Nitric oxide PLIF measurement in a point-to-plane pulsed discharge in vitiated air of a propane/air flame

Abstract

The effect of a point-to-plane pulsed discharge on the vitiated downstream of a propane/air flame has been investigated by phase-locked NO planar laser-induced-fluorescence (PLIF) measurements. Phase-locked NO PLIF measurements with the variation of pulsed plasma energy, equivalence ratio and applied voltage rise time have been performed. Fast rise time (25 ns) and slower rise time (150 ns) high-voltage pulsers are used to produce NO radical densities greater than the ambient flame-produced NO radicals in lean, balanced and rich premixed flames. The pulsed plasma produced excess NO radical densities were found to decay to 50% level with time constants greater than 250 µs in the burnt gas regions with gas temperatures greater than 1000 K. The super-equilibrium NO populations were dependent on energy deposited and overall equivalence ratio, but independent of voltage pulse rise time for similar energy deposition per pulse. Due to long NO radical density decay lifetimes, super-equilibrium NO populations are convected away from production regions with the ambient flow and observed in downstream exhaust gas regions.