Self-extraction of negatively charged carriers from anodic vacuumarcs

Measurement and magnetic analysis of self-extracted negatively charged carriers (NCCs) from anodic vacuum arcs are presented. They flow to charge collectors made of stainless steel, which are electrically connected to a cathode. When a 60-Hz sinusoidal arc current of 40 kA is burned on 20-mm-diameter copper electrodes spaced 4 mm apart, a negative current of approximately 900 A flows to a cylindrical collector surrounding the arc. The floating collector potential relative to the cathode is measured, and the mean energy of the NCCs is estimated to be greater than 40 eV. It is difficult for the NCCs to flow from anodic vacuum arcs when an anode is made of zinc or cadmium, the atoms of which have electron affinities of less than 0 eV. A magnetic filter of about 500 G, which is placed between the arc and a 30-mm-diameter circular collector, does not affect the NCC's flow from a 4-kA arc burned on copper electrodes. It is possible to extract a large amount of negative copper ions from the anodic copper vacuum arcs     

真空弧放电TiH合金阴极表面形貌分析

TiH合金电极是一种含氢量非常高的金属材料,用它作真空弧离子源的电极,可在真空环境下产生强度非常高的氢离子流。相比纯金属材料电极,TiH电极除了出现真空弧放电特有的融蚀现象外,还存在气体释放过程,所以它的表面形貌具有一定的独特性。利用扫描电子显微镜观察了单次放电和多次放电后阴极表面形貌,发现阴极斑在阴极表面微裂纹附近连续分布,气体释放生成很多小孔,使阴极斑区域呈絮状结构;弧流越大,阴极斑数量越多;多次放电后,阴极斑朝含氢量多的地方移动。该结果有助于了解含氢电极的真空弧放电过程,对该类放电的应用具有一定参考意义。     

The Investigation of Copper-Chromium Contacts in Vacuum Interrpters Subjected to an Axial Magnetic Field

The characteristics of a vacuum arc between CuCr contacts under an axial magnetic field have been investigated. Test samples were made of CuCr contacts, and the arcing voltage was measured. The arcing voltage of the CuCr contacts under an axial magnetic field is lower than that of pure copper contacts by 10-20 V. From the measurement of the post-arc current and interruption test results, it was found that the arc concentrates and a part of the electrode melts at a rather low current, but that the electrode melting does not affect the interrupting capability. Also, the insulation characteristics were measured. With respect to voltage conditioning, high-current conditioning improved the breakdown voltage by 50 percent for a 20-mm gap and by 100 percent for a 3-mm gap. These test results show that CuCr contacts, used with axial magnetic fields, are promising for use in high-voltage and high-power vacuum interrupters.     

Pulsed dye laser diagnostics of vacuum arc cathode spots

The ignition and arc phases of vacuum arcs were investigated using differential dye laser absorption photography with simultaneous high spatial (micrometer) and temporal (nanosecond) resolution. The discharge duration was 800 ns, the current 50-150 A, the electrode material copper, and the cathode-anode distance less than 50 μm. A 0.4 ns laser pulse (tunable, γ=480-530 nm) was used to obtain momentary absorption photographs of the cathode region. During ignition, an optically thick anode plasma expanded toward the cathode, decaying within 25 ns after bridging the electrode gap. In the arc phase, a fragmentary structure of the cathode spots was observed in situ for the first time. The microspots have a characteristic size of 5-10 μm. They appear and disappear on a nanosecond time scale. The plasma density of the microspots was estimated to be greater than (3-6)×10²⁶ m^-3     

真空电弧等离子体发射光谱诊断

真空断路器的开断容量限制其在高压大电流开断领域的应用,获取燃弧过程中的等离子体参数对于提高真空断路器的开断容量至关重要。利用发射光谱法对真空电弧内的等离子体参数进行了诊断,研究了在不同电流幅值条件下真空电弧内电子温度、电子密度、谱线强度的轴向分布规律,结合真空电弧高速图片对真空电弧内不同粒子的扩散过程与弧柱直径之间的关系进行了分析。得到的电子温度在8000～10 000 K量级,电子密度在1019～1020 m?3量级,电子温度与电子密度从阴极向阳极逐渐下降,同时铜原子谱线强度主要集中在两极而一价铜离子谱线强度由阴极向阳极逐渐升高。铜原子谱线强度的径向分布呈现类平顶波分布、一价铜离子谱线强度的径向分布呈现类高斯分布的特点,且铜原子的谱线范围略大于弧柱直径,一价铜离子的谱线范围略小于弧柱直径,两种粒子的扩散速度存在差异。     

