HK1033740A - Method of plasma incision of matter with a specifically tuned radiofrequency electromagnetic field generator - Google Patents

Description

Object plasma cloud cutting method using special tuned RF electromagnetic field generator

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The present invention relates to a method of cutting an object with a tuned plasma cloud, and in particular to a tuned plasma cloud induced and maintained with electromagnetic energy waves emitted by a radio frequency signal generator system impedance matched, frequency matched and power matched to atomic particles constituting the tuned plasma cloud, the tuned plasma cloud covering an energized emitter cutting probe.

Most cuts are made with hard solid tools such as steel, sapphire, diamond, etc. These cuts are made by the abrasive physical action of the sharp edges of the hard object against the surface of the object being cut. These force maps are inefficient in the purely physical method of cutting one hard object through another, and are therefore inefficient in that they encounter significant resistance when the object being cut is extremely solid and dense. Thus, other methods have resorted to electrical cutting, or electrosurgery. In cutting an object in this way, the electrically induced arc burns or volatilizes the object while the ohmic impedance of the cut object produces thermal effects due to phenomena such as dielectric hysteresis and eddy currents. The first two phenomena described above produce an effect known as diathermy, and as a result, may produce a physical reaction that acts to cut the object. This method has limited application due to its disadvantages including extensive damage to objects outside the intended cutting path, burning, charring and often an unpleasant smoke. The inefficiency of conventional electrical cutting is exacerbated by the high power required to produce the cutting action at the cutting end, which power tends to exceed 50 watts. The relatively high output power required by conventional electrical cutting devices is a result of the inefficiency of these devices because they operate on a combination of conventional resistive diathermy and an unstable, unfocused plasma arc.

Lasers are also used for cutting, but laser cutting is not cost effective and requires a significant system input power to generate a laser beam of sufficient power to cut the object. The laser plasma generation method is adopted in the technology and is applied to the aspects of etching process and the like in the field of microelectronics.

Plasma arcs can occur in the fields of welding arcs, spark plug arcs, discharge arcs, neon arcs, and electric knife arcs, among others. Arc is essentially a non-harmonious plasma jet, manifested by turbulence of ionized atomic particles within the uncontrolled plasma and increased perturbation of atomic particles within the plasma. The turbulent flow of atomic particles within the plasma arc represents a disturbance of the atomic particles, and the uncontrolled nature of the disturbance of the atomic particles causes a significant amount of energy leakage outside of the intended cutting path of the object, thereby generating excessive heat. Energy leakage occurring in objects around the intended cutting path of the object erodes and damages the surrounding objects. Merely reducing the tip power of the cutting tip does not in itself significantly improve the tunability of the plasma, since the turbulence of the ionized atomic particles constituting the plasma arc cannot be greatly reduced. Thus, the present invention employs a range of physicochemical principles to reduce out-of-tune plasma arcs. The invention reduces the discordant plasma arc by reducing the disturbance of atomic particles in the plasma cloud, and greatly reduces the atomic disturbance in the plasma cloud, thereby generating the harmonious plasma cloud. The harmonious plasma cuts in a more controlled, efficient and safe manner because the atomic particle composition in the harmonious plasma cloud exists in a more stable, balanced and controlled state, with a higher degree of organization and lower atomic particle perturbations than the uncoordinated plasma cloud. By utilizing the clamping effect of physics, the harmonious plasma cloud according to the present invention is further compressed, controlled, contoured, and easily shaped. The compressed plasma cloud of the present invention is then captured and controlled by a magnetic bottle phenomenon that is well known in physics and used in the field of nuclear physics.

The present invention is a method of generating a harmonious plasma cloud having a low turbulence of atomic particles in the plasma cloud, thereby exhibiting a low perturbation of atomic particles in the plasma. Physics defines four states: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Although examples of plasma are not common on earth, the universe is mainly composed of plasma. The plasma cloud of the present invention is generated by a low cost radio frequency signal generator and amplifier similar to commercial radio transmitters. The electromagnetic wave generator system of the present invention requires low input power, which is achieved in part by impedance matching of the cutting delivery probe with the tuned plasma cloud, frequency matching, and system power matching. The excited emitter cutting tip produces a plasma cloud that forms a coating on the surface of the excited emitter cutting tip. The emitter cutting probe of the present invention is preferably a solid, non-hollow conductor, but hollow emitter probes may also be used. When exciting the radio frequency electromagnetic wave emitter of the invention, the electron flow occurs mainly at the outer surface of the emitter or cutting tip, according to the physical skin effect. By impedance matching the radio frequency electromagnetic waves of the energized cutting transmitter tip with the plasma cloud surrounding the cutting electrode tip, the present invention creates a tightly coupled energy transfer system in which a high percentage of the total electromagnetic wave power is transmitted into the plasma cloud and only a low percentage of the total electromagnetic wave energy is reflected back to the energized transmitter cutting probe. This concept is similar to the impedance matching of a standard radio transmitter antenna to the ambient air.

