Patent ID: 9630142
Date: 2017-04-25
CPC Classifications: B01D,H01J,H05H,Y02C

Claim:
1. An apparatus for abatement of gases, the apparatus comprising: a toroidal plasma chamber having a first gas inlet receiving an inert gas for ignition into a plasma, a second gas inlet receiving a gas to be abated, a gas outlet, and at least one chamber wall for containing the gases; one or more magnetic cores disposed relative to the toroidal plasma chamber such that the toroidal plasma chamber passes through each of the one or more magnetic cores; and a primary winding coupled to the one or more magnetic cores; and an RF power supply coupled to the primary winding for delivering power to a toroidal plasma, the toroidal plasma chamber confining the toroidal plasma along a plane extending through the toroidal plasma chamber, wherein the second gas inlet is positioned between the first gas inlet and the gas outlet at a distance d from the gas outlet along the plane such that a first toroidal plasma channel volume between the first gas inlet and the second gas inlet in the toroidal plasma chamber is substantially filled by the inert gas and a second toroidal plasma channel volume between the second gas inlet and the gas outlet is substantially filled with the gas to be abated, the distance d based on a desired residence time of the gas to be abated, wherein the RF power supply is configured to deliver a constant plasma current through the first plasma channel volume and the second plasma channel volume, wherein the second gas inlet is oriented at an acute angle to the plane, and wherein the distance d is approximately 2 to 5 inches.