用于真空弧等离子体放电阴极温度场测量的多光谱高温计

阴极表面温度是真空弧等离子体放电过程中一个重要参数,对真空弧等离子体的形成、电极腐蚀预测、热传导以及离子源的寿命都有重要影响。真空弧离子源的阴极具有目标小,放电过程快等特点,其温度的测量,对于时间分辨率和空间分辨率要求都很高,阴极表面温度的测量技术的欠缺,使得仅靠理论解析获得的结果难以得到验证。并且等离子体放电过程中测量仪器极易受到弧光的影响,如何避免放电过程中等离子体的辐射也是采用辐射法测量阴极表面温度要考虑的问题。这无疑给其温度场的测试研究带来困难。针对脉冲真空弧等离子体开展阴极表面温度测试实验有着重要意义,在分析了真空弧等离子体放电特性以及背景辐射特性和等离子体放电阴极测温的实际需求,本文基于高速CCD相机研制了一种新型的多光谱高温计。该高温计采用单色高速CCD相机,主要避免RGB彩色相机不能完全滤除背景辐射的弧光。为使用单色CCD相机实现多光谱辐射测温,设计了高温计的光学系统,该系统采用4孔径分光系统。将4种不同波长的滤光片嵌入到1个滤光片中。该研究设计的高温计可用于2 000~6 000 K的等离子体温度测量。并在中国工程物理研究院电子工程研究所进行现场测试,测试过程中将研制的高温计,通过外部触发形式对等离子体放电过程进行跟踪拍摄,高温计完全拍摄到等离子体放电过程。利用真空弧等离子体金属电极阴极放电的实测数据对高温计进行了验证。实验结果表明,设计的新型多光谱高温计能够用于测量真空弧等离子体放电时阴极温度场信息,测量的温度值低于放电电极的沸点温度,与等离子体放电过程中出现气化现象相符,说明高温计测的是等离子体放电阴极的温度。     

Temperature Dependence of Retrograde Velocity of Vacuum Arcs in Magnetic Fields

Retrograde velocity of vacuum arcs in transverse magnetic fields is known to depend on, among other things, the magnetic induction, the arc current, the electrode spacing, the cathode material, and the cathode surface condition, and was also found to depend on the cathode temperature. Using the optical method, the retrograde velocity was measured as a function of the cathode temperature with copper, aluminum, and stainless steel as cathode materials. The optical measurement shows that by increasing the cathode temperature, the arc velocity decreases. It appears that with the increase in the cathode temperature, the decrease of the arc velocity is related to the increase of the cathode crater radius. The experimentally measured temperature dependence of the retrograde velocity of vacuum arcs can be explained by the ion jet model for retrograde motion of vacuum arcs [10]. The relative decrease of retrograde velocity as a function of the cathode temperature calculated according to this model agrees quantitatively with the reported measurements.     

Experimental observations of steady anodic vacuum arcs withthermionic cathodes

Stationary plasma discharges have been investigated in a high vacuum ambient (background gas pressure <10^-2 Pa), with an externally heated cathode and a consumable hot evaporating anode. With various anode materials like chromium or copper, and electrode separations between 0.5 and 3 mm, the nonself-sustained discharge operates with DC arc currents in the range of 220 A. The waveform of the arc voltage is strongly influenced by the magnetic field of the cathode heating current, and arc voltages between a minimum of 3 V and a maximum exceeding 100 V have been observed. The voltage-current characteristics (V_CC) and the influence of the electrode separation have been measured separately for the minimum and the maximum of the arc voltages and show a different behavior. The metal plasma expands into the ambient vacuum toward the walls of the vacuum vessel and offers a macroparticle free deposition source of thin films. The arc voltage can be varied by external manipulations of the arc discharge, and the mean ion energy of the expanding metal plasma shows a linear dependence of the mean arc voltage     

大脉冲电流下钨铜电极水和空气中的烧蚀特性

针对水中、空气中脉冲放电条件下金属电极烧蚀速率及烧蚀机理差异,对脉冲大电流作用下水中、空气中钨铜电极的烧蚀特性进行了对比研究。在保证放电电流波形一致性的前提下,通过采用高精度天平测量并获取了水中、空气中钨铜电极的阴、阳极烧蚀速率及总烧蚀速率,并对电极表面进行了二次电子观察和背散射电子观察分析。结果表明,大脉冲电流作用下,水中钨铜电极烧蚀较空气中更为严重,钨铜电极的烧蚀主要是金属蒸发引起的汽相侵蚀。由于水介质较空气具有不可压缩性,水中放电电弧集中,电极表面电弧斑点处电流密度和电流作用时间较空气中更为严重,同时由于水中脉冲放电时发生的高温物理化学反应,是造成水中电极烧蚀要高于空气中的根本原因。     

Charge state and residence time of metal ions generated from amicrosecond vacuum arc

