Experimental Study of the Influence of Gassing Material on Blow Open Force and Arc Motion

The study of arc behavior is important to understand the dynamic phenomena concerning the interruption process in a variety of switching devices. This paper is devoted to investigate the influence of gassing material on blow open force and arc motion. To one double- breaker model, measuring the arc current, voltage and force acting on the moving conductor, the characteristics of the ratio of the emerging blow open force over arc power FB/（ui） could be obtained. With the help of a 2-D optical fiber measurement system, to one arc chamber model, arc motion behavior was measured, too. It is demonstrated that, with the action of gassing material, FB/（ui） will increase 2.5 times, and the arc will enter the splitter plates much easier.     

Study on the ignition process of a segmented plasma torch

Direct current plasma torches have been applied to generate unique sources of thermal energy in many industrial applications.Nevertheless,the successful ignition of a plasma torch is the key process to generate the unique source (plasma jet).However,there has been little study on the underlying mechanism of this key process.A thorough understanding of the ignition process of a plasma torch will be helpful for optimizing the design of the plasma torch structure and selection of the ignition parameters to prolong the service life of the ignition module.Thus,in this paper,the ignition process of a segmented plasma torch (SPT) is theoretically and experimentally modeled and analyzed.Corresponding electrical models of different stages of the ignition process are set up and used to derive the electrical parameters,e.g.the variations of the arc voltage and arc current between the cathode and anode.In addition,the experiments with different ignition parameters on a home-made SPT have been conducted.At the same time,the variations of the arc voltage and arc current have been measured,and used to verify the ones derived in theory and to determine the optimal ignition parameters for a particular SPT.     

Investigation on the Arc Ignition Characteristics and Energy Absorption of Liquid Metal Current Limiter Based on Self-Pinch Effect

The GaInSn liquid metal current limiter based on the fluid pinch effect has broad application prospects due to its particular properties.However,the limited rated current and ability of power dissipation are the critical problems for its wide application.Firstly,the temperature distribution of the liquid metal current limiter (LMCL) was obtained by experiments with a rated current of 1 kA and the arc ignition phenomenon was observed with 1.5 kA,which indicates that the rated current is mainly limited by the arc rather than the high temperature compared to the traditional switchgears.Furthermore,an improved method is proposed by adding the paralleled pure resistance,impedance or another LMCL element to protect the setup from the fault energy concentration in the setup.The problem of a slower arc voltage increasing rate can be solved by adding a paralleled impedance with suitable parameters.Finally,the current limiting properties based on the improved method were investigated and the alternating oscillating current was found between two paralleled LMCL elements owing to their deviation of arc ignition in reality.     

Arc characteristics during the instability stage on transverse magnetic field contacts

The arcing process greatly affects the breaking ability after current zero. The instability stage is the transition stage from the ignition to the movement stage, which affects the arc movement characteristics. In this paper, the arc characteristics during the instability stage on spiral-type contacts were investigated using a high-speed video camera. A multi-column parallel instability mode and a single-column instability mode were found during the instability stage. The arc appearance and constriction degree changed rapidly. The arc voltage usually increased accompanied by fluctuations. In addition, it was found that the current significantly influenced the arc mode and duration in the instability stage. With increased peak current, the probability of a single-column instability mode increased, and the fluctuation range and average time decreased.     

低能高束流氩离子源的结构及性能

离子源技术是等离子体研究中的一项重要内容,而低能大束流源则是离子源技术研究中的一个重要方向,因为这样的源在离子束刻蚀、离子束溅射镀膜以及荷能粒子与物质相互作用方面都有广泛的应用;本文采用空心阴极空心阳极结构,用热阴极电子发射弧放电驱动并用磁场约束产生等离子体,用曲面发射引出离子束,研制成了氩气放电溅射离子源;研究了灯丝加热电流、弧压对弧流的影响和弧流与工作气体压力对离子束引出的影响规律.离子源的引出电压在0-4.0 kV之间连续可调,最大引出束流为100 mA,束斑面积为φ6.0 cm,以Ti为溅射靶时的最大溅射沉积率为0.45 nm/s,离子源可连续工作160 h.     

