• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.115-124
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• 2018

Thermal protection materials (TPMs) are very crucial for the survival of any re-entry space vehicles. One of the systems used for rigorous validation of TPMs is an enhanced Huel type segmented arc-heated plasma wind tunnel. A 0.4 MW class arc-heated plasma wind tunnel has been constructed at Chonbuk National University which is capable of producing high enthalpy supersonic flow. In this paper we have studied the characteristics of plasma flow according to power and mass flow parameters.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2016.02a
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• pp.222.1-222.1
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• 2016

전북대학교 고온플라즈마응용센터에 구축된 0.4 MW 급 분절형 아크 가열 풍동은 초음속 비행과 우주 비행체의 지구 재진입 조건에서의 유사한 환경 모사가 가능하다. 극한상황에서의 고엔탈피 플라즈마 유동은 내열재료의 삭마 거동 연구와 고온재료의 성능평가에 중요한 역할을 수행 할 수 있다. 이러한 고엔탈피 초음속 플라즈마 유동장의 플라즈마 특성 평가 및 진단은 플라즈마와 내열재료의 상호작용 연구에 중요한 변수를 갖는다. 이를 위해 열유속 탐침, 쐐기 탐침, 고속 카메라 및 광분광기 등의 측정장비를 사용하여 열유속, 초음속 플라즈마의 속도, 플라즈마의 방전특성을 관찰하였다. 본 실험에서 사용된 분절형 아크 토치는 마하 3의 속도 유지하기 위해 토치 내부 압력 4 bar, 반응기 압력 40 mbar를 유지하였다. 토치에 공급되는 Ar(5%)+Air(95%)의 방전기체의 유량은 15 g/s 로 토치에 주입 되었다. 또한, 플라즈마 토치에 가해지는 입력전류는 200A ~ 350A로 10MJ/kg 이상의 엔탈피를 갖는 초음속 플라즈마 유동을 형성하였다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.527-528
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• 2012

DBD (Dielectric Barrier Discharge) plasma actuator was designed for aerodynamic drag reduction using plasma flow control, and the drag reduction was measured by wind-tunnel tests using 2D test model. At the zero wind velocity, the plasma flow control had no effect on the drag reduction because the flow separation and surface friction drag were not occurred. At the wind velocity of 2m/s, 9.7% of drag was reduced by the flow separation control. The drag reduction decreased as the wind velocity increased.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.539-539
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• 2012

전북대학교 고온플라즈마 응용연구센터는 교육과학기술부 기초연구사업 중 고가연구장비 구축사업의 일환으로, 고 엔탈피, 초음속 유동 환경을 모사하여, 항공우주, 군사기기, 핵융합 분야 등의 고온 재료 개발을 위한 기초 연구 장치로써, 0.4MW급 플라즈마 풍동 장치를 구축하고 있다. 0.4MW 플라즈마 풍동 장치의 플라즈마 발생부는 DC 전원 공급장치와 디스크 형태의 양극과 음극 사이에 동일 형태의 간극을 삽입한 0.4MW급 분절형 아크 플라즈마 토치로 구성되었으며, 토치에서 발생된 아크 플라즈마는 노즐을 통과하며 마하 2~4의 초음속을 나타내도록 설계 제작되었다. 시험 챔버는 노즐에서 나온 초음속 플라즈마의 특성 및 재료 시험을 위한 3차원 이송식 기판이 장착되어 있으며, 고 엔탈피 유동을 관측하기 위한 광학창을 구비하였다. 시험 챔버 하류에는 유동 안정을 위한 디퓨저(diffuser)가 설치되어 있으며, 디퓨저(diffuser)로부터 배출되는 고온가스는 열교환기를 통해 냉각된 후 진공펌프를 통해 대기로 배출되게 된다. 장치의 압력조절을 위하여 $1,000m^3/min$의 용량의 진공펌프 시스템이 설치될 예정이며 가스공급장치, 냉각수 공급장치, 디퓨져, 열교환기는 1MW급 용량으로 설계 제작되었다. 본 장치는 400kW의 전원 공급, 15 g/s의 공기유량 주입 시 약 13 MJ/kg의 고엔탈피를 가진, mach 2~4의 초음속 유동을 나타내는 것을 특징으로 한다.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.784-785
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• 2010

