The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 11, 1979
Filed:
Apr. 12, 1978
Raymond W Conrad, Russellville, AL (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
Disclosed is a method and device for the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen ilizing the very high temperature and rapid quenching rates of plasmas produced by the focused beam of a repetitively-pulsed, high energy laser. The irradiance at the focal point of a mirror employed in the nitrogen fixation reaction chamber exceeds that required for plasma production in clear air, namely: 10.sup.9 watts/cm.sup.2 at 10.6 micrometers; consequently, a plasma is produced every time the laser pulses. The laser pulse length being short causes rapid quenching of the plasma thereby preventing decomposition of the nitric oxide formed from a mixture of nitrogen and oxygen introduced at an elevated pressure through an inlet to the nitrogen fixation reaction chamber. The reaction gas mixture containing the nitric oxide is extracted from the reaction chamber through an outlet means. The nitric oxide is subsequently removed by scrubbing with water, or by other extraction techniques well established in the art.