Conical Pocket Laser Plasma Lamp Thermal Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Plasma lamps face challenges in thermal management due to poor heat distribution from fused silica materials, leading to local hot spots and difficulties in cooling the discharge chamber, especially with the rising convective plume from the plasma.
Innovation Solution
A plasma lamp design featuring a conical pocket in the plasma bulb that disrupts the rising plume, spreading its impact over a larger surface area and reducing thermal transport to the bulb walls, thereby improving thermal management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Illumination intensity
If a plasma lamp uses fused silica material for the plasma bulb, then the bulb is transparent to laser and broadband radiation, but the poor thermal conductivity causes local hot spots and difficult thermal management
Solution Approach 1:
The plasma bulb is segmented into distinct regions: a conical pocket region and an outer bulb region. The conical pocket acts as a separate thermal management zone that disrupts the convective plume before it reaches the outer bulb walls, effectively dividing the thermal pathways and preventing concentrated heat buildup in single locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The conical pocket serves as an intermediary structure between the plasma source and the outer bulb walls. It intercepts and redistributes the convective heat flow, acting as a thermal mediator that prevents direct thermal transport from the plasma to the bulb walls, thereby reducing hot spots while maintaining the fused silica material's optical transparency.
2Ease of manufacture
If the plasma bulb has a simple shape without internal structures, then the manufacturing is easier, but the convective plume creates concentrated hot spots on the upper surface
Solution Approach 1:
The conical pocket introduces a curved geometric feature into the plasma bulb structure. This curved surface disrupts the linear convective flow path of the plume, causing the hot gas to follow the curved contour and spread heat over a larger surface area of the outer bulb, preventing concentrated hot spots while remaining compatible with glass forming processes.
3Device complexity
If the plasma bulb walls are directly exposed to the rising plume, then the structure is simpler, but thermal transport to the walls is excessive and cooling is difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The conical pocket adds a vertical dimension to the thermal management strategy. By creating a downward-sloping conical surface, the design redirects the upward convective plume flow along the conical surface and forces it to spread laterally across the outer bulb surface, effectively converting vertical heat transport into lateral heat distribution, thereby reducing thermal loss to any single wall region.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The conical pocket design effectively reduces convective thermal transport to the bulb walls, lowering operating temperatures and enhancing the safety and efficiency of the plasma lamp by distributing heat more evenly.
Implementation Method 1
A plume originating from the hot plasma in a BBP light source has temperatures of thousands of degrees centigrade. The lower density hot plume rises upwards through the gas, accelerates, and impinges upon the internal surfaces of the lamp.
Implementation Method 2
Laser-sustained BBP light sources operate by focusing laser radiation into a gas volume contained within a gas containment vessel to excite the gas, such as argon or xenon, into a plasma state, which in turn emits broadband light.
Implementation Method 3
focusing laser radiation into a gas volume contained within a gas containment vessel to excite the gas, such as argon or xenon, into a plasma state
Data Source
AI summary
A plasma lamp for use in a broadband plasma source of an inspection tool is disclosed. The plasma lamp includes a plasma bulb configured to contain a gas and generate a plasma within the plasma bulb. The plasma bulb is formed from a material at least partially transparent to illumination from a pump laser and at least a portion of broadband radiation emitted by the plasma. The plasma bulb includes a conical pocket. The conical pocket is configured to disrupt a plume rising from the plasma.