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US 12,252,275 B2Granted
Reactors for plasma assisted treatment of powder
AssigneeNano-Product Engineering, LLC
InventorVladimir Gorokhovsky
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus generates energetic particles and generates a plasma of a vaporized solid material and gaseous precursors for the application of coatings to surfaces of a substrate by way of condensation of plasma and for electric propulsion applications.
Claims27
A reactor configured for plasma assisted treatment of a powder, comprising:
- a plasma duct configured to contain a high pressure, high potential, plasma;
- a cathode chamber coupled to a proximal end of the plasma duct;
- a remote arc discharge generation system configured to generate a flow of electrons through the plasma duct in a direction from the proximal end of the plasma duct toward a distal end of the plasma duct, the remote arc discharge generation system including (a) a cathodic arc source, positioned in the cathode chamber, configured to generate the electrons of the flow of electrons and (b) a distal anode, positioned in the plasma duct or past the distal end, configured to cause the flow of electrons;
- a gas inlet coupled to the distal end for receiving a plasma-generating gas;
- a gas outlet, coupled to the proximal end configured to remove at least a portion of the plasma-generating gas to generate a flow of an ionized gas through the plasma duct in direction from the distal end toward the proximal end, so as to generate ions from collisions between the electrons and the plasma-generating gas;
- a separating baffle, positioned between the proximal end and the cathode chamber, for restricting a flow of the ionized gas out of the plasma duct to at least one orifice of the separating baffle and maintain (a) a high pressure and a high plasma potential in the plasma duct to generate a high density, high voltage remote arc plasma, (b) a low pressure and a low plasma potential in the cathode chamber favorable for generation of the electrons, (c) the high plasma potential in the plasma duct to increase energies of the ions, and (d) the low plasma potential in the cathode chamber to generate a plasma plume from an overlapping counter-propagating flow of the electrons and the plasma-generating gas through the at least one orifice, each orifice of the at least one orifice having a transverse extent in a range from 0.1 mm to 5 cm to maintain a stationary shock-wave front across the at least one orifice, the stationary shock-wave front separating the high pressure and the high plasma potential in the plasma duct from the low pressure and the low plasma potential in the cathode;
- and
- a powder injector configured to inject the powder into the plasma duct for plasma treatment and surface modification of the powder;
- wherein each orifice of the at least one orifice is a straight nozzle-opening, a converging nozzle, or a converging-diverging de Laval supersonic nozzle for generating a supersonic plasma plume within the cathode chamber, (f) the cathode chamber is connected to a vacuum pumping system to maintain the low pressure in the cathode chamber, (g) the plasma duct is oriented vertically, the powder to be treated is suspended within a flow of the plasma-generating gas, and (h) at least a portion of a reactive gas is recirculating.
6 more elements
A reactor configured for plasma assisted treatment of a powder, comprising:
- a plasma duct configured to contain a high pressure, high potential, plasma;
- a cathode chamber coupled to a proximal end of the plasma duct;
- a remote arc discharge generation system configured to generate a flow of electrons through the plasma duct in a direction from the proximal end of the plasma duct toward a distal end of the plasma duct, the remote arc discharge generation system including (a) A cathodic arc source, positioned in the cathode chamber, configured to generate the electrons of the flow of electrons and (b) A distal anode, positioned in the plasma duct or past the distal end, configured to cause the flow of electrons;
- a gas inlet coupled to the distal end for receiving a plasma-generating gas;
- a gas outlet, coupled to the proximal end configured to remove at least a portion of the plasma-generating gas to generate a flow of an ionized gas through the plasma duct in direction from the distal end toward the proximal end, so as to generate ions from collisions between the electrons and the plasma-generating gas;
- a separating baffle, positioned between the proximal end and the cathode chamber, for restricting a flow of the ionized gas out of the plasma duct to at least one orifice of the separating baffle and maintain (a) A high pressure and a high plasma potential in the plasma duct to generate a high density, high voltage remote arc plasma, (b) A low pressure and a low plasma potential in the cathode chamber favorable for generation of the electrons, (c) the high plasma potential in the plasma duct to increase energies of the ions, and (d) the low plasma potential in the cathode chamber to generate a plasma plume from overlapping counter propagating flows of the electrons and the plasma-generating gas through the at least one orifice, each orifice of the at least one orifice having a transverse extent in a range from 0.1 mm to 5 cm to maintain a stationary shock-wave front across the at least one orifice, the stationary shock-wave front separating the high pressure and the high plasma potential in the plasma duct from the low pressure and the low plasma potential in the cathode;
- and
- a powder injector configured to inject the powder into the plasma duct for plasma treatment and surface modification of the powder;
- wherein (e) each orifice of the at least one orifice is a straight nozzle-opening, a converging nozzle, or a converging-diverging de Laval supersonic nozzle for generating a supersonic plasma plume within the cathode chamber, (f) the cathode chamber is connected to a vacuum pumping system to maintain the low pressure in the cathode chamber, (g) the plasma duct is oriented vertically, and the powder to be treated is suspended within a flow of the plasma-generating gas, and (h) A chain of the plasma ducts are attached to each other in parallel, each plasma duct of the chain of plasma ducts being provided with a respective cathode chamber, a respective remote anode, and a respective cathode.
