Stability measurements of PPL atmospheric pressure arc

Summary form only given. Experiments on the stability of atmospheric pressure arcs have been started at PPL to understand and improve the performance of arc furnaces used for processing applications in metal and hazardous waste treatment. Previous studies have suggested that the violent instabilities in such arcs may be due to kink modes. A 30 kW, 500 Amp CW DC experimental arc furnace was constructed with a graphite cathode and a molten steel anode. The arc plasma is diagnosed with 4000 frames/sec digital camera, Hall probes, and voltage and current monitors. Under certain conditions, the arc exhibits an intermittent helical instability, with the helix rotating at /spl ap/600 Hz. The nature of the instability is investigated. A possible instability mechanism is the self-magnetic field of the arc, with saturation occurring due to inhomogeneous heating in a helical arc. The effect of external DC and AC magnetic fields on the instability is investigated.