Properties of intermediate-frequency vacuum arc in sinusoidal curved contact and butt contact

In this report,two new contact structures of a vacuum interrupter with a sinusoidal curved surface are proposed to improve the capability by increasing the surface area.The experimental investigation of vacuum arc at intermediate frequency(360-800 Hz)was conducted and the results were compared with a butt contact with the same contact diameter(41 mm)and the same material.By analyzing the arc behavior,arc voltage characteristics,arc energy,current interrupting capacity,ablation of the anode contact and condensation of the arc products at a 3 mm gap,the differences in their vacuum arc characteristics were determined.The correlations of their arc energy with the amplitude and the frequency of the current were also achieved.Analysis suggests that the ruled curved contact has strong application potentiality because of its low arc energy,low arc voltage noise and arc voltage peak,light ablation on the surface of the anode contact and high interrupting capacity.     

Characteristic analysis of CO2 switching arcs under a DC current

The current interruption capability of a gas,when used in high voltage gas-blast circuit breakers,depends not only on its material properties but also the flow field since turbulence plays a dominant role in arc cooling during the interruption process.Based on available experimental results,a study of CO2 switching arcs under a DC (direct current) current in the model circuit breaker has been conducted to calibrate CO2 arc model and to analyse its electric and thermal property.Through detailed analysis of the results mechanisms responsible for the temperature distribution are identified and the domain energy transportation process of different region discussed.The present work provides significant coefficients for CO2 switching arc simulation and gives a better understanding of CO2 arc burning mechanisms.     

Design and characteristics of a new type laminar plasma torch for materials processing

Laminar plasma jet(LPJ) generated by laminar plasma torch(LPT) has a favorable temperature and velocity distribution. Thus, it is superior to the turbulent plasma jet in material processing.However, most of the reported LPTs usually operate at a relatively low output power with a relatively low arc voltage and thermal efficiency, which limits its capabilities. In this context, this paper attempts to design a new type of high-power LPT with a relatively low arc current and a high thermal efficiency. In the first section, the design principle of the main components is studied and discussed in detail, and a new high-power LPT is proposed. Then, the experimental characteristics of the proposed high-power LPT are examined. Experimental results reveal the following characteristics of the proposed LPT.(1) The max jet length of the proposed LPT reaches at 540 mm.(2) Its mean arc voltage is higher than 290 V when the LPT works with arc currents lower than 200 A, leading to an output power greater than 50 kW.(3) The mean thermal efficiency is higher than 50%. Lastly, the proposed LPT has been applied to spheroidize the aluminum oxide powers. The experiment results for the production of spherical powders show that the proposed LPT has a good characteristic for material processing.     

Simulation and Experimental Analysis of Arc Motion Characteristics in Air Circuit Breaker

In this paper, to simulate the arc motion in an air circuit breaker (ACB), a three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) model is developed, considering the influence of thermal radiation, the change of physical parameters of arc plasma and the nonlinear characteristic of ferromagnetic material. The distributions of pressure, temperature, gas flow and current density of arc plasma in the arc region are calculated. The simulation results show some phenomena which discourage arc interruption, such as back commutation and arc burning at the back of the splitter plate. To verify the simulation model, the arc motion is studied experimentally. The influences of the material and position of the innermost barrier plate are analyzed mainly. It proved that the model developed in this paper can efficiently simulate the arc motion. The results indicate that the insulation barrier plate close to the top of the splitter plate is conducive to the arc splitting, which leads to the signi?cant increase of the arc voltage, so it is better for arc interruption. The research can provide methods and references to the optimization of ACB design.     

Study on the influence of the discharge voltage on the ignition process of Hall thrusters

A high-speed charge-coupled device camera was used to capture images of the plume and acceleration channel of a Hall effect thruster during ignition at different discharge voltages. To better understand the influence of changes in the discharge voltage on the plasma parameters during thruster ignition, a particle-in-cell numerical model was used to calculate the distribution characteristics of the ion density and electric potential at different ignition moments under different discharge voltages. The results show that when the discharge voltage is high, the ion densities in the plume and acceleration channel are significantly higher at the initial phase of thruster ignition; with the gradual strengthening of the ignition process, the propellant avalanche ionization during thruster ignition occurs earlier and the pulse current peak increases. The main reason for these phenomena is that the change in the discharge voltage results in different energy acquisitions of the emitted electrons entering the thruster channel.     

