A Preliminary Investigation of Field-Induced Ion Movement in Flame Gases and Its Applications

The possibility of utilizing (a) the movement of flame ions caused by an applied electro­static field and (b) the forces acting on flame gases due to such ion movement, as means of managing and improving some combustion processes, is being investigated. A discussion of the underlying principles leads to an outline of potential applications. An account is given of preliminary experimental work on two specific examples, namely, the effect of electric fields on heat transfer from flame gases to solid bodies and on carbon deposition from diffusion flames. Increases in heat transfer in the former and changes in magnitude, location and form of deposition in the latter are described and discussed.