Measurements of the Temperature of Plasmas in MHD Ducts and Combustion Chambers by Recording Absolute Spectral Line Intensities

This work has been carried out under a collaboration agreement between the Institute of Nuclear Research, Swierk, Poland, and CEN de Saclay, France. The author discusses the theory of measuring the temperature of plasmas in combustion chambers and MHD ducts by recording the absolute intensities (AI) of spectral lines. The accuracy of the method and its suitability for measuring the temperature of plasmas in MHD ducts is analysed. The paper describes the experimental set-up, which consists of a combustion chamber and an MHD duct, and presents a schematic diagram for temperature measurements by the absolute line intensity method. The paper also describes how the accuracy of the method is checked by determining the normalized coefficient of emission of the recorded Na15890 Å and Na1 5896 Å line values. A schematic diagram is also given for measuring the surface temperature of electrodes in an MHD duct through the plasma by means of an optical pyrometer. The author presents the results of plasma temperature measurements made by the absolute line intensity method and the results of electrode surface temperature measurements for different regimes of combustion chamber operation. (author)