The present invention relates to a
plasmatron structure for heating working gas in a DC arc
discharge at the atmospheric or lowered pressures and can be used for different electronic,
engineering, or vehicle-building industries and for
medicine. An object of the invention is to provide improved effectiveness of process gas activation and increased completeness of
plasma-chemical reactions. These objects are achieved in a DC arc
plasmatron comprising a rod
cathode, a
nozzle anode having a body member and a through axial orifice, a
power supply unit connected to both electrodes, and a gas
system for feeding
plasma-
forming gas into inter-
electrode space and supplying suitably selected technologic gas or gas mixture into the
anode orifice through an internal opening communicating with said orifice and positioned between its inlet and outlet parts. In the
plasmatron according to the invention, said opening is configured as a continuous circular axial gap between said parts of said
anode orifice, while the size of said gap can be smaller or larger than the
diameter of the inlet part of said anode orifice and the
diameter of the outlet part of said anode orifice can also be smaller or larger than the inlet part of said anode orifice. In addition the inventive plasmatron can be successfully applied in vacuum conditions to extend lifetime of the activated process gas and to provide the clean
treatment procedure.