The arc is essentially a form of a non-harmonious plasma jet, which is characterized by uncontrolled turbulence of ionized atomic particles within the plasma, resulting in increased disturbance of atomic particles in the plasma. Simply reducing the cutting head power does not significantly improve the plasma's tunability because the turbulence of the ionized atomic particles that make up the plasma arc is not greatly reduced. The turbulent flow of ionized atomic particles in the plasma arc represents a form of atomic particle perturbation that can cause significant energy leakage into objects outside of the intended cutting path, thereby producing excessive heat. This energy leakage into the object surrounding the intended cutting path in the object causes thermal and radiation erosion, resulting in damage to the surrounding object. The invention reduces plasma arcs by reducing the turbulence of atomic particles in the plasma cloud, thereby greatly reducing the disturbance of atomic particles of the plasma cloud and generating a harmonious plasma cloud.

After the generation of the harmonious plasma cloud, the plasma cloud can be compressed, controlled, contoured and shaped by applying the clamping effect of physics by cutting the electromagnetic waves sent by the tip with an active emitter. The compressed plasma cloud of the present invention is then captured and controlled by a magnetic bottle phenomenon that is well known in physics and used in nuclear physics. This enables us to reduce the plasma sheath thickness of the cutting electrode by compressing, concentrating and trapping the harmonious plasma cloud. This effect thus enables us to increase the density of the harmonic plasma cloud overlaying the cutting tip, increasing the atomic particle density of the plasma cloud increases the plasma cloud energy density. This can thereby improve the efficiency of cutting the object and reduce the width of the cutting line cut into the object. After passing through the plasma cladding layer, the electromagnetic waves generated according to the present invention hit objects around the harmonious plasma cloud that have a poor impedance match with the electromagnetic waves. A large percentage of the total electromagnetic wave emission energy is reflected back into the tuned plasma cloud cladding, and only a small percentage of the total electromagnetic wave radiation is transmitted into the surrounding objects. This physical interaction of electromagnetic radiation with an object is known as the physicochemical tunneling effect. The electromagnetic wave energy reflected back into the tuned plasma cloud serves to further energize the atomic particles of the plasma cloud, thereby further reducing the output electromagnetic power required by the electromagnetic wave generator system of the present invention.

The combination of increased plasma tunability, increased tuned plasma density, reduced tuned plasma coating on the energized transmission cutting probe, and the tunneling of the electromagnetic waves generated by the present invention results in high efficiency, clean cutting of the object in the intended cutting path, and little energy leakage into the object surrounding the intended cutting path. The energy leakage into the objects surrounding the predetermined cutting path is reduced such that damage to objects outside the predetermined cutting path is significantly reduced. In accordance with physical principles, a harmonious plasma is formed to more effectively and cleanly cut an object than in a prior cutting approach.

In contrast to conventional electric cutters, the oscillation frequency of the electromagnetic wave generator system of the present invention is tuned to the molecular oscillation harmonic component of the plasma cloud at the cutting tip and cut object interface. The kinetic energy of this thin layer of surface atomic particles is therefore extremely high, forming a cloud of energetic ionic electrons around the cutting electrode. A continuous or pulsed radio frequency wave fed into the emitter cutting head emitting electromagnetic waves attracts molecules in the plasma cloud towards the cutting probe in a concentric manner. This effectively creates a highly concentrated, harmonious plasma cut coating on the surface of the cutting probe. The invention enables us to create a cutting plasma cloud without injecting ionizable gas into the cutting field as in plasma generation devices in plasma lamps and plasma chamber etching systems. After the electromagnetic radiation is turned off, the plasma rapidly releases energy, and the atomic particles in the plasma cloud lose the energy needed to maintain the plasma state. The electrode tip is excited with radio frequency energy under the conditions of impedance matching, frequency matching and power matching of the excited electromagnetic wave probe and the tuned plasma cloud coating, and a plasma cutting tool for cutting with the energy of plasma atomic particles can be generated. The transmitted electromagnetic radiation is similar to the impedance matching of the plasma near the cutting tip and the impedance matching between the electromagnetic radiation of the transmitter antenna and the air surrounding the antenna. As soon as the electromagnetic wave passes through the plasma layer, it enters an object that is not at the intended cutting path, and the transmitted electromagnetic wave signal is attenuated by a higher order of magnitude in a manner described by the principle of physicochemical tunneling due to the object encountering an impedance mismatch. Therefore, the efficiency of cutting within the predetermined cutting path is increased while being highly attenuated outside the predetermined cutting path, so that the resulting electromagnetic radiation erodes, impacts, or otherwise has minimal adverse effects on objects outside the predetermined cutting path. The end result is a safe and clean cut of the object.

