Depicting the Behavior of a Mono-Cathode Plasma Spray Torch with an Emulator

This paper describes the development and testing of an emulator representing a single-cathode atmospheric plasma torch. The emulator consists of three subsystems: input, simulator, and output. Arc current intensity, the hydrogen ratio of the forming gas, and its total mass flow rate are taken as input parameters, while in-flight particle temperature and velocity are the designated output. The simulator was developed in a two-stage process. By collecting and analyzing experimental data, a mathematic model expressing plasma torch operation was defined. The model was then tested and compared with experimental data. It is shown to be relatively accurate with an average error of about 2.2% in particle temperature and 1.1% in velocity.