Design, analysis and validation of electrode-less plasma generator
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Abstract
The current work investigates a method for generating plasmas without damaging electrodes. The primary objective is the creation of an electrode-less potential region (virtual cathode) through the use of electron emission and active feed of radio frequency (RF) signal. The reason for pursuing this was to make plasma devices that are compact, efficient, resilient, and low maintenance. The foundational scientific theory, model, and the simulation were applied in Elmer multi-physics software and validated by experiments. The experiments were conducted with electrode based plasma generator, ionization setup, and RF assisted configuration, and compared with respect to their operational parameters. It has been determined that it is possible to create a plasma generator with a virtual cathode that receives substantial electromagnetic energy from RF and competes with a direct arc discharge method in performance, and longevity, albeit requiring a more refined control.