In summary, some of the objects and advantages of the present invention are:

a) a cutting method is provided that uses low cost radio frequency signal generators, amplifiers and transmitter probes to generate, amplify and transmit electromagnetic waves.

b) A solid, non-hollow, electrically conductive radio frequency transmitter probe is used to generate, maintain and control the plasma. However. The transmitter probe may be completely or partially hollow in construction.

c) A plasma cutting tool is produced by the electromagnetic field generator system, which requires less system input power than other cutting methods currently available. Similarly, the system of the present invention requires lower output power relative to other currently available cutting methods, and the average output power can be as low as 1 watt.

d) The plasma cloud can be generated without injecting ionizable gas into the cutting field as in plasma lamps and plasma generation devices in plasma etching systems.

e) Impedance matching between the energy emitted by the electromagnetic wave generator and the plasma cloud surrounding and covering the stimulated emitter cutting probe produces a harmonious plasma cloud with low atomic particle turbulence.

f) Harmonic plasma clouds of low atomic particle turbulence and turbulence are produced by frequency matching between the energy emitted by an electromagnetic wave generator and the atomic particle vibrational components of the plasma cloud surrounding and covering the excited emitter cutting probe.

g) By power matching between the power emitted by the electromagnetic wave generator and the power required to excite and maintain the harmonious plasma cloud, a harmonious plasma cloud is produced with low atomic particle perturbations and turbulence.

h) The tightly coupled, efficient transfer of the generated electromagnetic wave generator energy into the plasma cloud surrounding and covering the energized emitter cutting probe reduces the radio frequency signal generator/amplifier output power required to energize and maintain the plasma cloud around the energized emitter cutting probe.

i) The harmonious plasma cloud covering the energized emitter cutting probe is focused, compressed and shaped using a physical principle known as the pinch effect.

j) The harmonic plasma cloud is captured and controlled using a physical principle known as the magnetic bottle effect and thus does not require a physical vessel to contain the plasma cloud.

k) The physical-chemical principle of tunneling is applied to reflect electromagnetic waves emitted by the stimulated cutting emitter tip from objects surrounding the tuned plasma cloud back into the plasma cloud surrounding the stimulated emitter cutting tip. In this way, the present invention uses the tunneling effect to create an electromagnetic shield that substantially reduces the penetration of transmitted electromagnetic waves into objects outside the intended cutting path. This achieves a reduction in the potential side effects of radiation erosion. Moreover, the electromagnetic radiation reflected back to the plasma cloud serves to further provide energy to the plasma cloud, thereby further reducing the output power required by the electromagnetic wave generator system.

l) use of a harmonious plasma cloud focused around the cutting tip of an energized emitter to focus the kinetic energy of the cutting plasma in a relatively thin cutting path to provide discrete and clean cuts to objects with minimal impact or side effects on objects outside the intended cutting path.

m) provides a technical approach to pure physical energy cutting other than knife-edge cutting, while providing a more efficient, cleaner, and economical approach than other cutting modalities currently available, such as laser cutting.

The object cutting method of the present invention is different from all previous cutting methods. The present invention uses a low cost electronic radio frequency signal generator/amplifier system to generate pulsed or continuous radio frequency electromagnetic waves, which are directed into a cutting head and then transmitted from a transmitter cutting probe. The cutting probe of the present invention is preferably a solid, non-hollow conductor, but a partially or completely hollow transmitter probe may also be employed. The system of the present invention is similar to a standard radio transmitter impedance matched to the surrounding air, and the system of the present invention is impedance matched, power matched and resonant to the harmonious plasma cloud surrounding the tip of the excited transmitter cutting electrode.

