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Investigation of unstable motion characteristics of vacuum arc cathode spots between transverse magnetic field contacts
Author(s) -
Pang Xianhai,
Yang Junfei,
Jing Hao,
Xiu Shixin
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
contributions to plasma physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.531
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1521-3986
pISSN - 0863-1042
DOI - 10.1002/ctpp.201900086
Subject(s) - cathode , vacuum arc , materials science , cold cathode , electron , electric arc , arc (geometry) , vacuum chamber , current (fluid) , magnetic field , transverse plane , hot cathode , diffusion , atomic physics , optics , electrode , physics , electrical engineering , composite material , nuclear physics , geometry , mathematics , structural engineering , quantum mechanics , engineering , thermodynamics
With the improvement of the current level of power grids, the requirements of the opening level of the vacuum switches are also increasing. Vacuum arc cathode spots provide steam and electrons and, to a certain extent, determine the opening capacity of the vacuum switch. In this paper, a vacuum arc cathode spot research platform based on the de‐mountable vacuum chamber is constructed. The characteristics of the vacuum arc cathode spots under the transverse magnetic field (TMF) contacts are assessed by a high‐speed charge coupled device. The experimental results show that the cathode spot diffusion process can be divided into three processes through cathode spot distribution, arc voltage and current: initial diffusion stage of cathode spots, unstable motion stage of cathode spots, and extinguishing stage. The motion mode of cathode spots during unstable motion stage can be divided into cathode spots group stagnation (CSGS) to multi‐cathode jet (MCJ) switch mode, cathode spots group motion (CSGM) to MCJ switch mode, CSGM mode, and MCJ mode. The effects of peak current and contact diameter on unstable motion mode were analysed.