Medium Voltage Power Supply with Enhanced Ignition Characteristics for Plasma Torches

Kyungsub Jung; Yongsug Suh

Medium Voltage Power Supply with Enhanced Ignition Characteristics for Plasma Torches

Kyungsub Jung

Yongsug Suh

Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 591-598, Jul. 2011

10.6113/JPE.2011.11.4.591

Half-bridge resonant converter

Medium voltage

Plasma torch

Waste disposal system

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Abstract

This paper investigates a power supply of medium voltage with enhanced ignition characteristics for plasma torches. A series resonant half-bridge topology is presented as a suitable ignition circuitry. The ignition circuitry is integrated into the main power conversion system of a multi-phase staggered three-level dc-dc converter with a diode front-end rectifier. A plasma torch rated at 3MW, 2kA and having a physical size of 1m is selected to be the high enthalpy source for a waste disposal system. The steady-state and transient operations of a plasma torch are simulated. The parameters of a Cassie-Mary arc model are calculated based on 3D magneto-hydrodynamic simulations. The circuit simulation waveform shows that the ripple of the arc current can be maintained within ±10% of its rated value under the presence of a load disturbance. This power conversion configuration provides a high enough ignition voltage, around 5KA, during the ignition phase and high arc stability under the existence of arc disturbance noise resulting in a high-performance plasma torch system.

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Cite this article

[IEEE Style]

K. Jung and Y. Suh, "Medium Voltage Power Supply with Enhanced Ignition Characteristics for Plasma Torches," Journal of Power Electronics, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 591-598, 2011. DOI: 10.6113/JPE.2011.11.4.591.

[ACM Style]

Kyungsub Jung and Yongsug Suh. 2011. Medium Voltage Power Supply with Enhanced Ignition Characteristics for Plasma Torches. Journal of Power Electronics, 11, 4, (2011), 591-598. DOI: 10.6113/JPE.2011.11.4.591.