Abstract
The atmospheric pressure plasma is regarded as an effective method for surface treatments because it can reduce the period of process and doesn't need expensive vacuum apparatus. The performance of non-transferred plasma torches is significantly depended on jet flow characteristics out of the nozzle. In order to produce the high performance of a torch, the maximum discharge velocity near an annular gap in the torch should be maintained. Also, the compulsory swirl is being produced to gain the shape that can concentrate the plasma at the center of gas flow. In this work, the distribution of gas flow that goes out to atmosphere through a plenum chamber and nozzle is analyzed to evaluate the performance of atmospheric pressure plasma torch which can present the optimum design of the torch. Numerical analysis is carried out with various angles of an inlet flow velocity. Especially, three-dimensional model of the torch is investigated to estimate swirl effect. We also investigate the stabilization of plasma distribution. For analyzing the swirl in the plenum chamber and the flow distribution, FVM (finite volume method) and SIMPLE algorithm are used for solving the governing equations. The standard k-model is used for simulating the turbulence.
