Diagnostics of the Cathode Sheath Expansion After Current Zero in a Vacuum Circuit Breaker

Author

Schneider, Anton V. ; Popov, Sergey A. ; Batrakov, Alexander V. ; Sandolache, Gabriela ; Rowe, Stephen William

Author_Institution

Inst. of High Current Electron., Russian Acad. of Sci., Tomsk, Russia

Volume

39

Issue

6

fYear

2011

fDate

6/1/2011 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1349

Lastpage

1353

Abstract

Langmuir probes operating in the electron saturation current mode were used to detect the time of the arrival of the cathode sheath at the probe position. The probe current was measured just before and after current zero (CZ) followed the transient recovery voltage in a gap with copper electrodes. Probe measurements were accompanied with the detection of the postarc currents. Basic plasma parameters such as electron temperature and density were measured in the vicinity of the arcing gap. The data set allowed us to reconstruct the sheath dynamics after CZ.

Keywords

Langmuir probes; cathodes; copper; electric current measurement; plasma density; plasma sheaths; plasma temperature; transients; vacuum arcs; vacuum circuit breakers; Langmuir probes; cathode sheath expansion diagnostics; copper electrode; current zero; electron saturation current mode; plasma parameter measurement; post-arc current detection; probe current; probe measurement; time of arrival detection; transient recovery voltage; vacuum circuit breaker; Cathodes; Current measurement; Plasma density; Plasma measurements; Probes; Temperature measurement; Electric breakdown; plasma sheaths; vacuum arc; vacuum circuit breaker (VCB);

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2011.2134849

Filename

5762635