Background
The microwave plasma is plasma capable of generating electrodeless discharge and has the characteristics of high electron density and high plasma temperature. The microwave plasma can be generated under the condition without electrodes, so that the problems of electrode ablation, electrode pollution and the like are avoided, and the microwave plasma has a plurality of advantages and particularities and is widely applied. Particularly has great application potential in the aspects of preparation and processing of new materials, plasma chemistry and chemical industry, waste solid and waste gas treatment, metallurgy, metal welding and smelting, boiler ignition combustion, film deposition and the like.
For microwave discharge, microwave plasma is easily excited and generated in a low-pressure (several Pa to several hundred Pa) range, and in an atmospheric pressure environment, the microwave plasma cannot be excited under the condition that an external igniter is not introduced and placed in a microwave waveguide resonant cavity. The microwave plasma is generated in the rectangular waveguide resonant cavity by arranging a metallic copper probe in the reaction area of the rectangular waveguide resonant cavity, and the temperature of the reaction area of the rectangular waveguide resonant cavity is up to 3000K-5000K, so that metal pollution is caused, and the problems of metal ablation and metal pollution are caused.
As another example, the existing literature (simulation and design of an atmospheric pressure microwave plasma torch device) (Liu Fan, etc. intense laser and ion beam, 2011,23 (6): 1054-1058) discloses an atmospheric pressure microwave plasma torch device, which comprises a microwave power and total control system composed of a microwave power source with a main frequency of 2.45GHz and a magnetron, an energy transmission system composed of a circulator water load, a WR340 standard rectangular waveguide and a rectangular gradual change waveguide, a microwave reactor composed of a microwave rectangular coupling cavity, a nozzle and a short-circuit piston, and an accessory system. The device also adopts a metal nozzle, and the problems of metal burning and metal pollution are also existed.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention aims to overcome the defects of the prior art and provides a microwave plasma excitation system based on dielectric barrier discharge pre-ionization. The invention provides a method for smoothly exciting microwave plasma under atmospheric pressure by introducing seed electrons into a microwave waveguide resonant cavity by utilizing Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) jet flow, and can avoid ablation and pollution caused by contact of a metal electrode with a plasma region.
The invention adopts the following technical scheme:
a microwave plasma excitation system based on dielectric barrier discharge pre-ionization comprises a microwave resonance plasma torch generating device which is mainly formed by sequentially connecting a microwave generator, a circulator, a water load, a double directional coupler, a three-pin regulator and a microwave waveguide resonant cavity; the system also comprises a dielectric barrier discharge preionization device which mainly comprises a dielectric barrier discharge jet power supply, a non-metal preionization jet pipe, a preionization gas storage bottle, air flow and water cooling equipment and a working gas storage bottle, and a non-metal microwave discharge pipe which is arranged at the position with the largest microwave electric field amplitude in the microwave waveguide resonant cavity, wherein two ends of the microwave discharge pipe are respectively protruded out of the upper surface and the lower surface of the microwave waveguide resonant cavity; the air flow and water cooling equipment comprises an upper flange provided with an air flow interface and a lower metal box provided with a water cooling interface; wherein,
the lower metal box body is wrapped on the outer side of the nonmetal microwave discharge tube protruding out of the upper end of the microwave waveguide resonant cavity, the water cooling interface comprises a water inlet and a water outlet, and circulating cooling liquid is introduced into the lower metal box body through the water inlet and the water outlet and the pipeline; one end of an air flow interface arranged on the upper flange is communicated with the upper end of the nonmetal microwave discharge tube, and the other end of the air flow interface is connected with the working gas storage bottle through a pipeline with a valve; the upper part of the pre-ionization jet pipe is positioned outside the air flow and water cooling equipment, and the lower part of the pre-ionization jet pipe is positioned inside the nonmetal microwave discharge pipe; a copper foil layer is wound at a position 2-10 cm away from the air flow and the upper surface of the water cooling equipment in the middle of the nonmetallic pre-ionization jet pipe, and the copper foil layer is electrically connected with the output end of the dielectric barrier discharge jet power supply; the upper end of the nonmetallic preionization jet pipe is connected with the preionization gas storage bottle through a pipeline with a valve.
