Microwave plasma burner and temperature measurements in its flames

An apparatus for generating flames and more particularly the microwave plasma burner for generating high-temperature large-volume plasma flame was presented. The plasma burner is operated by injecting liquid hydrocarbon fuels into a microwave plasma torch in air discharge and by mixing the resultant gaseous hydrogen and carbon compounds with air or oxygen gas. The microwave plasma torch can instantaneously vaporize and decompose the hydrogen and carbon containing fuels. It was observed that the flame volume of the burner was more than 50 times that of the torch plasma. While the temperature of the torch plasma flame was only 550 K at a measurement point, that of the plasma-burner flame with the addition of 0.025 lpm (liters per minute) kerosene and 20 lpm oxygen drastically increased to about 1850 K. A preliminary experiment was carried out, measuring the temperature profiles of flames along the radial and axial directions. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.