6 more elements
A reactor configured for plasma assisted treatment of a powder, comprising:
- a plasma duct configured to contain a high pressure, high potential, plasma;
- a cathode chamber coupled to a proximal end of the plasma duct;
- a remote arc discharge generation system configured to generate a flow of electrons through the plasma duct in a direction from the proximal end of the plasma duct toward a distal end of the plasma duct, the remote arc discharge generation system including (a) A cathodic arc source, positioned in the cathode chamber, configured to generate the electrons of the flow of electrons and (b) A distal anode, positioned in the plasma duct or past the distal end, configured to cause the flow of electrons;
- a gas inlet coupled to the distal end for receiving a plasma-generating gas;
- a gas outlet, coupled to the proximal end configured to remove at least a portion of the plasma-generating gas to generate a flow of an ionized gas through the plasma duct in a direction from the distal end toward the proximal end, so as to generate ions from collisions between the electrons and the plasma-generating gas;
- a separating baffle, positioned between the proximal end and the cathode chamber, for restricting a flow of the ionized gas out of the plasma duct to at least one orifice of the separating baffle and maintain (a) A high pressure and a high plasma potential in the plasma duct to generate a high density, high voltage remote arc plasma, (b) A low pressure and a low plasma potential in the cathode chamber favorable for generation of the electrons, (c) the high plasma potential in the plasma duct to increase energies of the ions, and (d) the low plasma potential in the cathode chamber to generate a plasma plume from overlapping counter propagating flows of the electrons and the plasma-generating gas through the at least one orifice, each orifice of the at least one orifice having a transverse extent in a range from 0.1 mm to 5 cm to maintain a stationary shock-wave front across the at least one orifice, the stationary shock-wave front separating the high pressure and the high plasma potential in the plasma duct from the low pressure and the low plasma potential in the cathode;
- and
- a powder injector configured to inject the powder into the plasma duct for plasma treatment and surface modification of the powder;
- wherein (e) each orifice of the at least one orifice is a straight nozzle-opening, a converging nozzle, or a converging-diverging de Laval supersonic nozzle for generating a supersonic plasma plume within the cathode chamber, (f) the cathode chamber is connected to a vacuum pumping system to maintain low pressure in the cathode chamber, (g) the plasma duct is oriented vertically, the powder to be treated is suspended within a flow of the plasma generating gas, and (h) the cathode chamber is attached to the proximal end of the plasma duct coaxially to the plasma duct, and the powder is injected at the distal end of the plasma duct and falls through the plasma duct and the cathode chamber by gravity and collects in a powder collector attached to the proximal end of the cathode chamber.
6 more elements
A reactor configured for plasma assisted treatment of a powder, comprising:
- a plasma duct configured to contain a high pressure, high potential, plasma;
- a cathode chamber coupled to a proximal end of the plasma duct;
- a remote arc discharge generation system configured to generate a flow of electrons through the plasma duct in a direction from the proximal end of the plasma duct toward a distal end of the plasma duct, the remote arc discharge generation system including (a) A cathodic arc source, positioned in the cathode chamber, configured to generate the electrons of the flow of electrons and (b) A distal anode, positioned in the plasma duct or past the distal end, configured to cause the flow of electrons;
- a gas inlet coupled to the distal end for receiving a plasma-generating gas;
- a gas outlet, coupled to the proximal end configured to remove at least a portion of the plasma-generating gas to generate a flow of an ionized gas through the plasma duct in direction from the distal end toward the proximal end, so as to generate ions from collisions between the electrons and the plasma-generating gas;
- a separating baffle, positioned between the proximal end and the cathode chamber, for restricting a flow of the ionized gas out of the plasma duct to at least one orifice of the separating baffle and maintain (a) A high pressure and a high plasma potential in the plasma duct to generate a high density, high voltage remote arc plasma, (b) A low pressure and a low plasma potential in the cathode chamber favorable for generation of the electrons, (c) the high plasma potential in the plasma duct to increase energies of the ions, and (d) the low plasma potential in the cathode chamber to generate a plasma plume from overlapping counter propagating flows of the electrons and the plasma-generating gas through the at least one orifice, each orifice of the at least one orifice having a transverse extent in a range from 0.1 mm to 5 cm to maintain a stationary shock-wave front across the at least one orifice, the stationary shock-wave front separating the high pressure and the high plasma potential in the plasma duct from the low pressure and the low plasma potential in the cathode;
- and
- a powder injector configured to inject the powder into the plasma duct for plasma treatment and surface modification of the powder;
- wherein (e) each orifice of the at least one orifice is a straight nozzle-opening, a converging nozzle, or a converging-diverging de Laval supersonic nozzle for generating a supersonic plasma plume within the cathode chamber, (f) the cathode chamber is connected to a vacuum pumping system to maintain the low pressure in the cathode chamber, (g) the plasma duct is oriented horizontally being a rotatable barrel for coating of particles of the powder disposed in the rotatable barrel in a fluidized bed process, and (h) at least a portion of a reactive gas is recirculating.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.