The design and experiment of thruster based on water jet plasma arc

A novel ship thruster-water jet plasma arc is designed based on the principles of the discharge in water and coaxial ring-bar electrodes are adopted in the thruster. The ship model is propelled by the pressure from the plasma bubble´s expansion which is produced when the working fluid between the electrodes is broken down. Since the screw propeller and other mechanical components are not used in the model, it has the merit of low noise and for the adoption of the linear motion the velocity of the ship is also accelerated. Based on the principles of traditional pulse discharge in water, stable discharge in water is studied and by the use of power, AC voltage regulating circuit, thrusting system, additional water supply system, frequency control system, velocity measure system comprised of photoelectric sensor, relay, HB72 arithmometer, the experimental system of the ship model is established. With the experimental system, the relationships of the velocity of the water jet plasma arc and the structure of the electrodes, water supply system are acquired, and the experimental results are analyzed in detail.