The High Current Metal Vapor Arc Column between Separating Electrodes

Heberlein, J.; Gorman, J.G.

doi:10.1109/tps.1980.4317328

Cited by 133 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…1) indicates that, a t certain currents, increasing the gap length changes the arc mode from a severe erosion intense arc mode to the much less erosive footpoint mode or even a low current mode. The arc column work of HEBERLEIN and GORMAN [23] agrees with this, since they observed that, a t currents of 7 to 20 kA, increasing the gap length changed the arc mode from a diffuse column or constricted column to a diffuse arc.…”

Section: 4 I N T E N S E Arc Modesupporting

confidence: 60%

“…YOKOVAMA and KASHITANI had a strong anode jet present in their multiple anode spot mode with a large arc noise [14]. I n contrast, HEBERLEM and GORMAN [23] found that, when an anode jet formed, the arc voltage trace became smooth and was usually lower than when no anode spot was present. The probable explanation of these different conclusions lies in an observation of Box-MAN that the appearance of an anode jet had little effect upon the arc voltage (mean value or noise component) unless the anode jet either struck the cathode or met a cathode jet [39].…”

Section: Drouetmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Review of Anode Phenomena in Vacuum Arcs

Miller

1989

Contrib. Plasma Phys.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper discusses arc modes at the anode, experimental results pertinent t o anode phenomena, and theoretical explanations of anode phenomena.A vacuum arc can exhibit five anode discharge modes: (1) a low current mode in which the anode is basically passive, acting only as a collector of particles emitted from the cathode; (2) a second low current mode that can occur if the electrode material is readily sputtered (a flux of sputtered atoms will be emitted by the anode); (3) a footpoint mode, characterized by the appearance of one or more small luminous spota on the anode (footpoints are generally much cooler than the true anode spota present in the last two modes); (4) an anode spot mode in which one large or several small anode spots are present (such spots are very luminous, have a temperature near the atmospheric boiling point of the anode material, and are a copious source of vapor and ions); and ( 5 ) an intense arc mode where an anode spot is present, but accompanied by severe cathode erosion.The arc voltage is relatively low and quiet in the two low current. modes and the intense arc mode. It is usunlly high and noisy in the footpoint mode, and it can be either in the anode spot mode. Anode erosion is low, indeed negative, in the two low current modes, and it is low to moderate in thc footpoint mode. Severe anode erosion occurs in both the anode spot and intense arc modes.The dominant mechanism controlling the formation of an anode spot appears to depend upon the electrode geometry, the electrode material, and the current waveform of the particular vacuum i i rc being considered. I n specific experimental conditions, either magnetic constriction in the gap plasma, or gross anode melting, or local snode evaporation can trigger the transition. However, the most probable explanation of anode spot formation is a combination theory, which considers magnetic constriction in the plasma together with the fluxes of material from the anode and cathode as well as the thermal, electricnl, and geometric effects of the anode in analyzing the behavior of the anode and the nearby plasmn.

show abstract

Section: 4 I N T E N S E Arc Modesupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Drouetmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of Anode Phenomena in Vacuum Arcs

Miller

1989

Contrib. Plasma Phys.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…(3) A pronounced wedge instability [2] occurs in the column. As the column starts to break up, cathode spots appear on the shield in the adjacent region, as in Fig.…”

Section: Fixed Shield and Contact As The Cathode (Ip 26 Ka)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introducticlnmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vacuum arcs can assume a variety of modes in VIS. For spiral contacts, in order of increasing current, these modes are the fully diffuse arc, diffuse column, constricted column, or (if both arc roots are molten) jet column [ 2 ] .A VI typically has a cylindrical metal arc shield which surrounds the contact gap. In some designs, this shield is electrically isolated from both electrodes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The motion of vacuum arcs between spiral contacts with a fixed-polarity arc shield [in vacuum interrupters]

Schulman

Proceedings ISDEIV. 18th International Symposium on Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum (Cat. No.98CH36073)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A framing camera was used to study drawn vacuum arcs between spiral-type contacts. This design imposes a transverse (radially directed) magnetic field on the arc column. Vie fixed electrode was brazed to a cylindrical arc shield. With the fwed electrode and shield as cathode, cathode spots were observed to be produced on the shield by two mechanisms. One of these occurred only for the intense columnar arc modes which had active erosion at both the anode and cathode arc roots (IARc > -25 kA peak). In this range, the arc column interacted with the shield for brief intervals as it was driven along the edge of the contacts. With the fwed electrode and shield as anode, there was less interaction of the arc column with the shield. In this case, there was no formation of an anodic arc root on the shield at least up to -38 kA peak. INTRODUCTIClNIn vacuum interrupters (VIS) for breaking ac currents above several kilosunperes rms, a transverse or axial magnetic field is imposed in the contact gap to control the vacuum arc and promote its transition to the diffuse mode as the current goes to zero. An overview of transverse and axial magnetic field contacts for VIS is given in 1:1]. Vacuum arcs can assume a variety of modes in VIS. For spiral contacts, in order of increasing current, these modes are the fully diffuse arc, diffuse column, constricted column, or (if both arc roots are molten) jet column [ 2 ] .A VI typically has a cylindrical metal arc shield which surrounds the contact gap. In some designs, this shield is electrically isolated from both electrodes. Alternatively, it can be connected to one electrode -usually to the fixed electrode through an endplate. In past studies, a vacuum chamber apparatus and a high-speed camera were used to determine arc appearance diagrams for spiral contacts of diameter I$ = 62 nim, using isolated arc shields with I$(shield)/I$(contact) equal to 3.4 [3] and 1.3 [4]. 'The present work extends those results to a case in which a Cu-alloy shield wais electrically connected to the fixed electrode through a stainless steel plate. The effects of'the fixed shield on the development of the vacuum arc modes, including the arc motion and the transition to a diffuse arc near current zero, were determined for both polarities as a function of instantaneous arc current I and gap d (up to -38 kA peak with al full contact stroke of 8.3 mm). The arc appearance diagrams were constructed from the arc movies and the curves of I(?), d(?) and V(9. These are compared here to results with a floating shield of the same diameter [4]. Special attention is given to describing the conditions which produced cathode spots on the shield, and how the vacuum arc modes interacted with the shield. EXPERIMENTThe vacuum system ( 1 O-' Pa-1 O4 Pa), the 420-V electrolytic capacitor bank, and the framing camera (7000 framedsec) are described in [3]. The single-polarity current pulse had a 60-Hz half-cycle shape up to 7 ms, followed by a crowbar which forced the current to zero at a somewhat slower rate. Before the high-curre...

show abstract

Study on transition process of vacuum arc under transverse magnetic field

Liu

Xiu

Wang

et al. 2019

Contributions to Plasma Physics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The transverse magnetic field (TMF) drives the vacuum arc to move along the surface of the contacts to prevent the local overheating and melting of the contact surfaces. The arcing process has great influence on the breaking capacity of short‐circuit current. In this paper, the arcing process between three types of TMF contacts was investigated. The transition process of an arc from the ignition stage to the diffusion stage was discussed. The transition moment, transition gap distance, and transition current were obtained. It was found that the axial magnetic field component of TMF contacts affected the arc transition process.

show abstract

The High Current Metal Vapor Arc Column between Separating Electrodes

Cited by 133 publications

References 8 publications

A Review of Anode Phenomena in Vacuum Arcs

A Review of Anode Phenomena in Vacuum Arcs

The motion of vacuum arcs between spiral contacts with a fixed-polarity arc shield [in vacuum interrupters]

Study on transition process of vacuum arc under transverse magnetic field

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About