Self starting plasma plume igniter for aircraft jet engine

摘要

A microwave driven self-starting plasma plume igniter for aircraft gas turbine engines. In the preferred embodiment, microwave energy is generated by a magnetron and transmitted through a waveguide and coaxial transmission line. The coaxial transmission line terminates with a corner at the end of the inner conductor being opposed to a corner on the outer conductor, creating a region where the electromagnetic stress will be concentrated, and a self-starting plasma will be created. Air flow through the coaxial transmission line blows the plasma plume out of the end of the coaxial transmission line. In the preferred embodiment, The outer conductor of the coaxial transmission line terminates in a cap with a central hole and the inner conductor terminates even with or slightly behind the inner wall of the outer conductor cap. The corner on the end of the inner conductor is thus opposed to the interior corner on the outer conductor formed by the hole through the cap.