Impact of Glow Discharge Energy Characteristics on Gas Temperature

Abstract

The paper examines experimentally the dependence of gas temperature in a glow discharge on gas-dynamic flow parameters and discharge energy parameters. The gas pressure P and its flow rate G in the discharge chamber varied from 2.5 to 5.5 kPa and from 0 to 0.035 g/s, respectively. The discharge current strength I and the power input N to the discharge also ranged from 30 to 80 mA and from 30 to 80 W. The gas temperature was measured by the thermocouple method at six points of the discharge gap, which also made it possible to estimate the change in gas temperature along the axis of the cylindrical channel and along its radius. At low gas consumption, the discharge was found to be axisymmetric and fill the entire volume of the discharge gap. As the current and discharge power increased, the gas temperature increased approximately linearly with an average rate of 5 K/W. With increasing air flow rate G from 0.017 to 0.035 g/s, the discharge rearranged from a bulk shape to a cord shape, and the temperature field of the discharge changed significantly: in the center of the discharge, the temperature decreased sharply and practically did not change with increasing discharge power, while near the discharge localization, the gas temperature increased linearly with increasing power at an average rate of 3 K/W.