Breaking arc characteristics in various power supply frequencies

The movement to the high frequency is strong in communication systems. But semiconductors used in such systems are known to have various problems in high frequency. Therefore an electromechanical switch of supreme RF (radio frequency) characteristics in the insertion loss and isolation is expected. However, in RF range, the arc characteristics generated between electric contacts have not been clarified. In this research, we examine basic characteristics of the breaking arc in high frequency especially the arc duration and the V-I characteristic. According to the results, it turned out that the arc duration becomes shorter and the arc voltage becomes lower as the frequency rises. Therefore, less damage is expected. Further, this experiment was conducted by interrupting the circuit current at its peak value, where arcing duration is shorter than T/4 which is the time of current zero. But after the arc extinction of current zero, reignition occurs over 600 kHz, then arc duration is longer than T/4. The reignition behavior is examined by measuring arc waveform in higher frequency.