Plasma is the most abundant form of matter in the universe, but the least abundant form of matter on earth. Examples of plasmas on earth include: arc welding, spark plug arcs, neon arc and lightning peripheral arcs, and also cauterization arcs found in the field of electric scalpels and the like. Plasmas are also found in the field of semiconductor etching and the like, but where the plasma is generated by expensive and energy-intensive systems, such as lasers or precision plasma etch chambers.

The present invention employs a low cost electronic radio frequency signal generator/amplifier system to transmit continuous or pulsed radio frequency electromagnetic waves from an excited emitter cutting electrode tip. The electromagnetic field generator system specific parameters depend to a large extent on the emitter cutting electrode end and the object to be cut between the interface of atomic particle composition. The system of the present invention utilizes atoms along the interface of the emitter cutting probe to create a plasma cloud, as opposed to systems that require an ionizable gas to be injected into the cutting space and energized to convert it into a plasma. The transmitter cutting probe of the present invention is preferably linear or curvilinear in configuration, but the shape of the transmitter tip electrode need not be configuration specific, and may even be a circular configuration. The system of the present invention is impedance matched, frequency matched, and output power matched to create and maintain a harmonious plasma cloud covering the energized emitter cutting probe, thereby greatly reducing the conventional plasma arc that occurs at the cutting tip and cut object interface.

The arc is essentially a form of a non-harmonious plasma jet and appears as a turbulent flow of ionized atomic particles within the uncontrolled plasma, causing increased perturbation of atomic particles within the plasma. Simply reducing the cutting head power does not by itself significantly improve the plasma tunability, since the turbulence of the ionized atomic particles that make up the plasma arc cannot be greatly reduced. Plasmas have a wide range of physical properties, including temperature, density, flow characteristics, atomic particle composition, etc., as compared to other forms of objects. Plasma is found in the world in welding arcs, spark plug arcs, discharge arcs, neon arcs, electrosurgical knife arcs, and other fields. The high turbulence of atomic particles in the plasma arc takes the form of atomic particle perturbations, which the turbulence of atomic particles in the plasma cloud causes uncontrolled atomic particle perturbations. This plasma takes the form of an out of tune plasma and generates excessive heat and significant energy leakage into objects outside of the intended cutting path. This energy leakage into the object outside of the intended cutting path causes energy erosion, thermal erosion, and damage to surrounding objects. In this manner, the present invention reduces plasma arcs by reducing atomic particle turbulence and turbulence in the plasma cloud, thereby creating a harmonious plasma cloud.

As the electromagnetic field passes through the tuned plasma coating around the energized emitter cutting probe, the electromagnetic field slowly decays or decreases in magnitude. Finally, the electromagnetic field will pass completely through the plasma cloud and encounter objects outside the predetermined cutting path that wrap around the cutting plasma cloud. According to the tunneling principle in physico-chemistry, the electromagnetic wave that occurs then encounters an obstacle that is not resonant with it, or that is impedance-mismatched with it, so that a large percentage of the total electromagnetic wave energy is reflected back into the harmonious plasma cloud. This electromagnetic wave energy reflected back into the tuned plasma cloud serves to further energize the molecular particles in the plasma cloud, thereby further reducing the output power that the electromagnetic wave generator system needs to transmit. This process also reduces the percentage of total electromagnetic radiation that penetrates, reacts with, and presents potential radiation erosion damage to objects outside the intended cutting path.

The magnetic field centripetal force generated by the present invention is used to control the distance between atomic particles in the harmonic plasma cloud and the tip of the energized emitter cutting electrode. For this reason, a clamping effect that has been used for many years in the field of plasma physics and the like is applied to the system of the present invention. In this manner the present invention is able to compress, shape and control a harmonious plasma cloud with a solid or hollow emitter cutting probe. The invention also uses the magnetic bottle effect originally used in the field of nuclear physics and the like to capture and confine the compressed plasma cloud without the need for a physical confinement vessel, thereby eliminating the need for a hollow or cavity-type emitter probe to capture and control the plasma. Increasing the atomic particle density in the harmonious plasma cloud enables us to increase the power density of the plasma cloud, thereby increasing the cutting efficiency and power of the plasma cloud.