The high enthalpy plasma research center in Chonbuk national university is under construction for MW class plasma wind tunnel. Four types of plasma equipment will be installed in the research center. The equipments are 1set of 0.4 MW class enhanced Huels type plasma equipment, 1 set of 2.4 MW class enhanced Huels type plasma quipment, 1 set of 60 kW RF plasma equipment and 1 set of 200 kW RF plasma equipment. And electrical, water and gas utilities to assistant plasma equipments are under construction.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2019

A primary investigation on the underexpanded flow generated in a 0.4 MW class high enthalpy supersonic arc-heated plasma wind tunnel is conducted experimentally. The diameter and the position of the Mach disk from the nozzle exit is measured for overall pressure ratios ranging from 200 to 30. The empirical correlations for Mach disk diameter and position are determined which show very good agreement with experimental results.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.764-767
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• 2010

The high enthalpy plasma research center in Chonbuk national university is under construction for MW class plasma wind tunnel. Four types of plasma equipment will be installed in the research center. The equipments are 1set of 0.4 MW class enhanced Huels type plasma equipment, 1 set of 2.4 MW class enhanced Huels type plasma equipment, 1 set of 60 kW RF plasma equipment and 1 set of 200 kW RF plasma equipment. And electrical, water and gas utilities to assistant plasma equipments are under construction. The research center consists of experiment building, research building, power supply building, air supply building, cooling tower foundation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.9
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• pp.700-707
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• 2013

Experimental analyses on a supersonic plasma wind tunnel of CBNU (Chonbuk National University) were carried out. In these experiments, a segmented arc heater was employed as a plasma source and operated at the gas flow rates of 16.3 g/s and the total currents of 300 A. The input power reached ~350 kW with the torch efficiency of 51.4 %, which is defined as the ratio of total exit enthalpy to the input power. The pressure of plasma gas in the arc heater was measured up to 4 bar while it was down to ~45 mbar in a vacuum chamber through a Laval nozzle. During this conversion process, the generated supersonic plasma was expected to have a total enthalpy of ~11 MJ/kg from the measured input power and torch efficiency. In addition to the measurement of total enthalpy, a cone type probe was inserted into the supersonic plasma flow in order to estimate the angle between shock layer and surface of the probe. From these measurements, the temperature and the Mach number of the supersonic plasma were predicted as ~2,950 K and ~3.7, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.25-32
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• 2015

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator was designed to reduce aerodynamic drag in a cylindrical model and wind tunnel test was performed at various wind velocities. In addition, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and flow visualization were used to investigate the effect of the plasma on the flow stream in the cylinderical model. At low wind velocity, the plasma actuator had no effects because flow separation did not appear. The aerodynamic drag was reduced by 14% at 14 m/s and by 27% at 17 m/s, respectively. It was confirmed by CFD analysis and flow visualization that the DBD plasma actuator decreased in pressure difference around the cylindrical model, thus decreasing the magnitude of wake vortex.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.768-774
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• 2010

A parametric study is conducted for the segmented arc plasma torch with the input power and current of 0.4 MW and 300 A, respectively. For this purpose, we use the analytical relationship equations between plasma temperature, inner diameter (R) and length (L) of the torch constrictor at the given input power and current conditions based on the arc channel model. The results reveal that arc plasma temperatures show non-linear behavior or absence corresponding to the variations of L and R when their values become larger than 1.25 m and 7.5 mm, respectively. For L < 1.25 m and R < 7.5 mm, however, they can increase monotonically as L increase or R decrease when one of both parameters is fixed. From these parametric study results, optimum ranges of R and L are suggested as $5.5mm{\leq}R{\leq}7.0mm$ and $0.5m{\leq}L{\leq}1.0m$ for 0.4 MW class segmented arc plasma torch, under which stable arc plasma with the temperatures of ~15,000 K can be achived at the input currents of ~300 A.