Waveform detection of states and faults in plasma inverters
AssigneeAtmospheric Plasma Solutions, Inc.
InventorTerrence E. Rogers
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for determining an operational state of an atmospheric pressure plasma. The system has a transformer for coupling power into the atmospheric pressure plasma, a current sampling circuit configured to sample at least one current pulse flowing through a primary winding of the transformer, and a programmed microprocessor configured to determine, from a waveform of the current pulse, the operational state of the atmospheric pressure plasma. The operational state is one of: a no plasma state, a plasma origination state indicative of an ignited arc expanding into a plasma by gas flow thereinto, and a plasma maintenance state indicative of the plasma being expanded.
Claims18
A system for determining an operational state of an atmospheric pressure plasma, the system comprising:
- a transformer for coupling power into the atmospheric pressure plasma;
- a current sampling circuit configured to sample at least one current pulse flowing through a primary winding of the transformer;
- and
- a programmed microprocessor configured to determine, from a waveform of the current pulse, the operational state of the atmospheric pressure plasma,
- wherein the operational state comprises one of
- a no plasma state,
- a plasma origination state indicative of an ignited arc expanding into a larger plasma volume by gas flow thereinto, and
- a plasma maintenance state indicative of the plasma being expanded into the desired volume and steady-state condition,
- wherein the programmed microprocessor is configured to
- calculate a relative phase angle between a) a voltage pulse applied to the primary winding and b) the current pulse flowing through the primary winding, and
- based on the relative phase angle, ascertain the operational state of the atmospheric pressure plasma.
A system for determining an operational state of an atmospheric pressure plasma, the system comprising:
- a transformer for coupling power into the atmospheric pressure plasma;
- a current sampling circuit configured to sample at least one current pulse flowing through a primary winding of the transformer;
- and
- a programmed microprocessor configured to determine, from a waveform of the current pulse, the operational state of the atmospheric pressure plasma,
- wherein the operational state comprises one of
- a no plasma state,
- a plasma origination state indicative of an ignited arc expanding into a larger plasma volume by gas flow thereinto, and
- a plasma maintenance state indicative of the plasma being expanded into the desired volume and steady-state condition,
- further comprising a square wave inverter configured to produce voltage pulses at a predetermined frequency for application to the primary winding of the transformer,
- wherein the transformer comprises a ballast transformer having
- a magnetic core,
- a primary winding on a primary side of the magnetic core,
- a secondary winding on a secondary side of the magnetic core, and
- wherein
- the primary winding is connectable to a power source, and
- the secondary winding is connectable to a plasma load of the atmospheric pressure plasma.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.