Design, construction, and testing of an exploding wire pulsed plasma system for generating shock waves in industrial applications

Abstract

Exploding Wire Pulsed Plasma System (EWPPS) used in oil recovery operations has been construct and developed with an initial energy release of 1.5 kJ in a fusion laboratory. Recently, the final experiments have been carried out on the purpose device operating in microsecond time scale in air and fluid medium successfully. In this setup, a single wire feeder is used for tests. Also, to study and develop the shock waves caused by wire explosions in the industry, the diagnostic tools of voltage probe, current coil, pressure probe and photodiode have been used. Choosing the optimal material of wire is one of the basic factors in creating a suitable shock wave. In addition, the impact of wire inductance on discharge current, voltage, pressure and shock wave strength has been investigated by applying two sets of wires, refractory (Cu, Cu-Ni, and Steel) and non-refractory (W, W-Al, Mo). The results show that the strongest shock wave is produced while the transition from warm wire to dense plasma happens. The soft X-ray intensity of both wire series has been measured using a photodiode BPX-65 (<10 keV). The comparison shows higher X-ray intensity for non-refractory wires than that for refractory wires. In good agreement, the maximum value of the shock wave was 8.7 and 6.6 MPa for non-refractory metals with high inductance and refractory metals with low inductance, respectively.