Current instability and chopping with arcs in series

Small inductive currents are normally interrupted before a natural current zero, due to an instability resulting from an interaction between the arc(s) in the circuit breaker and the capacitance in the circuit. In the paper, a circuit is discussed which consists of two or more arcs in series, a capacitance and an inductance, when the parameters are different for the arcs. Analytical methods based on equivalent circuits for the arcs, and computer simulations using dynamic arc equations give instability and chopping currents, and a time-dependent resonant-circuit model is used to demonstrate a well known statistical reduction of these currents.