Metal ions generated from a microsecond vacuum arc were measured using a time-of-flight (TOF) method. A point-plane vacuum gap was fired by an impulse voltage to generate metal ions. The risetime and time constant for the decay of the arc current were 0.1 and 4.5 μs, respectively. TOF ion currents were measured for variable ion extraction times after the arc ignition. At a lead cathode, Pb⁺ and Pb ⁺⁺ ions were detected for ion extraction times less than 45 μs. The average charge-state fractions of the Pb⁺ and Pb ⁺⁺ ions were 91 and 9%, respectively. At a copper cathode, Cu ⁺, Cu⁺⁺, and Cu⁺⁺⁺ ions were detected for ion-extraction times less than 12.5 μs, and the average charge-state fractions were 42, 41, and 17%, respectively. The residence times of the generated lead and copper ions were also discussed     

Reignitions in short vacuum gaps after interruption ofhigh-frequency currents caused by ion bombardment

The internal energy increase of the cathode material during the post arc period as a result of the high electrical field at the cathode surface and the highly energetic ions existing in the vacuum gap is studied in this paper by solving the conservation equations of mass, momentum, and energy together, with the equation of state of electrode material in the cathode region. Solving the heat conduction equation in the cathode region, the temperature distribution of the cathode material is determined. The results for copper indicate that a breakdown can occur at the cathode surface some 100 ns after current zero depending on the form of the cathode surface inhomogeneities, the steepness of the transient recovery voltage, and the initial plasma distribution in the vacuum gap. These results are in accordance with experimental measurements     

同轴电极结构下真空放电等离子体生成及传播特性

采用放电电流为100~300 A、持续时间为13 s的单脉冲电源,设计了两种同轴电极结构作为放电阳极,分别为筒状电极、喷嘴状电极。利用MAXWELL 3D电场仿真软件对两种电极结构下的电场分布进行了仿真分析,并采用探针法对放电生成的等离子体的参数进行了测量,分析讨论了同轴电极结构对真空放电等离子体生成特性的影响。选取喷嘴状电极结构作为阳极,分别测量了采用铅、铝、铜三种材质的阴极时生成的等离子体的扩散速度及能量。实验与仿真结果表明:当阳极为喷嘴状电极时阴极尖端的电场强度较大,测得放电电流较大,击穿电压较低,等离子体密度也较大;采用铝材质阴极时生成的等离子体扩散速度最快,采用铅材质阴极时生成的等离子体的离子动能最大。     

The computer simulation of the vacuum arc emission center

The paper presents a two dimensional (2-D) hydrodynamic model of vacuum arc emission center-“ecton”-which is an outgrowth of the one-dimensional problem that we have solved earlier. The numerical simulation was carried out for the initial stage of the operation of the cathode spot of a low-current vacuum arc on a copper cathode. It has been shown that, in terms of this model, the current flows in the main through the edges of the cathode spot. Based on a these data, a mechanism for the motion of a cathode spot has been proposed     

纵磁作用下真空电弧单阴极斑点等离子体射流三维混合模拟

真空电弧的特性直接受到从阴极斑点喷射出的等离子体射流的影响,对等离子体射流进行数值仿真有助于我们深入了解真空电弧的内部物理机制.然而,磁流体动力学和粒子云网格仿真方法受限于计算精度和计算效率的原因,无法有效地应用于真空电弧等离子体射流仿真模拟.本文开发了一套三维等离子体混合模拟算法,并在此基础上建立了真空电弧单阴极斑点射流仿真模型,模型中将离子作宏粒子考虑,而电子作无质量流体处理,仿真计算了自生电磁场与外施纵向磁场作用下等离子体的分布运动状态.仿真结果表明,单个阴极斑点情况下真空等离子体射流在离开阴极斑点后扩散至极板间,其整体几何形状为圆锥形,离子密度从阴极到阳极快速下降.外施纵向磁场会压缩等离子体,使得等离子体射流径向的扩散减少并且轴线上的离子密度升高.随着外施纵向磁场的增大,其对等离子体射流的压缩效应增强,表现为等离子体射流的扩散角度逐渐减小.此外,外施纵向磁场对等离子体射流的影响也受到电弧电流大小的影响,压缩效应随电弧电流的增加而逐渐减弱.     

含氢电极真空弧放电等离子体时空分布特性研究

真空弧离子源在真空镀膜、材料表面改性、真空大电流开关、加速器离子注入等领域有广泛应用,目前国内外对真空弧放电等离子体的研究主要针对纯金属或合金电极,对含氢电极的研究和公开报道较少.本文利用高时空分辨的四分幅图像诊断系统,结合氢和钛原子特征线单色器件,研究了含氢钛电极的真空弧微秒级脉冲放电等离子体的轴向和径向时空分布特性.研究表明:在真空击穿阶段,阳极区域发光更为明显,阳极电极解吸附释放的氢原子是引发击穿的主要放电介质;在真空弧阶段,阴极-绝缘-真空三结合点处产生圆锥状阴极斑,喷射出大量的等离子体以维持弧放电,同时电极内壁非阴极斑区域也有少量等离子体产生,等离子体中H原子的轴向和径向空间分布均比Ti原子均匀.     

