Abstract:
Summary. A theoretical and experimental investigation is made of the heating of air by means of a 'dark' or 'Townsend' discharge, the intended application being the heating of the working fluid of a hypersonic intermittent wind tunnel. Results are presented of experiments at atmospheric pressure designed to determine the efficiency of energy conversion and to test the validity of the theoretical assumptions. The theory is used to predict the performance of a small 'pilot model' heater working at 15 atmospheres pressure.