Furthermore, the compression of the plasma cloud reduces the cross-sectional diameter of the plasma cloud, thereby reducing not only the width of the predetermined cutting path, but also potential adverse impacts or side effects on objects outside of the predetermined cutting path. Once the power to the electromagnetic wave generator system is cut off, the energy of the harmonious plasma cloud quickly decays to a level where the atoms that make up the plasma cloud cannot maintain what is known as the plasma state.

The reader will therefore appreciate that the use of specifically tuned electromagnetic waves to generate a tuned plasma of controlled shape and profile enables us to achieve a more efficient, more controlled, less toxic and more cost effective method of cutting objects.

While the above description has many specificities, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but as merely providing illustrations of the preferred embodiments of this invention. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the claims and their legal equivalents, rather than by the given examples.

Claims (18)

1. A method of cutting an object with plasma, comprising the steps of:

an electronic system comprising a radio frequency signal generator and a power amplifier is used,

radio frequency energy is generated and is transmitted to the radio frequency generator,

feeding the rf energy into an active transmitter cutting electrode tip,

an electromagnetic field is generated outwardly from the surface of the active emitter cutting electrode tip,

by exciting atomic particles along the interface between the inner surface of the active emitter-cutting electrode tip and the object being cut, a plasma cloud is created that covers the active emitter-cutting electrode tip without requiring the injection of an ionizable gas into the space surrounding the active emitter-cutting electrode tip, yet the plasma cloud can be augmented by the injection of an ionizable gas into the space surrounding the active emitter-cutting electrode tip,

maintaining the plasma cloud by efficiently transferring energy by electromagnetic waves to atomic particles along an interface between the active emitter cutting electrode tip and the object being cut, an

Cutting an object with the plasma cloud surrounding the active emitter cutting electrode tip to produce a safe, clean, efficient, and efficient cut of the object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming the active transmitter incising electrode tips comprises forming the active tip from a conductor or semiconductor, preferably a solid tip, but which may be a fully or partially hollow tip.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming the active transmitter cutting electrode tip comprises a preferably straight or curved configuration, but may be a non-specific configuration or even a circular configuration.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the electromagnetic waves comprises the step of generating continuous electromagnetic waves.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the electromagnetic wave comprises the step of generating a pulsed electromagnetic wave.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of generating the plasma comprises impedance matching, frequency matching, and power matching the rf energy emitted by the rf signal generator and amplifier to the plasma cloud covering the active transmitter cutting electrode tip.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of generating a high efficiency tight coupling for transferring said rf signal energy from said rf signal generator and power amplifier to atomic particles in said plasma cloud along said active transmitter cutting electrode tip surface.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of matching said rf signal generator and power amplifier to generate and maintain the output power required to tune the plasma cloud.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of reducing atomic particle turbulence and turbulence in said plasma cloud along said active emitter-cutting electrode tip.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of enhancing said harmonic plasma cloud covering said active emitter cutting electrode tip surface.

11. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of enabling a high percentage of the total energy of said electromagnetic waves generated by said radio frequency signal generator and amplifier to be transmitted through said plasma cloud, but enabling a high percentage of the total energy of said electromagnetic waves to be reflected back into said plasma cloud when said electromagnetic waves reach the interface between said plasma cloud and said object being cut, according to the tunneling principle in physico-chemistry.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of enabling reflected energy of said electromagnetic wave to further power said plasma cloud, thereby reducing an energy output generated by said rf signal generator and amplifier that needs to be transmitted to generate and maintain said plasma cloud.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of shielding said objects around a predetermined cutting path from energy of said electromagnetic waves, thereby protecting said objects outside said predetermined cutting path from radiation.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of generating said plasma cloud comprises using the transmitting electromagnetic waves of the present invention to control the distance between atomic particles in said plasma cloud and the active emitter cutting electrode tip surface.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising capturing, compressing, shaping, and controlling the shape and density of the plasma cloud using the transmitted electromagnetic waves according to a clamping effect of physics.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of increasing the density of said plasma cloud while simultaneously decreasing the cross-sectional diameter of said plasma cloud and the width of said predetermined object cutting path.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of capturing and controlling said plasma cloud by utilizing said transmitted electromagnetic waves according to a magnetic bottle effect of physics, without the need for physically confining a container or injecting said ionizable gas into a space surrounding said active emitter-cutting electrode tip.

18. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein the step of generating said electromagnetic waves includes the step of selectively varying the frequency and power of said electromagnetic waves in accordance with different requirements among said atomic particles comprising said plasma cloud and the ability to vary physical parameters of said plasma cloud.