CHARACTERISTICS OF A FAST RISE-TIME POWER-SUPPLY FOR A PULSED PLASMA REACTOR FOR CHEMICAL-VAPOR DESTRUCTION

Rotating spark gap devices for switching high-voltage direct current ( dc) into a corona plasma reactor can achieve pulse rise times in the r ange of tens of nanoseconds, The fast rise times lead to vigorous plas ma generation without sparking at instantaneous applied voltages highe r than can be obtained with de. The resulting energetic plasma is effe ctive for destroying a variety of molecules, The spark gap circuit con figuration plays an important role in the effectiveness of the plasma generation, A single-gap circuit is effective for generating moderate peak voltages, but is limited by a multiple sparking phenomenon, A dou ble-gap circuit can achieve equal peak voltages with every spark, but with a reduced number of pulses, compared to the single gap. Both conf igurations have an upper voltage imposed by the changing impedance of the reactor as voltage and frequency are varied, The pulse characteris tics are reported for both types of circuits, The general performance of the reactors for destruction of some compounds with both circuits i s also reported.