Research progress on the seed plasma disk magnetohydrodynamic generator

Abstract

To fully and clearly understand the development status and key research problems of the seed plasma disk magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generator, this study reviews the development process of the seed plasma disk MHD generator. The development of the disk MHD generator has experienced the stages of suppressing the ionization instability of nonequilibrium plasma, revealing the characteristics of stable nonequilibrium plasma based on the concept of seed full ionization, and proving the high performance of the disk MHD generator. At present, there are attempts to use a small area ratio disk MHD generator to obtain a high entropy efficiency at a high enthalpy extraction rate with cesium added inert gas as the working fluid. Moreover, the research progress is described from two aspects of numerical simulation and experimental research, and the key technologies and problems to be solved and the development prospects of the seed plasma disk MHD generator are analysed. It is shown that the future theoretical research still will be focused on the generation and ionization process of nonequilibrium plasma. The key technology in the future is still aimed to obtain high-quality, uniform and stable non-equilibrium plasma. Therefore, in the future, it is expected to become a high-power static power supply with a compact structure and high-power conversion efficiency. Tables 2, Figs 9, Refs 153.