Effect of initial opening speed on the behavior of vacuum arcs driven by transverse magnetic fields (TMF)

Author

Feng Dingyu ; Xiu Shixin ; Liu Gang ; Zheng Jiahuan ; Gan Yu´an

Author_Institution

State Key Lab. of Electr. Insulation & Power Equip., Xi´an Jiaotong Univ., Xi´an, China

fYear

2014

fDate

Sept. 28 2014-Oct. 3 2014

Firstpage

169

Lastpage

172

Abstract

Transverse magnetic field (TMF) can force the arc to move circularly on the contacts thus avoid severe local overheating. In this paper, an experimental system was established to study the effect of initial opening speed characteristics on vacuum arc with two different TMF contact structures. Cup-shaped and Wan-type CuCr contacts with the same diameter of 30mm were investigated in a demountable vacuum chamber. Short-circuit currents were provided by a single-frequency oscillation circuit. By using a high-speed charge coupled device (CCD) video camera, the appearance of vacuum arcs was observed and investigated regarding different initial opening speeds. The results were analyzed by 3D finite element analysis. It was showed that with the increase of arc currents, the acceleration of opening speed will shorten the duration of transition arc mode and promote vacuum arc to go diffuse.

Keywords

charge-coupled devices; chromium alloys; copper alloys; electrical contacts; finite element analysis; magnetic fields; short-circuit currents; vacuum arcs; 3D finite element analysis; CCD video camera; CuCr; TMF contact structure; Wan-type contact; arc current; cup-shaped contact; demountable vacuum chamber; high-speed charge coupled device; initial opening speed characteristic; overheating; short-circuit current; single-frequency oscillation circuit; transverse magnetic field; vacuum arc; Acceleration; Cathodes; Contacts; Insulation; Magnetic fields; Metals; Vacuum arcs;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Discharges and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum (ISDEIV), 2014 International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Mumbai

Print_ISBN

978-1-4799-6750-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/DEIV.2014.6961646

Filename

6961646