Presentation of the Centrale Paris plasma torch facility

60-m2 Plasma Torch building Ecole Centrale Paris

Torch head

LEPEL power supply 120 kVA

Electronics and safety systems

Gas and water control panel

Characteristics of the Plasma Torch Facility          

Inductively coupled RF (4 MHz) Power supply: 120 kVA Max power into plasma: 50 kW Steady-state operation Operating pressure: 1 atm Temperature: 6000 – 10 000 K Exit flow velocity: 5 m/s - 1 km/s Available gases: Air, N2, CH4, Argon Additional gases: CO2, He, H2 Facility fully equiped with emission and laser diagnostics:  VUV, UV, visible, Infrared (150 nm– 6 µm)  Laser diagnostics: TALIF, CRDS, DLAS, QCLAS

Plasma Torch Inauguration

Torch can reproduce atmosphere of many planets

Earth: • 78% N2 • 21% O2 • 1% Ar, …

Mars: • 95.3% CO2 • 2.7% N2 • 1.6% Ar

Titan: • 98.4% N2 • 1.6% CH4

Jupiter: • 90% H2 • 10% Helium

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Presentation of the Centrale Paris plasma torch facility

Published on Nov 19, 2014

CentraleSupélec

The Centrale Paris new plasma torch complements other existing facilities in the world for the study of atmospheric entry. The torch has enough power to generate realistic entry plasmas, up to 10000 °, and yet it remains compatible with the scale of a university lab. EM2C lab has equipped it with advanced optical diagnostics to better understand the physics of radiation and ablation, in order to develop more accurate models of these phenomena. Thanks to this plasma torch facility, EM2C lab has already obtained a lot of useful reference data that have been used by the European Space Agency and NASA to improve and validate their radiation models for the study of entry into the atmospheres of Earth and Titan. It is a great facility that will help strengthen European research and technology in space plasmas.

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