Design of an Optimized Graphite Electrode Cooling System by using Numerical Simulations

Abstract— The article deals with the design of optimization of graphite electrode cooling in a plasma reactor. By means of experimentally obtained data during the operation of the plasma reactor, it analyzes the current state of electrode cooling. Based on the measured temperatures at the inlet and outlet of the reactor and on the basis of the calculated flow rate of the cooling medium, it proposes a suitable solution for the optimization of the cooling system in the plasma reactor providing the necessary cooling power by analytical calculations with the use of software support. The proposed solution works on the principle of a water-air type heat exchanger. The verification of this proposal is carried out by numerical simulations using the Ansys CFX software.