorption

Investigation of Pyrolysis Gas Chemistry in an Inductively Coupled Plasma Facility

Numerical Analysis of Surface Chemistry in High-Enthalpy Flows

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