Hannover 2016 – scientific programme

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P: Fachverband Plasmaphysik

P 4: Plasma Technology

P 4.3: Fachvortrag

Monday, February 29, 2016, 15:25–15:50, b305

Optical investigations of diffuse and constricted high-current vacuum arcs — •Kristoffer Ole Menzel¹, Thierry Delachaux¹, Ralf-Patrick Sütterlin¹, Markus Abplanalp¹, Ralf Methling², Steffen Franke², and Sergey Gortschakow² — ¹ABB Switzerland Ltd, Corporate Research Center, 5405 Baden-Dättwil, Switzerland — ²INP Greifswald, Felix-Hausdorff-Str. 2, 17489 Greifswald, Germany

Vacuum interrupters (VIs) are commonly used for high-current interruption at medium AC-voltages of 1kV-36kV. In this technology the arc is ignited between the separating contacts during current interruption and is sustained by ionized metal vapor originating from the electrode surfaces. For this reason the surface temperature distribution on the contacts is one of the critical measures for the performance of a breaker. The contribution presents experimental investigations of the surface temperature for the two typically occurring arc modes in VIs, namely the diffuse arc and the constricted arc. For this purpose different optical techniques, such as IR spectroscopy and pyrometry, have been employed. The investigations aim at answering fundamental questions as, e.g., the effect of externally applied magnetic fields on the electrode erosion. Therefore, simplified test geometries with electrodes made of either pure Cu or a CuCr compound were used. In order to describe the influence of the bulk plasma on the surface temperature, the core of the arc has been monitored by means of optical emission spectroscopy.