Types of Methods of Plasma Heating

In this article we will know about the types of methods of plasma heating. We will learn about different kind of plasma heating and their application . We will study about the ohmic heating , Neutral beam injection ,Radio Frequency Heating  etc.

Types of Methods of Plasma Heating

Now we are going to discuss about the different types of methods of plasma heating. Which is given below

• Ohmic heating
• Neutral Beam Injection
• Radio-frequency Heating
• Compression Heating

These are Some Types of methods of plasma heating and their application.

• Ohmic Heating

A magnetically confined plasma to the high temperatures required for nuclear fusion. The simplest, called ohmic (or resistance) geating, is to pass an electric current through the plasma, the same principle is used in an ordinary electric heater. To heat a plasma, the current is generally induced from outside, to avoid the need for inserting electrical connections in the containing vessel. The heating rate depends on the resistance of the plasma and the square of the current strength. Since the resistance decreases with increasing temperature, and because instabilities may develop, the maximum plasma temperature than can be attained by ohmic heating is commonly around 20 million C. This is basic types of method of plasma heating.

• Neutral Beam Injection

Further heating of magnetically confined plasma can be achieved by neutral-beam injection. This depends on two factors (1) positively charged atomic nuclear (or ions) can be accelerated to high velocities i.e., high energies by means of a high voltage, but they cannot easily penetrate a magnetic field and (2) neutral (i.e. uncharged ) atoms, on the other hand can readily penetrate a magnetic field but they cannot be accelerated directly. Plasma heating by neutral beam injection, used specifically for deuterium is conducted in the following manner. This is also basic types of methods of plasma heating.

Deuterium ions are generated from deuterium gas by an electrical discharge in an ion source the ions are then accelerated by a high voltage (e.g. more than 100,000 volts).the accelerated, high-energy deuterium ions pass through a chamber containing neutral deuterium gas here electron transfer from low energy deuterium (D) atoms to high-energy ions (D+) with the resulting formation of low-energy deuterium ions and high-energy atoms thus

.D+ (low energy)+D (high energy) D+(low energy) +D (high energy)

• Radio-frequency Heating

Radio frequency waves in the microwave and radar ranges generated outside magnetically confined plasma, can heat the plasma to very high temperatures. If the waves have particular frequencies (or wavelengths), part of their energy is transferred to the ions or electrons (or both) in the plasma. These high-energy particles then collide with other particles and thus increase the plasma temperature. It is main types of methods of plasma heating.

• Compression Heating

Plasma, like a gas can be heated by compression. If the plasma is confined by a magnetic field, the compression can be achieved readily by a sudden increase in the confining field strength. In addition to increasing the temperature, compression increases the plasma density and thus contributes to the confinement parameter n.r.

Hence these are some types of methods of plasma heating . From this article we have studied about differrent kind of plasma heating like compression heating, Ohmic heating Radio Frequency heating etc . If you will find any incorrectt in above article you must comment below in comment box.