Experimental study on the improvement of spray characteristics of aero-engines using gliding arc plasma

A gliding arc plasma fuel atomization actuator suitable for aeroengines was designed, and a gliding arc plasma fuel spray experimental platform was built to address the fuel atomization problem in aeroengine combustion chambers. The spray characteristics for different airflows,fuel flows, and discharge voltages were analyzed using laser particle size analysis. The research shows that the fuel atomization effect is improved from the increased airflow. The decreased fuel flow not only reduces the ...     

Simulation,Design, Construction of Duoplasmatron and Diagnostic Neutral Beam System for Alborz Tokamak

Diagnostic Neutral Beam (DNB) has been used for measuring plasma parameters of tokamaks such as ion and electron temperature, safety factor, impurity concentration and etc. Ion source and electrical power supply specification are the main part of DNB. Arc discharge current value is affected by filament current and anode voltage. Beam current changes with arc current signal in our experiment that agree with theoretical relations. Sixty milli-ampere (60 mA) pulse beam current is because of arc current of about 40 A and extraction voltage of about 20 kV. The increase of beam current with arc current has been reported experimentally and effect of arc current on beam current has been investigated for several high extraction voltages. Optimum condition, which means having a telescopic beam (minimum divergence) for specific parameters of duoplasmatron, has been simulated and verified with experimental test. The best extraction voltage for these parameters has been found to be about 16-kV. The ratio of the perpendicular velocity to parallel velocity has been calculated to be about 0.012. It has been shown experimentally with optical emission spectroscopy that increase in arc current and magnetic current increase proton content of beam.     

基于多元线性回归模型的中性束质子比分析

中性束质子比的高低对其注入等离子体后的加热效果具有重要的影响。实验中,强流离子源的灯丝电压、弧压、进气量等宏观运行参数决定了中性束质子比的大小。以东方超环中性束注入测试台束引出实验为基础,利用多元线性回归模型对引出中性束质子比进行分析,建立了影响中性束质子比的预测方程,并对该模型的正确性进行了检验。结果表明,中性束质子比可利用以灯丝电压和弧压为自变量的多元线性回归模型进行分析,灯丝电压是影响质子比的关键参数,弧压次之。     

Interruption Phenomenon in Intermediate-Frequency Vacuum Arc

In the condition of the 3 mm gap, experiments for 360 Hz intermediate-frequency vacuum arc are carried out in interrupters with the diameters being 41 mm and with the contact materials being CuCr50 and Cu-W-WC alloy respectively. The results indicate that the contacts material is closely related to the breaking capacity of the vacuum interrupters and characteristics of an intermediate-frequency vacuum arc. For contacts with the same diameter, the breaking capacity of CuCr50 is better than that of Cu-W-WC. When the current fails to be interrupted, the arcs overflow the gap and present irregular performances in the first half wave. Consequently a voltage spike appears. More macroscopic metal droplets can be seen in the arc column between CuCr50 contacts because of the lower melting point. It is observed that the droplet emission is much more severe during arc reignition than that in the first half wave. It is much more conspicuous that the high frequency arc voltage noises appear in Cu-W-WC contacts when the vacuum arcs reignite, for higher temperature and stronger electronic emission ability of Cu-W-WC contacts.     

Characteristics of High Voltage Vortex-Stabilized Arc Heaters

Phenomena occurring in a particular vortex-stabilized geometry are discussed. In arc heaters of this type, voltage increases linearly with flow and with size. The level of performance for various sizes is both predictable and fairly constant. Smoke techniques have elucidated re-entrant flow patterns associated with the vortex flow, and windows permit studying the effect of an auxiliary magnetic field on arc rotation. Measurements of effluent fluctuations are reported.     

Characteristic Analysis of AC Plasma Arc in Water

An experimental system of AC arc discharge in water was designed with pole-pole electrodes and a peak voltage of 1500 V and a test circuit was set up using virtual instrument technology. The mechanism of an AC plasma arc generated in water was analyzed. The voltage- current characteristic of the AC plasma arc was obtained from the waveform. The temperature characteristic was tested with a spectrum diagnosis system, and the effect of different electrode materials on the striking voltage and peak current was analyzed. The results show that when a power supply of 6 KW is applied on electrodes with a gap of 2 mm in water, the striking voltage is from 900 to 1300 V, the arc voltage is from 40 to 100 V, the arc current is from 2 to 7 A, and the zero rest period is from 1 to 2 ms. In addition, the arc voltage and current are different for electrodes in aluminum, copper and stainless steel. The arc voltage is lower and the current is higher for an aluminum electrode than those for copper and stainless steel ones. The highest temperature of the arc is 7643 K.     