The invention has the characteristics and beneficial effects that:
the invention adds a DBD pre-ionization device based on a general microwave plasma resonance device, in particular, when a DBD jet power supply is connected to a copper foil layer positioned on a pre-ionization quartz tube, the DBD jet power supply can apply a radio frequency high voltage of 40kHz and several kilovolts to tens of kilovolts, the pre-ionization jet tube is introduced with pre-ionization gas, a large amount of pre-ionization electrons exist in the jet, and can enter a microwave discharge tube of a microwave waveguide resonance cavity, and microwave plasma can be directly excited to generate under the action of microwave energy.
By introducing the DBD preionization device, the microwave waveguide resonant cavity can realize the generation and excitation of microwave plasma without any metal igniter, so that the loss of metal materials and metal pollution are avoided; the system can generate high-purity plasmas without introducing metal impurities; in addition, as the plasma is not directly contacted with the metal component, the temperature of the system is not increased too much, and the cooling cost of the device can be effectively reduced. The system has important significance for material treatment of microwave plasma, microwave plasma chemical industry and the like.
Detailed Description
The invention provides a microwave plasma excitation system based on dielectric barrier discharge pre-ionization, which is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and the embodiment:
the whole structure of the invention is shown in figure 1, and the system comprises a microwave resonance plasma torch generating device and a Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) preionization device;
the microwave resonance plasma torch generating device mainly comprises a microwave generator 1, a circulator, a water load 2, a double directional coupler 3, a three-pin regulator 4 and a microwave waveguide resonant cavity 5 which are connected in sequence, wherein a nonmetal microwave discharge tube 6 is arranged at the position of the microwave waveguide resonant cavity 5 where the amplitude of a microwave electric field is maximum, and two ends of the microwave discharge tube 6 are respectively protruded out of the upper surface and the lower surface of the microwave waveguide resonant cavity 5;
the DBD pre-ionization device comprises a DBD jet power supply 7, a nonmetallic pre-ionization jet pipe 8, a pre-ionization gas storage bottle 9, a gas flow and water cooling device 10 and a working gas storage bottle 12; the air and water cooling device 10 comprises an upper flange 102 provided with an air interface 101 and a lower metal box 104 provided with a water cooling interface 103; wherein, the lower metal box 104 wraps the outer side of the nonmetal microwave discharge tube 6 protruding from the upper end of the microwave waveguide resonant cavity 5, the water cooling interface 103 comprises a water inlet and a water outlet, and circulating cooling liquid (tap water is adopted in the embodiment) is introduced into the lower metal box 104 through the water inlet and the water outlet and the pipeline, so as to cool the nonmetal microwave discharge tube 6; one end of an air flow interface 101 arranged on the upper flange 102 is communicated with the upper end of the nonmetal microwave discharge tube 6, and the other end of the air flow interface 101 is connected with a working gas storage bottle 12 through a pipeline with a valve; the upper part of the nonmetallic pre-ionization jet pipe 8 is positioned outside the air flow and water cooling equipment 10, the lower part of the pre-ionization jet pipe is positioned inside the nonmetallic microwave discharge pipe 6, a copper foil layer 11 is wound on the position, which is 2cm to 10cm away from the air flow and the upper surface of the water cooling equipment 10, of the middle part of the nonmetallic pre-ionization jet pipe 8, the copper foil layer 11 is connected with the output end of the DBD jet power supply 7 through a wire, and the upper end of the nonmetallic pre-ionization jet pipe 8 is connected with the pre-ionization gas storage bottle 9 through a pipeline with a valve.
