A new geometry of the powder port ring holder used in atmospheric plasma spraying has recently been designed to avoid lump formation, and successfully tested for a set of process parameters associated with Ni-5Al powder used in production to form bond coat [1]. But with ZrO 2 powder used to made top coat, improvements were not enough satisfactory. Here, we investigate numerically the cause of the remaining defects, and further improve the ring geometry to prevent lump from forming in any part of the coating.