Interruption of Capacitance Charging Currents in Sulfur Hexafluoride [includes discussion]

Experimental studies have shown the manner in which a plain-break arc gap in sulfur hexafluoride gas (SF6) recovers dielectric strength after arc disappearance. The indicated effects of gas pressure and gap length on this recovery have been expressed by an approximate equation. Dielectric recovery in the millisecond time range seems to be the result of cooling rather than deionization. By straightforward methods, a limit relation for restrike-free performance of a plain-break capacitor switch employing SF6 has been obtained. Actual performance data show this relation to be useful for the design of devices which are ideally suited for capacitance switching.