RF inductor power losses of ferrite-free electrode-less low pressure mercury inductively-coupled discharges excited in closed-loop dielectric tube were studied. The modelling was made within the framework of low pressure inductive discharge transformer model for discharge lamps with tubes of 16, 25 and 38 mm inner diam. filled with the mixture of mercury vapour (7.5×10–3 mm Hg) and argon (0.1, 0.3 and 1.0 mm Hg) at RF frequencies of 1, 7; 3.4 and 5.1 MHz and plasma power of (25–500) W. Discharges were excited with the help of the induction coil of 3, 4 and 6 turns placed along the inner perimeter of the closed-loop tube. It was found that the dependence of coil power losses, Pcoil, on the discharge plasma power, Ppl, had the minimum while Pcoil decreased with RF frequency, tube diameter and coil number of turns. The modelling results were found in good qualitative agreement with the experimental data; quantitative discrepancies are believed to be due skin-effect and RF electric field radial inhomogeneity that were not included in discharge modelling.
