Research on the effect of electric field in arc separating process

In low-voltage apparatus, characteristics of the arc motion can be influenced by magnetic field, gas flowing, electrical field etc. Many studies have been done to investigate effect of magnetic and gas flow force to the arc movement. In this paper, a 2D MHD model is established to analyze arc separating process across the splitter plates. High resistance electrode is introduced to simulate voltage gradient between splitter plates because of voltage drop effect. Distributions of temperature and electric field intensity are analyzed in parallel electrodes model. Based on optimization of electric field, a gradually closing electrodes structure is designed and the corresponding simulation model is calculated. The results of simulation and experiment are consistent.