The Current Distribution and the Magnetic Pressure Profile in a Vacuum Arc Subject to an Axial Magnetic Field

The steady-state electric-current distribution and the magnetic pressure in a uniform conducting medium, flowing in a cylindrical configuration between two circular electrodes, was determined by solving the magnetic field transport equation with a superimposed axial magnetic field. This medium models the interelectrode plasma of the diffuse mode metal vapor vacuum arc. The results show the following. a) The electric current and the flux of the poloidal magnetic field are constricted at the anode side of the flowing plasma. Most of the constriction takes place within a boundary layer, with a characteristic length of 1/Rme, where Rme is the magnetic-Reynolds number for axial electron flow. b) The electric-current constriction inversely depends on K?, where K? is the azimuthal surface current density which produces the axial magnetic field. c) The magnetic-pressure profile shows a radial pinch force in most of the interelectrode region, but in the anode boundary layer it is axially directed, thus retarding the plasma flow. d) The peak of the magnetic pressure is at the anode, and its amplitude directly depends on K?. As K? increases, the peak location moves toward the anode center.     

Ion current distribution within a toroidal duct of a filteredvacuum arc deposition system

Vacuum arcs were established on a 90-mm-diameter Ti cathode in a deposition apparatus consisting of a spacer, 122 mm-diameter annular anode, quarter-torus magnetic macroparticle filter, and a deposition chamber. A toroidal magnetic field generally parallel to the torus walls of up to 20 mT was applied. The ion current in various cross-sections of the toroidal duct was measured using: 1) a disc probe of 130-mm diameter, oriented normal to the torus axis used to measure the transmitted ion current, and 2) a hollow cylindrical probe of 135-mm diameter and 25-mm height, whose axis coincided with the torus axis, used to measure ion current losses to the duct wall. The distribution of ion current loss was studied using an 8-segment hollow cylindrical multiprobe, where the individual probes were equally distributed on the circumference of a 130-mm-diameter circle. It was shown that: 1) the ratio of ion currents collected on the cylindrical and disc probes at first decreases with increasing the toroidal field, and then becomes approximately constant; 2) the presence of the large-diameter disc probe does not influence the value of the ion current on the cylindrical probe; and 3) the maximum ion current density near the torus walls is located in the +g direction and displaces in the -(B×g) direction with increasing the toroidal field, where g and B are the vectors of the centrifugal acceleration and the magnetic field, respectively     

Vacuum Arc Plasma Centrfuge for Element and Isotope Separation

Vacuum arcs have been studied extensively in the past several decades with applications primarily in the areas of switching, vacuum remelting, and vapor deposition. Application of the vacuum arc for element and isotope separation has been studied recently and is reviewed in this paper. An arc was produced in a 30-cm-diameter 4-m-long cylindrical chamber with coaxially mounted electromagnets providing a 2.6-m-long constant axial magnetic field of up to 6 kG. The vacuum discharge between a solid cathode and a mesh anode was triggered electrically. A pulse-forming network (PFN) of 70-m? impedance provided nearly constant-current discharge pulses of several kiloamps and 6-12-ms duration. The magnetized plasma column, flowing axially from the anode with a typical velocity of 106 cm/s, rotated nearly as a solid body. This rotation was due to the E × B drift, produced by the axial magnetic field and the radial electric field across the column. A typical rotation frequency was 105 rad/s. The centrifugal effect due to the rotation caused a radial redistribution of ions within the plasma column, thereby producing elemental and isotope enrichment. The separation was observed to increase exponentially with the square of the radius. Enrichments of up to 300 percent were measured in a Cu-Zn plasma. The radial plasma density profile was found to be roughly Gaussian, with central electron densities of about 1013 cm-3. The radial potential profile across the column was measured and found to be parabolic with radius.     