The specific implementation mode and the function of each component device of the system are as follows:
each component device of the microwave resonance plasma torch generating device is a conventional product; the microwave generator 1 of the embodiment adopts a microwave power source with the frequency of 2450MHz, the power is in the optional range of 300W-3000W, and the generated microwaves are sequentially connected to the input end of the microwave waveguide resonant cavity 5 through a microwave propagation component consisting of a circulator, a water load 2, a double directional coupler 3 and a three-pin adjuster 4; the circulator and the water load 2, the double directional coupler 3 and the three pin regulator 4 respectively play roles in protecting, detecting and fine tuning a microwave power source. The nonmetal microwave discharge tube 6 is positioned at the position with the largest amplitude of the microwave electric field in the microwave waveguide resonant cavity 5, namely at the wavelength of the microwave wave guide which is 1/4 of the tail end of the microwave waveguide resonant cavity (the wavelength of the microwave waveguide is 14.7cm in the embodiment, and a gradual change rectangular waveguide resonant cavity is adopted), so that microwave plasma can be conveniently excited. The nonmetallic microwave discharge tube is made of various microwave transmission and high-temperature resistant materials such as quartz, ceramic, glass and the like, and the embodiment adopts a microwave discharge quartz tube.
In the DBD pre-ionization device, the DBD jet power supply 7 is a conventional product, and is typically, but not limited to, a high frequency power supply with a frequency of 40kHz, which can output a high voltage in a range of typically several to several tens kV. The DBD jet power supply 7 is connected to a copper foil layer 11 of the non-metal pre-ionization jet pipe 8 through a wire, the distance from the lower end of the copper foil layer to the upper surface of the air flow and water cooling device 10 is 2cm, the lower part of the non-metal pre-ionization jet pipe 8 (the pre-ionization jet pipe can be made of quartz, ceramic and the like, the pre-ionization jet pipe is adopted in the embodiment) vertically penetrates through the air flow and the water cooling device 10, the lower end of the pre-ionization jet pipe 8 extends to the upper surface of the microwave waveguide resonant cavity 5, and jet flow in the pre-ionization jet pipe 8 is blown out through pre-ionization gas (the pre-ionization gas such as argon and helium can be adopted as the DBD pre-ionization gas) in the pre-ionization gas bottle 9 and argon can be adopted as the pre-ionization gas) to enter the microwave discharge pipe 6, so that seed electrons generated by pre-ionization can smoothly enter the microwave waveguide resonant cavity 5; meanwhile, the working gas (such as nitrogen, oxygen, helium, air, but not limited thereto) required by the microwave plasma enters the microwave discharge tube 6 through the gas flow interface 101, so that the microwave plasma is smoothly excited at the lower end of the microwave discharge tube 6 and can be maintained under the atmospheric pressure condition.
The microwave plasma excitation system can generate and maintain microwave plasma under the atmospheric pressure, and meets the general industrial requirements.
The steps of the microwave plasma excitation and maintenance by adopting the system of the invention are as follows:
step 1), opening a pre-ionized gas storage bottle 9, and conveying the pre-ionized gas into a microwave discharge tube 6 through a pre-ionized jet tube 8;
step 2), turning on a DBD jet power supply 7, and adjusting the voltage to be 3kV-4kV until generating DBD plasma jet;
step 3) turning on the microwave source 1, adjusting the microwave power to be higher than 800W, and stepping up the power to the microwave plasma excitation by taking 10W as a unit;
step 4), the DBD jet power supply 7 is turned off, and microwave plasma can be maintained in the inner area of the microwave discharge tube 6 of the microwave waveguide resonant cavity 5;
step 5), opening a working gas storage bottle 12, so that the working gas enters the air flow and water cooling device 10 through an air flow interface 101, and the introduced pre-ionized gas brings microwave plasma out of the microwave waveguide resonant cavity, and the length of the microwave plasma is maintained to be a certain length (generally more than 5 cm) through the working gas;
step 6) closing the pre-ionization gas storage bottle 9, at which time the microwave plasma can be maintained for a long period of time under the action of the working gas 12.
The system can reliably realize the excitation and maintenance of large-volume microwave plasma under the atmospheric pressure, and avoid the ablation and metal pollution of a microwave igniter in a general microwave plasma excitation device. This is of great importance to the microwave plasma material processing, chemical processing industry.