Vacuum arc cathode spot grouping and motion in magnetic fields

Two of the important vacuum arc phenomena observed when the arc runs in a transverse magnetic field are cathode spot grouping and the cathode spot retrograde motion, i.e., in the anti-Amperian direction. This paper summarizes the main experimental observations and proposes a physical model for spot grouping and spot retrograde motion. The proposed spot motion model take in account the previous theoretical model of the cathode thermal regime and the plasma flow near the cathode surface that is based on two conditions: i) the heat loss in the cathode bulk is relatively small to the heat influx, and ii) the plasma flow in the Knudsen layer is impeded. In the present model, the current per group spot is calculated by assuming that the plasma kinetic pressure is comparable to the self-magnetic pressure in the acceleration region of cathode plasma jet. The model includes equations for the current per spot group, spot velocity dependence on the magnetic field and on the arc current in vacuum, as well as in gas filled arc gap. The calculated currents per spot group and spot velocity increase linearly with the magnetic field and arc current, and this dependencies well agree with previous observations. The cathode spot retrograde motion in short electrode gaps and at atmospheric pressure arcs, and the reversal motion in strong magnetic fields (>1 T) observed by Robson and Engel are discussed. The details of the retrograde motion observed in the last decades including the spot velocity dependence on the electrode gap, roughness, temperature, and material could be understood in the frame of the proposed model.     

Ion current collected at various distances and argon backgroundpressures in a copper vacuum arc

The ion current collected by a probe biased at the cathode potential and located behind an annular anode of a vacuum arc is measured as a function of distance to the cathode and background argon pressure. The arc is formed between a circular Cu cathode and an annular anode. Arc current is 170 A, and the arc duration is 0.9 s. The arc is ignited by momentary contact of a movable W trigger rod (held at anode potential) with the cathode. Arc voltage, arc current, and ion current are measured using an analog data acquisition card and a personal computer. Arc voltage and arc current values are stable during the arc and their normalized standard deviation is less than 0.07. Ion current is noisy and fluctuates during the arc with a normalized standard deviation that varies from 0.5 at p<0.1 torr up to more than 1.5 at p>1 torr     

The Time-Resolved Characterization of Erosion Products from High-Current, Copper Vacuum Arcs

A vacuum arc at high enough current can produce gross melting on electrode surfaces as a consequence of anode spot formation and other high-current electrode phenomena. Erosion from the electrodes under this condition is much more rapid than at low-current (where material loss occurs principally from the cathode) and is a process that is presently poorly understood. The present work is aimed at characterizing the erosion products from cathode and anode surfaces during high-current arcs on copper electrodes for single half cycles (60 Hz) arcs having peak currents of 30 kA. Fully open gap lengths were approximately 18 mm. Among the findings were the following. a) Erosion rate determined by electrode weight loss was approximately 8 mg/C of arcing. b) Droplets ejected from the electrodes had masses varying from a few tenths to a few tens of micrograms and velocities typically up to 40 m/s, although higher velocities are seen. c) The greatest number of droplets are produced at, or just after the current peak, and higher droplet velocities are seen in this same time interval. d) Erosion in vapor form detected in the plane of the cathode surface and moving radially is a maximum just after the peak of current and is relatively abundant. Such vapor is essentially absent in the anode plane.     

Ion flux from the cathode region of a vacuum arc

The properties of the ion flux generated in a vacuum arc are reviewed. The structure and distribution of mass erosion from individual cathode spots and the characteristics of current carriers from the cathode region at moderate arc currents are described. An appreciable ion flux (~10% of the total arc current) is emitted from the cathode of a vacuum arc. This ion flux is strongly peaked in the direction of the anode, although some ion flux may be seen even at angles below the plane of the cathode surface. The observed spatial distribution of the ion flux is expressed quite well as an exponential function of the solid angle. The ion flux is quite energetic, with average ion potentials much larger than the arc voltage, and generally contains a considerable fraction of multiply charged ions. The average ion potential and ion multiplicity increase significantly for cathode materials with higher arc voltages but decrease with increasing arc current for a particular material. The main theories concerning ion acceleration in cathode spots are the potential hump theory and the gas dynamic theory. Experimental data indicate that these theories serve reasonably well when used to predict the mean values of the charge state, ion potential, and ion energies for the ion flux, but are quite insufficient when compared with the results for the potentials and energies of individual ions