Separation of spiral contacts and the motion of vacuum arcs at highAC currents

A framing camera is used to photograph the vacuum arc between separating spiral-petal vacuum interrupter contacts. The rupture of the molten bridge between the contacts first leads to a high-pressure, transient arc column. This arc motion can become constricted for several milliseconds before it goes diffuse as the current decreases to zero. The current through the spiral contacts produces a magnetic field perpendicular to the arc column, which forces the arc to move outward and run along the periphery of the petals. Several vacuum arc modes occur during the half-cycle of high current arcing. Movies, gap-current curves, and arc voltage traces are used to study the development of the arc motion and how it is affected by the contact structure. This information is used to generate arc appearance diagrams in which the arc form and motion are correlated to instantaneous values of current and gap for a wide range of peak currents. Appearance diagrams are shown for two ranges of opening delay from current onset     

Investigation of arc roots of constricted high current vacuum arcs

The anodic and cathodic arc roots of constricted high current vacuum arcs were investigated with a fast framing charge-coupled device camera of 1 μs exposure time. The experiments were performed with cup-shaped contacts, with sinusoidal currents of amplitudes between 20 and 100 kA, and a sine halfwave duration of 10-12 ms. The arcs were drawn by contact separation and accelerated by the Lorentz force between the arc current and the transverse magnetic field generated by the contrate contact. The anode and cathode arc roots behave reproducibility and arc scaleable within the range of currents investigated. Both types of arc roots are elliptical, with a major to minor axis ratio of 1.4. The major axis points are in the direction of arc propagation. Anodic and cathodic arc root cross-sectional areas as a function of current can both be described by a potential law with a common exponent of 0.76. For currents of 20-100 kA, mean current densities of 81-121 and 41-60 kA/cm ² were found in anode and cathode arc roots, respectively. Estimations of their temperature and vapor densities were performed. For the investigated current range T_A≈3300-3600 K, n_A ≈1.6*10¹⁹-2.2*10¹⁹cm^-3 and T _C≈3200-3400 K, n_C≈0.8*10¹⁹-1.2*10 ¹⁹ cm^-3 were found for anode and cathode, respectively     

Flow Characteristics in the Exhaust of a Pulsed Megawatt Gas Fed Arc

The transient flow generated by a pulsed, megawatt-level, gas-fed arc with an applied magnetic nozzle has been examined with a new design piezoelectric pressure transducer. Sensor thermal conduction and accelerations have been examined and eliminated in the 500?sec period of plasma flow. Existence of a large magnitude cold gas pressure front of 20?sec duration has been reconfirmed and its relationship to the following plasma flow of about 200?sec duration has been examined for the first time. At a point 30 cm from the arc source, initially near vacuum conditions (typically with an arc current of 11.2 kA and 1 tesla applied magnetic field), a pressure pulse of unionized gas with a magnitude of 104 N/m2 is followed by plasma flows with nearly constant impact pressure of 103 N/m2. Pressure and number density in this plasma region are seen to decrease with applied magnetic field strength. With electron density derived from Thomson scattering measurements (1020 m-3) plasma flow velocities on the order of 5 × 104 m/sec are calculated.     

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.     

Air flow control around a cylindrical model induced by a rotating electric arc discharge in an external magnetic field. Part I

The structure and dynamics of a near-wall gas flow produced by a rotating electric arc discharge in an external magnetic field around a cylindrical model without an incoming flow has been investigated. The electric arc on the model has been produced by a combined electric discharge (low-current rf discharge + high-current pulse-periodic discharge). Permanent magnets with induction B ≈ 0.1 T have been placed inside the cylindrical models. Ring electrodes are arranged on the surface of the model. The structure and dynamics of the near-wall gas flow around the cylindrical model have been investigated using high-speed photography, as well as the shadowgraph and particle image velocimetry (PIV) methods.     

Arc rotation characteristics of a plasma centrifuge with a counter-rotating electrical discharge

Arc rotation velocities of a plasma centrifuge with a counter-rotating electrical discharge were measured by using double probes placed perpendicular to each other. The measurement results were compared with the results calculated from the analytic solutions suggested by Hong et al. The comparison revealed that the arc column near the electrodes can be rotated much faster by increasing the arc currents and magnetic fields. For example, the rotational velocity of the are column near the electrodes was increased from 75 to 150 m/s with the increase of magnetic flux density from 15 to 45 mT at the fixed arc current of 50 A. On the other hand, the rotational velocity of the arc column showed only negligible changes at the plane of symmetry, where the radial component of the arc current was designed to become zero due to the symmetry of the counter-rotating electrical discharge. From these measurement results and analytic solutions, gaseous mixtures of different masses can be separated effectively near the electrode regions of a plasma centrifuge with a counter-rotating electrical discharge.     

