Experiments in a Large, Non-Equilibrium MHD Generator with Cesium Seeded, Noble Gases and Heated Electrodes.

Abstract

An experimental study was performed of the operating characteristics of a linear, supersonic Faraday generator, having heated wire electrodes suspended in the gas flow. The test gases were argon, neon, helium seeded with 0.8% cesium. It was observed that locating the electrode outside the cold boundary layer greatly reduced the current ignition voltage at the electrodes below that obtained previously with flush mounted electrodes. However, heating the electrodes to 1600K temperatures produced no significant improvement in the electrode performance over that obtained with room temperature electrodes at current densities of about 10 amp/sq/cm. In both cases, the electrode conduction was through arc spots with cathode losses of about 60V. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 1971
Accession Number
AD0719381

Entities

People

  • B. Zauderer
  • E. Tate

Organizations

  • General Electric

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boundaries
  • Boundary Layer
  • Chemical Reaction Properties
  • Current Density
  • Electrodes
  • Flow
  • Gas Flow
  • Generators
  • Ignition
  • Layers
  • Noble Gases

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Electronics Engineering
  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Hypersonics
  • Hypersonics - Hypersonic Flow