Investigation of Vacuum Arc Voltage Characteristics Under Different Axial Magnetic Field Profiles

Characteristics of the arc voltage under different profiles of axial magnetic field were investigated experimentally in a detachable vacuum chamber with five pairs of specially designed electrodes generating both bell-shaped and saddle-shaped mafnetic field profile. The arc column and cathode spot images were photographed by a high speed digital camera. The dependence of the arc voltage on arcing evolution is analyzed. It is indicated that the axial magnetic field profile could affect the arc behaviors significantly, and the arc voltage is closely related to the arc light intensity.     

Study on volt-ampere characteristics of solar array arcs in LEO spacecraft

The primary and secondary arcs volt-ampere characteristics of low earth orbit solar arrays are studied in this research. Using three gallium-arsenide solar cell samples, the gap lengths of the solar cell are set to 1, 2, and 3 mm. First, the primary arc voltage characteristics of a solar array are analyzed. It is found that two steps are involved in the primary arc voltages, which are 116 and 22 V according to our experiment and are independent of the electrostatic discharge current and the gap lengths. By comparing with the arc pattern, we determined that current chopping may be the reason for the stepped arc voltage. Then, the characteristics of the secondary arc of the solar array are demonstrated. The study shows that the secondary arc voltage values increase with the gap length. In the case of the same cell with a fixed gap length, the voltage of the secondary arc increases with the string current. Finally, the relationship between the secondary arc voltage and the gap length is obtained which helps the string voltage and the gap length selection for system design.     

磁驱动旋转电弧运动图像及弧电压脉动的实验研究

磁驱动旋转电弧产生扩散电弧等离子体过程中有许多有趣的物理现象。本文利用高速摄影技术研究了大气压条件下、非均匀磁场中、大尺度磁驱动旋转氩电弧的电弧结构；在一定的弧电流和外磁场条件下，电弧的平面形状表现为不断发展和增长的螺旋结构，电弧螺旋结构的破裂往往产生于阴极附近的等离子体射流。采用图像分析的方法计算了外部磁场作用下阳极斑点沿弧室内壁的移动频率，分析了磁驱动旋转电弧运动过程中的弧电压脉动现象。结合电弧图像分析和电弧电压脉动及其FFT分析得出：电弧电压的大幅波动与多层电弧螺旋结构破裂和重建相关，而电弧电压的小幅波动则是弧根小幅跳动引起电弧拉长和收缩的结果。     

Design and characteristics of a triple-cathode cascade plasma torch for spheroidization of metallic powders

Arc plasma torch is an effective tool for spheroidization of metallic powders. However, as most conventional plasma torches were not specifically designed for plasma spheroidization, they may exhibit the disadvantages of the radial injection of powders, large fluctuations in the arc voltage, large gas flow rate, and disequilibrium between multiple plasma jets during the spheroidization process. Therefore, this paper presents a triple-cathode cascade plasma torch (TCCPT) for plasma spheroidization. Its structural design, including three cathodes, a common anode, and three sets of inter-electrodes, are detailed to ensure that powders can be inserted into the plasma jet by axial injection, the arc voltage fluctuations are easily maintained at a low level, and the plasma torches can work at a relatively small gas flow rate. Experimental results showed that the proposed TCCPT exhibits the following characteristics: (1) a relatively small arc voltage fluctuation within 5.3%; (2) a relatively high arc voltage of 75 V and low gas flow rate range of 10–30 SLM; (3) easy to be maintained at the equilibrium state with the equilibrium index of the three plasma jets within 3.5 V. Furthermore, plasma spheroidization experiments of SUS304 stainless steel powers were carried out using the proposed TCCPT. Results verified that the proposed TCCPT is applicable and effective for the spheroidization of metallic powders with wide size distribution.