Positioning of the arc discharge channel in vacuum arc facilities

The behavior of an electric arc in a magnetic field is studied theoretically and experimentally. It is found that the arc behavior can be governed by the ponderomotive interaction of the arc with current-carrying elements. In a nonuniform magnetic field, the behavior of the arc depends on the Hall currents and the diamagnetic properties of its plasma. It is shown that the position of the arc channel between the end faces of cylindrical electrodes can be controlled by nonuniform magnetic fields. The methods and devices considered in this paper allow one, in particular, to control arc heat sources used in the heat treatment of metals.     

Investigation on arc characteristics in cup-shaped contacts with different structure for transverse magnetic field vacuum circuit breaker

The cup-shaped transverse magnetic field (TMF) contacts contain radial components and tangential components in the TMF generated when the current is interrupted. The tangential force generated by the radial magnetic field component drives the vacuum arc to rotate, and the tangential magnetic field component generates a radial force that causes the vacuum arc to move radially outward. In this paper, in order to study the influence of the arc force direction on the arc characteristics, the influence of the contact structure parameters such as the inclination of the inner wall on the arc force direction is simulated, and the breaking tests of different levels of current are carried out on the contact with different structure parameters. It is found that the direction of the Lorentz force has a significant effect on the breaking characteristics of the current, and the tangential and radial force components have varying degrees of influence on the motion characteristics of the arc during the start process and the metal droplet splashing.     

Study on arc mode and shape transformation in the arc motion stage between transverse magnetic field contacts

Transverse magnetic field (TMF) contacts drive the vacuum arc moving along the contact surface by producing a magnetic field perpendicular to the arc current flow, which makes the arc energy distribute uniformly and prevents the contact from serious ablation due to local overheating. The characteristics of arc motion between the TMF contacts directly determine the surface temperature distribution and contact erosion. Also, it is closely related to the breaking ability of the contacts. In this paper, the arc motion between spiral‐type contacts was recorded by a high‐speed camera. By analysing the arc voltage and arc images, the characteristics of arc shape transformation in the motion stage under different currents were studied. At the same time, the influence of arc duration and arc characteristics before the motion stage on the arc motion is discussed. It is found that the arc behaviour before the motion stage did influence the shape transformation and range of arc rotation. After entering the motion stage, there was always a rapid transformation process of the arc shape and the arc would return to where it first became constricted after a short movement. After a continuous movement, it might rotate in a small region where the arc stagnated before the motion stage. In addition, the arc behaviour was also related to its duration. When the opening time was varied from 2 to 5 ms, the arc velocity decreased. Meanwhile, it was more likely that multiple transformations of the arc aggregation degree occurred.     

Physical and theoretical aspects of a new vacuum arc controltechnology-self arc diffusion by electrode: SADE

Our new vacuum arc control technology SADE doubles the high current interruption capability of our conventional axial magnetic field technology. First, we describe the vacuum arc motion behavior recorded by a high speed charge-coupled device video camera. This arc behavior is closely related to axial magnetic field intensity. In particular, it depends on the profile of the externally generated axial magnetic field. The anode spot is likely to move to the highest magnetic field intensity. Second, we describe analytical results for concentration of vacuum arc at the anode side contact surface. This analysis implies the possibility of an ideal magnetic field profile and intensity for vacuum arc control. Finally, we describe experimental results for vacuum arc control compared with the physical and theoretical results mentioned above, and we show a practical electrode configuration for vacuum interrupters and its application in a high current interruption experiment     

On the Electrode Damage and Current Densities of Carbon Arcs

Arc damage on carbon electrodes has been examined as a function of the charge passing through each arc in the range from 10-6 to 10-1 coloumb. Two forms of arcing damage were observed: that due to the so-called vapor arc, which has a very high current density (~6 × 107 A/cm2) and low erosion rate, and that due to the so-called thermionic arc with a lower current density (~2 × 103 A/cm2) and higher erosion rate. Unlike damage observed on metallic electrodes raised rims were not formed around the carbon craters. The vapor mode damage is compared with two known models of cathode erosion. Differences between the vapor and thermionic modes and the transition between them are discussed. A whitish-gray deposit observed on the arced electrodes appears to be a form of graphite.     

