Elimination of current concentration due to Hall effect by variable resistive electrodes
Abstract
This paper deals with a theoretical investigation on elimination of current distortion caused by the Hall effect in Faraday-type MHD power generators. Taking as an example an MHD generator with a pair of electrodes opposed and applying the conformal transformation technique to the generator channel, it is shown that the excessive current concentration at the electrode edges due to the Hall effect can be completely eliminated by adopting suitably variable resistive electrodes and that the current distribution in the generator channel is not influenced by the Hall effect. This method is based on the principle that the induced Hall field is exactly compensated by the potential gradient produced by the current flow in the resistive electrodes. The internal resistance of the generator is also calculated, and it is found that when the Hall parameter is large, the internal resistance is not so different from that of the generator with perfectly conductive electrodes. This method is also applicable to generators with a different configuration.
- Publication:
-
Plasma Physics
- Pub Date:
- August 1977
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0032-1028/19/8/007
- Bibcode:
- 1977PlPh...19..777N
- Keywords:
-
- Current Density;
- Electrical Resistance;
- Hall Effect;
- Magnetohydrodynamic Generators;
- Plasma Electrodes;
- Conformal Mapping;
- Current Distribution;
- Electric Current;
- Plasma Physics