Investigations of the ignition of arc spots on cold cathodes in anoble gas atmosphere

To investigate the ignition of arc spots on cold cathodes under defined conditions, a special experimental setup was developed. An arc ignited between horn electrodes in a pure argon gas atmosphere is blown magnetically against a third so called commutation electrode, which is negatively biased against the arc plasma. The ignition of arc spots on this cathode was investigated by electrical measurements and high-speed photography. The arc traces of short current pulses were examined by in situ optical microscopy of the cathode surface. Two different modes of arc-spot ignition were observed: an initiation by a diffuse glow discharge, which may pass into a constricted arc spot, and an immediate formation of a constricted arc spot. The two modes of arc-spot ignition at atmospheric pressure were attributed to different surface structures, which are characterized by broad or narrow distributions of local ion current density enhancement factors. Ion current density enhancement may raise the field strength and temperature on the tips of microprotrusions so far that they emit electrons. A sufficiently high density of small emission sites produces locally such a high average current density that a plasma channel and an arc spot on the cathode surface arc formed. With lower pressure, the influence of the surface structure is reduced and pushed back by Townsend-γ emission     

Stable Configuration of Electric Arcs in Transverse Magnetic Fields

Deviations from rotational symmetry of arc columns exposed to transverse magnetic fields cause convection and a momentum transport between the column and its surrounding gas. As a consequence, the arc moves and changes its geometry until it reaches a stable configuration. Based on the momentum transport equation, the arc behavior is discussed under various operating conditions, and stable arc configurations are determined. In particular, the stability-criteria of a balanced arc column in a transverse gas flow and magnetic field is derived. It turns out that the arc becomes unstable with respect to kinks parallel to the applied magnetic field when ? = p?/(B2/8?)?1. (p? = ambient pressure, Bo = applied magnetic field).     

Bouncing Expansion of the Arc-Cathode Plasma in Vacuum along the Transverse Applied B Field

Measurements of the angular flux distribution of the cathodic arc plasma (I ? 100 A) subjected to a transverse magnetic field (B ? 8.5 × 10-2 T) ae presented. The angular distribution without magnetic field approximately follows the cosine law. Expansion with transverse field is found to deviate strongly from the cosine law, the plasma being confined close to the cathode plane and expanding along the magnetic-field lines. Furthermore, time-resolved photographs of the expansion reveal the predicted pulsating behavior of the expanding plasma.     

The Interaction of Vacuum Arc Ion Currents with Axia I Magnetic Fields

We summarize a series of experiments in which we measured the distribution of ion currents leaving the interelectrode region of a vacuum arc with Cu electrodes. Ion currents were collected by an arrangement of cylindrical collectors surrounding the arcing space. A Helmholtz coil arrangement surrounding the arcing chamber generated the axial magnetic field. Arc currents ranged from 70 to 2400 A dc.     

Characteristics of the statistical distribution of the current transmitted by a cathode spot of a vacuum arc in variously oriented magnetic fields

The influence of variously oriented uniform magnetic fields on the cathodic attachment of a low-current vacuum arc with electrodes made of oxygen-free copper and CuCr30 composition is studied. It is found that, if the current is fixed, cathode spots in the arc attachment are distributed by the normal law in the entire range of variation of the amplitude of magnetic induction vector B and angle α between this vector and the normal to the cathode surface. The parameters of the distribution depend on the magnetic field and cathode material. The magnetic field dependence is appreciable only when angle α exceeds some critical value α* (α* ≈ 30° and ≈45° for cathodes made of copper and CuCr30, respectively). At α > α*, the parameters of the distribution become strongly dependent on α, while the B dependence remains weak. Only when α → π/2 does the field amplitude have a pronounced effect on the parameters of the distribution. From the obtained results, we determine the statistical characteristics of the distribution of the mean current transmitted by a cathode spot in variously oriented magnetic fields. The found relationships make it possible to explain the peculiarities of the structure of the cathodic attachment of the high-current vacuum arc stabilized by an external axial magnetic field.     

Downstream Conditions in a Constricted ARC with Radial Injection

The thermal, flow and electrical conditions are presented for the downstream portion of an argon arc with local fluid constriction. The arc is initially wall-stabilized in a 10 mm diameter water-cooled constrictor and at some point after flow becomes fully developed the arc is constricted by a radial inward jet. The redevelopment of the flow downstream of the injection slot is investigated by measurements of the pressure drop, wall heat flux and electric field. It is observed that redevelopment proceeds roughly as predicted by classical theory. Measurements of the electric field indicate that the region of maximum constriction is limited in extent.